"To Americans today, modern art already seems old-fashioned. By the middle of the twentieth century, the modern novel, painting, sculpture and music had reached their heights, and a new generation of writers, artists, and composers - as well as of critics - was facing a crisis of form and content at the very root of the arts. The same was true of moderne dance - a term that encompasses a range of individual styles and idioms wich had already, since its beginnings at the turn of the century, suffered a multitude of changes, splits, and variations. We still use the term modern dance to refer indiscriminately to an enormous variety of concert art dance that is not rooted in the 'danse d'école' (i.e. ballet). Modern dance identifies itself as aesthetic, whereas revue and musical theater dancing know themselves to be entertaining."--Introduction.

Comprend une bibliographie.
Comprend un index.[-]

Comprend des notes bibliographiques.
Comprend un index.

"Taking a fresh and innovative approach to dance history, 'Dancing woman: female bodies on stage' examines the Western dance - from the Romantic Ballet to modern dance - from a feminist perspective. Renowned critic ans historian Sally Banes brings nuance and complexity to a wide range of representations of gender, departing from the common positions that stress either the victimization or celebration of women.
Combining close readings of performances with analysis of the socio-political and cultural context of specific dances, Banes opens up dynamic new ways of seeing the female body ono stage. She untangles various strands of performance, including choreographic structure and style and gaps between plot and performance. (...)"--P. [4] de la couv.[-]