Reading Dancing: Bodies and Subjects in Contemporary American Dance
Foster posits the view that dance is a system of meaning that can be interpreted and comprehended if the viewer understands its choreographic conventions. Using the work of four 20th-century choreographersGeorge Balanchine, Martha Graham, Deborah Hay, and Merce Cunninghamby way of example, Foster compares and contrasts aesthetics of ideas, historical antecedents and models, and specifics of composition, such as style, movement vocabulary, and means of representation. The philosophical and semiotic writings of Suzanne Langer, Roland Barthes, and Michel Foucault are the bases for some of Foster's analyses. The opening chapter is excellent but as the book progresses, Foster strays from her four examples and her argument loses its clarity. Still, few books attempt to do what this one does. A specialized work recommended for large collections. Joan Stahl, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., BaltimoreCopyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.