Art without Boundaries: The World of Modern Dance

by Jack Anderson

Overview

Out of his long history as dance critic for the New York Times, Jack Anderson gives us this important, comprehensive history of one of the liveliest and most unpredictable of the arts. Treating modern dance as a self-renewing art, Anderson follows its changes over the decades and discusses the visionary choreographers who have devised new modes of movement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781587292668
Publisher:	University of Iowa Press
Publication date:	02/01/1999
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Renowned for his dance criticism, Jack Anderson has written for such leading dance publications s the New York Times, Dancing Times, and Dance Magazine. He is author of Choreography Observed (IOWA, 1987), Ballet and Modern Dance: A Concise History, and The American Dance Festival, among others.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS
Introduction and Acknowledgments
Part 1: From the Beginnings to World War I
Indelible Ephemeral
Setting the Stage
O Pioneers!
Isadora Duncan, Hellenism, and Beauty
Ruth St. Denis and the Exotic
Dancing into the Future

Part 2: From World War I to the Great Depression
New Times, New Arts
Form, Feeling, Pattern, Passion
Family Trees and Hardy Growths
Denishawn
American Ferment
Rebels

Part 3: From Depression to World War II
Struggles, Dispersals, Amalgamations
Catastrophe
Modern Dance: An American Art
Crosscurrents
American Moderns
Choreographic Consciences

Part 4: From World War II to the 1960's
American Victories
Explorers and Dissenters
Iconoclasts
Fertile Ground, Barren Soil

Part 5: Since the 1960's
Stability and Change
Contemporary British Dance
A League of Dancing Nations
Conclusion: The Undefinable Redifining Art
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Dance critic Anderson offers a sweeping panorama of modern dance that comes across with the same dynamism and urgency of purpose as the subject itself. Starting with Isadora Duncan's seminal steps toward becoming the free spirit of modernism, Anderson offers an excellent, condensed survey of a phenomenon that started at the beginning of this century. Breaking away from the constraints of ballet, each autonomous development found its own idiosyncratic way, creating myriad styles, theories, techniques and aliases which are now grouped under the cloak of modern dance. To be sure, there were many namesSound Dance, Expression Dance, New Danceand some choreographers even came to be reconciled with ballet, such as Kurt Jooss and Carolyn Carlson. Anderson has a remarkable talent for engaging the reader in the complexities of the vibrant dramatis personae of the dance scene. These sketches of American, European and Asian performers are fascinating, as is the depiction of their social and cultural milieux. While necessarily limited in depth, Anderson's impressionistic account deserves credit for its scope, which includes many lesser-known and now forgotten performers. Marking the most original aspects and signal events of this art form's evolution, this is welcome as a concise reference work on the modern dance movement. Photos not seen by PW. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In his newest book, New York Times dance critic Anderson chronicles the diversity of this art form as performed throughout the world since the 19th century. The presentation is historical, so dancers and choreographers reappear in various parts of the book as the story of this art unfolds. Anderson does not attempt to define modern dance, instead reveling in its vitality as he embraces a multiplicity of expressive dance in both solo and group efforts. Anderson has rediscovered many visionary dancers who explored new modes of movement and who contributed to the development of modern dance, though their sphere of influence may have been narrow. Some of the dancers featured are well knownincluding such luminaries as Mary Wigman, Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Ted Shawn, Ruth St. Denis, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunninghambut at least an equal number will be new to most readers. Anderson's account is well researched, but above all, it is lively and entertaining reading that will appeal to all dance enthusiasts.Joan Stahl, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.

Library Journal

In Art without Boundaries Jack Anderson hails modern dance in its full boldness and clarity. With characteristic warmth, he also introduces us to many fascinating new personalities.”—Doris Hering, senior editor, Dance Magazine


“[It is] impossible to mention here all the pioneer figures characterised so concisely and accurately by Anderson—each of them placed in relation to their social and political climate....[Anderson] is well-served by his formidable talent as a wordsmith; it would be hard put to name another writer who could, in so few precise and weighty words, sketch out the individual artistic physiognomies of Graham, Horst, Humphrey, Weidman, Cunningham, Nikolais, Limón, Shearer, Horton, Taylor, Rainer, Brown, Dean and Fenley—to mention just a few of the more prominent Americans.”—Ballet International



“Anderson provides one of the most comprehensive dance history books in many years, one that draws extensively on the sociological underpinnings of dance and the personal passions of individuals. The beginning statement—'modern dance is an art as elusive as it is great'—sets the stage for an excellent discussion of some of the visionary (and, yes quirky) choreographers who devised movement for the genre. . . . Anderson deserves a big thank you for such an excellent, thought-provoking look at the world of dance.”—Choice

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