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.