New Books in Performing Arts

By Marshall PoeArts Performing Arts

New Books in Performing Arts episodes

March 17, 2015 Bill T. Jones, “Story/Time: The Life of An Idea” (Princeton UP, 2014)
When does a dance become a book? How does choreography lend itself to the page? What discontents exist in theorizing performance that are best explored through the written word? And how does one distill the hours of embodied practice into 100 or so pages of a tightly packaged and beautifully rendered text? It was the opportunity of a lifetime to interview the incomparable Bill T. Jones, a mainstay in the landscape of American modern dance and contemporary performance. A true renaissance man, Jones will be familiar to listeners as a multi-talented artist who has shaped contemporary culture as a choreographer, dancer, theater director and author. Creator of over 140 dance works for his own company and numerous commissions for others, Jones is a recipient of the coveted MacArthur Genius Award (1994) and was recognized for his multiple achievements in 2010 at the Kennedy Center Honors. Today as Artistic Director of New York Live Arts, Jones leads this internationally recognized institution known for its commitment to innovative artistry and the presentation of creative work that is shaped by contemporary issues. His most recent book, Story/Time, The Life of An Idea (Princeton University Press, 2014) chronicles a series of multi-media lectures he delivered at the invitation of Princeton University as part of their Toni Morrison Lecture Series. The book is part text and part art object, including photos, and quotations from other artists, including Bill’s mentor, American composer John Cage. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the country’s highest honor for achievement in the arts, Jones crafted this book as a means by which to consider the challenges, demands, rewards and sacrifices that have shaped his career for the last three decades.

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31 min
March 10, 2015 Wendy Oliver and Lindsay Guarino, eds., “Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches” (University Press of Florida, 2014)
Contested and complicated histories create the best books. This is true for many volumes and is certainly so for Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches (University Press of Florida, 2014), a recent work edited by Wendy Oliver and Lindsay Guarino. Picking up where Marshall and Jean Stearns left off over two decades ago, Oliver and Guarino bring to the field a book that culls together some of the best contemporary scholarship on the history, progenitors, and cultural forces that shape the uniquely American art form known as jazz dance. Created in part as a resource for students, the book is unique in its accessibility, diversity of authorship and willingness to engage the complicated racial and social history of jazz dance. Wendy Oliver has been teaching and choreographing at Providence College since 1985, and is the director of the PC Dance Company. Dr. Oliver is Chair of the Department of Theatre, Dance and Film, and also runs the Children’s Dance program on the Providence College campus. An Active dancer and choreographer, Lindsay Guarino is Assistant professor of Music Theatre and Dance at Salve Regina University and artistic director of Extensions Dance Company.

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28 min
January 19, 2015 Sherrie Tucker, “Dance Floor Democracy: The Social Geography of Memory at the Hollywood Canteen” (Duke UP, 2014)
Cultural memory of World War II frequently draws on swing music and the USO dance floor as symbols of how the country came together in support of the war effort. Frequently, the term “the Greatest Generation” is used to exemplify patriotism and self-sacrifice. Digging beyond nostalgic remembrances, Sherrie Tucker‘s Dance Floor Democracy: The Social Geography of Memory at the Hollywood Canteen (Duke University Press, 2014) explores how race, gender, social class, and other social cleavages shaped the dance floor and produced a variety of responses to the war effort. Tucker questions the accuracy of common representations of World War II culture. In its place, she offers a more nuanced account of the social and cultural politics of the era.
The podcast explores the war, the racial politics of swing music, integration and race relations, oral history and how to write cultural history.
Dr. Sherrie Tucker is Professor of American Studies at the University of Kansas. She is also the author of Swing Shift: “All-Girl” Bands of the 1940s and co-editor of Big Ears: Listening for Gender in Jazz Studies.

