Overview

A groundbreaking choreographer, lighting designer, composer, and costumer, Alwin Nikolais (1910-1993) is recognized as one of the twentieth century's most innovative artists. Incorporating novel technological and performance tactics, he invented a total language of non-literal dance theater that attracted audiences worldwide for over forty years. The Returns of Alwin Nikolais is the first book devoted to a critical analysis of Nikolais's work, and it provides a broad and important overview of his artistic and philosophical trajectory. The volume brings together essays by scholars of dance history, theater studies, music, and art history, and includes primary materials such as reviews, diary excerpts, and photographs. It is a valuable resource for teachers and students of art and culture.Contributors: PHILIP AUSLANDER, HERBERT BLAU, JANA FEINMAN, MARK FRANKO, BOB GILMORE, CLAUDIA GITELMAN, YVONNE HARDT, REBEKAH KOWAL, RANDY MARTIN, NAIMA PREVOTS, AND MARCIA SIEGEL.

Full Product Details

9780819565761

Table of Contents

Reviews

The Returns of Alwin Nikolais: Bodies, Boundaries, and the Dance Canon is admirable in its scope. ... Together, the essays form an intellectually rigorous book that is not only about a specific artistic practice but also about ways in which the study of dance can be practiced. --Kate Elswit, Dance Research Journal This welcome book launches a much needed reappraisal of Alwin Nikolais' work. It brings together critical perspectives from several different periods, and it vitally furthers the revisioning of previous narratives about twentieth-century dance that is afoot today in dance studies. --Linda J. Tomko, associate professor of dance, University of CaliforniaRiverside This welcome book launches a much needed reappraisal of Alwin Nikolais' work. It brings together critical perspectives from several different periods, and it vitally furthers the revisioning of previous narratives about twentieth-century dance that is afoot today in dance studies. --Linda J. Tomko, associate professor of dance, University of California, Riverside A magisterial volume of essays about Alwin Nikolais, a major figure in the world of American modern dance. This is an essential book about Nikolais and more--about modern dance in America. --Townsend Ludington, professor emeritus of American studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Returns of Alwin Nikolais: Bodies, Boundaries, and the Dance Canon is admirable in its scope. ... Together, the essays form an intellectually rigorous book that is not only about a specific artistic practice but also about ways in which the study of dance can be practiced. --Kate Elswit, Dance Research Journal

The Returns of Alwin Nikolais: Bodies, Boundaries, and the Dance Canon is admirable in its scope. Together, the essays form an intellectually rigorous book that is not only about a specific artistic practice but also about ways in which the study of dance can be practiced. Kate Elswit, Dance Research Journal

Author Information

Claudia Gitelman is a veteran of Broadway and the concert stage, and professor emerita at Rutgers University. She has published on the modern dance artists Hanya Holm and Mary Wigman. Randy Martin is a professor of art and public policy at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and the author and editor of several books, including Critical Moves: Dance Studies in Theory and Politics (1998).

Tab Content 6

Countries Available