Performance Studies in Canada. Edited by Laura Levin and Marlis Schweitzer

Books

Performance Studies in Canada. Edited by Laura Levin and Marlis Schweitzer. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017; 448 pp.; illustrations. $120.00 cloth, $39.95 paper, e-book available.

In performance studies, particular methods have become associated with national, or even continental, traditions. Usually, such traditions are in fact institutional, which is not the same as national (except in very small countries). This collection of essays about Canadian performance studies is methodologically inclusive, and addresses themes widely taken up in the discipline, particularly locatedness, political resistance, and practice- derived theorization. Deep engagement with the legacies and ongoing reverberations of colonialism as marked on the landscape and cityscape, emergent in protest and subversive art, and tracked across historical time make this collection specifically Canadian in focus while also singularly germane to conversations about performance studies everywhere. Authors document a great breadth of political practices, such as specific decolonizing frameworks in performance, blatant seduction by neoliberal marketing, projects that capture local performative idioms, and incorporation of First Nations peoples’ ritual protocols into exhibitions, to name but a few. As Ric Knowles notes in the “Afterword,” the essays point to the artificiality of “Canada” in the manufacture of a unified identity, and to the state’s complicity in erasures born of convenient myth-making. At the same time, however, they also show the power of performance to change the discourse. The editors argue that indigenous practices are missing from “global performance studies,” which is true, but rather than just taking an additive approach, this collection importantly mounts an allied, self-reflexive critiqueagainst performance studies’ complicity in the recolo- nization of indigenous peoples through nationalized claims. We are familiar with the conscrip- tion of indigenous peoples and indigenous motifs in spectacles associated with the Olympic Games, and not just in Canada. Claiming everything as performance, according to the editors, is yet another disavowed manifestation of colonialism, exoticizing a broad-spectrum approach (26). Dylan Robinson (Stó:lo\ nation) radically eschews iconic trappings of indigeneity to show First Nations protestors’ capacity to “reorchestrate activism across sensory and artistic registers [...] to disrupt marginalization of Indigenous activism as being ‘just angry’” (231), in a strategy to de-essentialize readings of affect. Likewise, Heather Fisch-Davis (a descendent of European settlers) foregrounds the consequences of settler-derived worldviews in “positional, transpar- ent, intertextual, and imaginative” (70) criticism of geological palimpsest-building. Through exceptionally nuanced claim-making, case studies show the stakes of performative behavior and performance-based analysis that seriously reckons with histories, current contingencies, and the prospective acts of signaling futurity. The 14 chapters do not specifically provide “coverage” to regions (though the essays address performances from the Pacific to Atlantic coasts) or homage to theoreticalguiding

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176 Books onstrate someoftheinsecurities lights (thoughMarshallMcLuhan, JosetteFéral, andKeithJohnstoneallgetanod), butdem- New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology TDR: The Drama Review 62:3 (T239) Fall 2018. ©2018 published byMichigan University Press inMarch [email protected] The ofAmerica’sTransnational History Most Mutable Book,editedwithStefka Mihaylova, was Tracy C.Davis isBarber Professor ofPerforming Arts atNorthwestern University.Tom’s Uncle Cabins: under investigation. These facetsaugmentthelegibilityofscholarshipaswellcapaciousnesscases ori) reachoutsimultaneouslytocuratorialstudies, communicationstudies, andmediapractices. across thewhole. The compellingengagementswithperformance-as-theory(nottheoryapri- tions of manyworthymodelsforreaderstotakeup. ning alliedwithchangingconceptsofwhatperformancematters(andismonetized)one walking acrossabridgeoraroundsculpturalinstallations. This economicexegesisoncityplan- tinations thatbuildopportunitiesforexperiencetoencapsulatetheeveryday, forexampleby buildings thatenabledperformancesintheirinteriorstograndaspirationalarchitecturaldes- of downtowndevelopmentinCalgary;overlittlemorethanacentury, theparadigmshiftsfrom to beperformanceinorderforpoliticsseempolitics. SusanBennetttracesthehistory Ford asaperformer, evenaperformanceartist, revealingpoliticians’needtorepresswhatseems the culturalother(176). with Afghan emigréswhowaitforscenariostounfoldamidsta “conflict ethnography” totalizing stand in, likepageantwagons, foran Afghan village. Duringexercises, thevillageispopulated where amise-en-scèneofaluminumtrailers, skeletalwoodenstructures, andburnt-outvehicles women. Natalie Alvarez observesmilitarytrainingatCanadianForcesBaseCamp Wainwright, visitors thatbringsthemtowardanencounterwiththesynecdocheofmurderedandmissing casins) tomarktheabsenceofdisappearedindigenouswomen, andthegentleinstructionof (http://walkingwithoursisters.ca/) arrangementofvamps(thedecoratedupperportionmoc- phy. Inadifferentvein, JulieNagamdescribesthetravelingexhibitionWalking withOurSisters’ at thebrinkofextinction, transferredintelligiblyintoanarchiveofpracticethroughethnogra- emerge persuasivelyas “both anactofvaluationandpreservation” (370). This isperformance cod salting, woodfinding(recognizingthepotentialforboatsinlivingtrees), andropesplicing what informantsandscholarsdovis-à-visknowledge-making. Examplesofmittenknitting, maritime-based fishingculturesofNewfoundland, invokeswaystoslowdownthinkingask aweb-basedprojecttocollectvanishingpracticesof encyclopediaoflocalknowledge.com/), Canadian exceptionalism. PamHall’s chapteronTheEncyclopediaofLocalKnowledge (http:// essentializing theclaimstoperformanceaswelldebunkingperformance-based Performance StudiesinCanada’s strengthisnotjustintheexcellenceofindividualcontribu- Laura Levintakesseriouslytheblunderingmisfiresof Toronto’s notoriouslatemayorRob — they allmeasureuptoanimpressivestandard — or “performance stumblings” (23)