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55 min
September 13, 2014 Rebecca Rossen, “Dancing Jewish: Jewish Identity in American Modern and Postmodern Dance” (Oxford UP, 2014)
How does an author craft a work that speaks across the boundaries of dance studies, Jewish studies and gender studies? What does it mean for dance to function as a site for probing complex questions of racial, ethnic and cultural identity? How do choreographers respond to the prompt, “make a Jewish dance?” What does all of this have to tell us about the ways in which Jewish identities show up onstage both historically and contemporarily? I was grateful to engage these questions with dancer, choreographer and historian, Rebecca Rossen (pronounced “Ross – in”,) author of Dancing Jewish: Jewish Identity in American Modern and Postmodern Dance (Oxford University Press, 2014). Rebecca’s groundbreaking work probes the ways in which American Jewish choreographers use dance as a site to interrogate personal and collective identities while articulating social and political agendas and challenging stereotypes. Rossen critically engages with the work of Anna Sokolow, Pauline Koner, David Dorfman, Liz Lerman and others in examining how they use dance as a space for the creative construction, imagining and re-imagining of Jewish identities. Including over 50 photographs and a companion website with video clips, Dancing Jewish is a resource for dance educators and historians as well. Rebecca Rossen is Assistant Professor of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin. A dance historian, performance scholar, and choreographer , her research interests include modern and postmodern dance, stagings of identity in physical performance, and the relationship between research and practice. Her own choreography has been presented in venues throughout her hometown of Chicago, as well as in Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Israel.

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47 min
March 19, 2014 Caitlin McDonald and Barbara Sellers-Young, eds., “Belly Dance Around the World” (McFarland, 2013)
When you think about research that contributes to understanding others (or maybe even yourself more), dance is not often the first thought that comes to mind. But the collection of essays in Belly Dance Around the World: New Communities, Performance and Identity (McFarland, 2013) bring the expression of self through dance to life. This collection, edited by Caitlin McDonald and Barbara Sellers-Young, contains research, and stories from dancers and researchers about the role of belly dance and the many forms that it takes. These chapters illuminate things such as the complex relationship of belly dance in conservative middle-eastern societies, to communities in Canada practicing belly dance, and even the role of belly dance in the cyber world of 2nd life. The evolution of belly dance and the role that it plays in the past, present and future represents the important and fluidity of identity, something every person aspires to attain. Caitlin McDonald is currently working in the private sector. Her collegue Barbara Sellers-Young has a recently publication Embodied Consciousness: Performance Technologies (Palgrave, 2013)

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32 min
August 27, 2013 Joshua Legg, “Introduction to Modern Dance Techniques” (Princeton Book Company, 2011)
I can still remember being an undergraduate student, going from dance class to dance class and working as hard as I could each day. In the midst of all of that sweat and hard work, I was often curious about the techniques I was required to study. Sure, we had courses in dance history – but very seldom was a link made between what we did in the studio and what we learned in those courses. Often, movement exercises were presented with very little context. I always wanted more…I wanted to know not just what we were supposed to do but why and how those approaches to movement were developed. Through independent study and some guidance from my teachers, I was able to whet my appetite but admittedly, I was often left wanting more.
I’m excited that today’s dance students and educators have resources that will help them fair much better than I did. One such resource is Introduction to Modern Dance Techniques (Princeton Book Company, 2011), the first book by choreographer, dancer and teacher, Joshua Legg. This user-friendly and accessible text is designed to provide readers with a comparative approach to classical modern dance techniques – including the work of Merce Cunningham, Katherine Dunham, Martha Graham, Lester Horton, and many others. Packed with historical content, beautiful photographs and high quality lesson plans, Joshua’s book is well-suited to meet the needs of both students and educators looking to bridge the gap between history and practice in order to enrich and inform their study of modern dance. An accomplished dancer, choreographer and master teacher, Joshua Legg’s writing has appeared in both Dance Teacher and Dance Spirit magazines. He has taught at several institutions including Harvard and his alma mater, Shenandoah University. In addition to writing and teaching, he maintains his own pick -up dance company – you can learn more at www.joshualegg.com.

