Time and the Dancing Image

Looks at the history of Western dance, discusses the influence of science and social and political change, and reviews the work of influential dancers and choreographers

Exploring basic changes in theatrical dance from Romantic ballets to the present, Village Voice critic Jowitt (The Dance in Mind) assesses the contributions of Taglioni, Petipa, Duncan, St. Denis, Graham, Humphrey, Cunningham ("the eminence grise of vanguard dance") and others. Among the areas covered in this major dance study are technique, ideology, philosophy, psychology, the use of emotion, breathing, nudity. Jowitt also examines the personal lives of dancers (their dilemmas, liaisons, ways of dressing); the prevalence of "oriental" harem, temple and other exotic themes, forms and styles; the influence of archetypes, myths and Greek dramas on Martha Graham; the impact of Petipa and Ivanov on the ballets of Balanchine. In her "anxiety to chronicle a notoriously ephemeral art," Jowitt avoids the dance critic's pitfall of performing an occasional "inadvertent disservice," even as she delves into the nontechnical, like the attempts of "modern" dancers to express the aspirations and struggles of mankind, the cross-fertilization of the arts, especially at New York's Judson Church in the 1960s, and reasons why male dancers are almost always secondary to women. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Village Voice dance critic Jowitt set out to do two things in this volume"to view dancers of the past as products of their age" and to compile a "collection of essays on the historical aspects of style." In her roles as historian, critic, sociologist, and anthropologist, Jowitt writes about such varied aspects of dance history as the 19th-century sylph in relation to Romanticism in art and literature and to the social and political bases for performance dance in the 1960s. Principal dance critic at the Voice for 20 years, Jowitt challenged herself to look at the dance greatsDuncan, Graham, Balanchine, Cunninghamwith a fresh eye. These obviously well-researched essays are extremely thoughtful and thought provoking. Highly recommended. Joan Stahl, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., Baltimore
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.