This book is a collection of essays that capture the artistic voices at play during a staging process. Situating familiar practices such as reimagining, reenactment and recreation alongside the related and often intersecting processes of transmission, translation and transformation, it features deep insights into selected dances from directors, performers, and close associates of choreographers. The breadth of practice on offer illustrates the capacity of dance as a medium to adapt successfully to diverse approaches and, further, that there is a growing appetite amongst audiences for seeing dances from the near and far past. This study spans a century, from Rudolf Laban’s Dancing Drumstick (1913) to Robert Cohan’s Sigh (2015), and examines works by Mary Wigman, Madge Atkinson (Natural Movement), Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham, Yvonne Rainer and Rosemary Butcher, an eclectic mix that crosses time and borders.
"This edited collection will resonate with both practitioners and academics. The examples it gathers together uncover the difficulties, joys, and complexities of communicating earlier dances to current performers and audiences-raising issues, triggering debate, and providing marvelous resources for further study. It is an innovative and useful collection." (Geraldine Morris, Dance Research Journal, Vol. 52 (1), April, 2020)
"Transmissions is, therefore, recommended reading for all with a stake in our moving past, including dance practitioners, historians, critics, and philosophers of art." (Renee M. Conroy, Dance Research, Vol. 37 (2), November, 2019)
"Transmissions is, therefore, recommended reading for all with a stake in our moving past, including dance practitioners, historians, critics, and philosophers of art." (Renee M. Conroy, Dance Research, Vol. 37 (2), November, 2019)