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44 min
June 03, 2013 Alexis Wilson, “Not So Black and White” (Tree Spirit Publishing, 2012)
When I think of the name “Billy Wilson” certain things come to mind immediately. I think of his sparkling career as director and choreographer of “Bubbling Brown Sugar” on Broadway. I am still stunned by his ability to shift from Broadway and back again so readily into making master works for the concert dance stage – Wilson’s works are in the repertory today of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Philadanco (Philadelphia Dance Company) and the Dance Theater of Harlem. I am all warm inside when I remember seeing the lush, rhythmic and striking choreography he created to the music of Dizzy Gillespie for his last work of concert dance, “The Winter in Lisbon” (1992.) A tour de force, Wilson was a passionate and celebrated dancer during his time as a soloist with the Dutch National Ballet and was later founder of the Dance Theater of Boston. For me, Billy Wilson is one of those names in dance history that is all too often reduced to a footnote that obfuscates his career and contributions to dance at home and abroad. I am thrilled that his daughter, Alexis Wilson, has stepped up and out to ensure that her father’s legacy survives, all while sharing her own voice and lived experiences with deep integrity.
Alexis Wilson’s touching and deeply personal book Not So Black and White (Tree Spirit Publishing, 2012) goes well beyond the commonly known information about her father’s life and work to reveal her experience growing up as the daughter of this dance genius. This book is her memoir, which is at once both a loving homage to her father, a meditation on her life as the biracial daughter of Wilson and a Dutch ballerina (Sonja van Beers) and a narrative that strives for reconciliation of the contradictions that shaped Alexis’s life. Abandoned by her mother at the age of 11, moving through the worlds of ballet and Broadway and navigating her life journey with her father and his chosen life partner (Chip Garnett) are just a taste of what shaped Alexis’s experiences. An accomplished dancer, author, mother and more, Alexis Wilson does what she did not have to do in this book: she pours herself onto the page so that others might have a lens through which to know who her father was beyond the footlights and a look at how race, class, art, love and pain intertwine to create a stunning portrait of her life. This work is at once deeply personal and relevant to the history of 20th century American dance. With a foreword by actor Blair Underwood, Not So Black and White is not to be missed. Today, Alexis Wilson makes her home in Columbus, OH with her two daughters and her husband, Byron.

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34 min
January 11, 2013 Yael Tamar Lewin, “Night’s Dancer: The Life of Janet Collins” (Wesleyan UP, 2011)
What does it mean for a contemporary scholar to be trusted with the unfinished autobiography of a dance legend? How does one ensure that the integrity of their research matches the depth of life experience embodied in their subject’s narrative? Who is best served by the sharing of the untold stories of those whose narratives have been historically marginalized? And what does it mean for today’s dancers to learn about those who have paved the way for them under harsh and unjust circumstances? These were the questions I had in mind when I was lucky enough to interview historian and dancer Yael Tamar Lewin, author of Night’s Dancer, The Life of Janet Collins (Wesleyan University Press, 2011), a soaring work that includes Ms. Collin’s unfinished autobiography.
Born in 1917, Janet Collins was raised in Los Angeles and has the historic distinction of being the first African – American prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera. A dancer with demonstrable skill in both ballet and modern dance vocabularies, Janet’s career included performances on television, in film and on Broadway. Despite her triumphs as an artist, Ms. Collins faced intense racial bias throughout her career as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. An accomplished painter and deeply spiritual person, Janet’s story is tenderly and meticulously recounted in both her own words and through Ms. Lewin’s wonderful research. The book stands as a testament to any dancer today wishing to fulfill their artistic potential in a world that can be unwelcoming and cold. Notably, Yael’s research on Collins began during her own undergraduate studies and took shape over several years during which a trusting relationship budded between subject and author. This model of scholarship and the resulting work shares lessons on how to handle the narrative of a beloved artist with care. Yael Tamar Lewin is a writer, editor, choreographer, and alternative medicine practitioner. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Barnard College and Columbia University, and has performed with several dance companies, including her own. She lives in New York.

