The Motional Improvisation of Al Wunder takes readers on a journey
through the life history, creative genealogies and unique working
processes of one of the master teachers of Euro-American postmodern
movement-based improvisational performance who has, until now, received
scant critical attention.
The book offers a long overdue examination of the significant impact
made by an important figure on grassroots movement-based improvisational
performance in 1960s/1970s America and in Australia from the 1980s
onwards. It revisits the work of groundbreaking New York choreographer
Alwin Nikolais, with whom Wunder trained and for whom he later taught in
the 1960s; covers collaborations with founders of 'Action Theater' Ruth
Zaporah and 'Motivity Aerial Dance' Terry Sendgraff as part of the
explosion of improvisation in San Francisco in the 1970s and tracks the
consolidation of a unique pedagogy that would see hundreds of students
learn how to map their performative creativity in Melbourne from the
1980s onwards. It conducts a fascinating investigation into the
wellsprings of Wunder's approach to improvised performance as an end in
itself, covering teaching innovations such as his use of the Hum Drum,
positive feedback, personal power sources and articulators. It includes
valuable contributions from a number of ex-students and established
Australian artists in dance, music and visual art who share the profound
impact Wunder has made on their creative practices.
This book will be a valuable resource to movement/dance improvisation
students and teachers at undergraduate and postgraduate level and
independent artists drawn to movement improvisation as performance.