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34 min
November 02, 2012 Peggy Schwartz and Murray Schwartz, “The Dance Claimed Me: A Biography of Pearl Primus” (Yale UP, 2012)
For some time now I’ve been in spaces with dancers and dance scholars who lament the amount of available research on some of the black luminaries in our field. Sometimes the need for a particular project is present for so long that its absence is taken for granted and treated as the norm. One of the “missing” but “much needed” projects I’ve heard talked about over the years is a book length treatment of the work of modern dance pioneer and scholar Dr. Pearl Primus. I’m really glad that her dear friends, Peggy and Murray Schwartz decided to fill that empty space with their latest project that is as much scholarly research as it is a homage to their very dear friend.
For the entirety of her 74-year lifespan, Dr. Primus worked tirelessly and diligently as a dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist bringing the value of African culture to students and audience members around the globe. Though Primus studied and honed her approach to contemporary dance right alongside well known artists like Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Hanya Holm her work, while known to some has not been celebrated in the same way for its enduring impact. Pearl’s career began in 1943 as she began sharing dance works that infused her commitment to social justice and racial commentary with her approach to concert dance. In The Dance Claimed Me: A Biography of Pearl Primus (Yale University Press, 2012), Peggy Schwartz and Murray Schwartz, examine the ways in which Pearl’s career influenced dance, education and culture, charting her life story through its beginnings in Trinidad and work with the New Dance Group up to and through her later years. Dr. Primus’s extensive travels through Africa, the Caribbean, Israel, the United States and Europe are discussed in this book and presented as an example of what the life of a committed dancer, scholar and humanitarian can look like through hard work and dedication. Peggy and Murray were longtime personal friends of Primus decided to take on the task of cementing her name in the literature by crafting a tender, thoughtful and soaring biography that focuses on not only her creative work but her lasting impact on the contemporary dance landscape. Peggy Schwartz is professor emeritus of dance and former director of the dance program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Murray Schwartz is former dean of humanities and fine arts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He teaches literature at Emerson College.

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37 min
August 29, 2012 Brenda Dixon Gottschild, “Joan Myers Brown and the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina: A Biohistory of American Performance” (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2011)
For the launch of the Dance Channel, I thought long and hard about what the first author interview would be. I felt that it was critically important that this channel begins with a rich conversation between myself and a well respected author whose contributions to dance scholarship were substantial. It seemed to me that this channel could function as a space where the voices of those doing rigorous work with dance at the center, could be invited into conversations that focused on their most recent project, but exposed the challenges and issues they faced along the way in trying to do their work with integrity. To that end, I knew I needed someone whose voice in dance scholarship was strong and consistent and whose contributions were undeniable. When I thought of it that way, it became clear that I needed to have this first interview showcase the work of Dr. Brenda Dixon Gottschild.
Brenda Dixon Gottschild‘s newest work, Joan Myers Brown and the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina: A Biohistory of American Performance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) chronicles the growth and development of one of the country’s most important dance companies through the life of its creator and her community. Here, the author treats readers to a backstage pass into the mind of one of the toughest ladies in dance, Joan Myers Brown, founder of the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts and later of the Philadelphia Dance Company (known lovingly as Philadanco.) It’s important to understand that this book is a “biohistory” – a work that blends not just Ms. Brown’s biography, but contextualizes it in the history of Black Philadelphia and the development of American concert dance. The book is just the most recent in the line of works written by the author whose work has always focused on bringing invisibilized narratives to light and putting them into their proper historical context. The author, who I am glad to know as “Dr. Brenda,” doesn’t shy away from the realities of race, class, power and gender that can often constrain one’s mobility in the world and her work here makes clear that to that point, the dance world is no exception. Challenges and constraints aside, Joan Myers Brown and the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina: A Biohistory of American Performance is an example of the some of the finest contemporary scholarship in dance studies. As the fifth book project for Dr. Brenda Dixon-Gottschild, fans of her work won’t be left wanting for anything in this newest book and dance enthusiasts are sure to find a compelling narrative that will leave them satisfied and wanting more of what this author has to offer.

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42 min

About New Books in Performing Arts

From the publisher's feed

This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field.