— or inthesenseofpluralitythatbuilds — that ensueinde-

— Tracy C. Davis Books 177 - writing” writing” By Ronald L. Grimes. Grimes. L. By Ronald

The second section, “Case,” revisits the site of Grimes’s first ritual fieldwork in 1973: the site of Grimes’s revisits “Case,” The second section, is a book anchored by four homophones. Grimes previously of Ritual Studies is a book anchored by four homophones. The Craft While ritual. is rooted in an ethnographic approach to studying “Method,” The first section, views, its core discussion revolves around the place of writing in these processes. Academic, Academic, its core discussion revolves around the place of writing in these processes. views, and interpretive modes of writing are presented argumentative, dialogic, narrative, descriptive, of “communities of ritual engaging with different as necessary textual approaches for students and increasingly that of the scholarly community, discourse: that of the community they study, encompasses being in the field of ritual, “Method” (68). that of educated nonspecialist readers” publication. as well as disseminating these experiences through writing and evoking the field, “the It involves aspect of ritual interpretation. Grimes argues for ritual criticism as an important the In this sense, (71). positive evaluative claims” documentation and analysis of negative and pastoral, aesthetic, for example, critically appraised on, “wrongs”) of ritual may be (or “rights” of method While this section offers a comprehensive overview or performative grounds. ethical, “the rit- the only surprise for me was the relative lack of discussion concerning in ritual studies, An approach to studying ritual pioneered by Grimes and one of the more important ual lab.” it was somewhat underplayed in methods for investigating nascent aspects of ritual experience, this section in preference of a more ethnographic discussion. where the pressure of publication often results in In an academic world the Santa Fe Fiesta. it is rare to find a longitudinal revisit- shorter and shorter fieldwork-to-publication timelines, lifelong cultural and ritual engagement Anya Peterson Royce’s reminiscent of ing of the field, The case study reminds us that ritual is always culturally Mexico. with the Zapotec of Juchitan, Grimes also notes that and its interpretation. both in its performance and historically framed, an aspect less often observed but equally the cultural frame of the scholar changes over time, he revisits the field with both notebook and cam- Looking specifically at technology, important. sometimes supplemented While ritual representation usually involves a written description, era. “leads with video and follows with that Grimes proposes an approach by photographs, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013; 432 pp.; illustrations. illustrations. 2013; 432 pp.; University Press, Oxford: Oxford available. e-book $ 33.95 paper, $115.00 cloth, playfulness of Grimes takes the Ronald good writers, Like most are constructed he tells us, of ritual, Theories words seriously. Sometimes these words are based on actual from words (183). but often they are built on the words and rites and experiences like Metaphors ground method but, theories of other writers. I am particu- As a singer, ride them so far. we can only a bike, - I am drawn to homo sounds of words. larly interested in the the same but mean different things. phones: words that sound and crossword puzzles, stuff of puns, Homophones are the or pro- throw us off the scent, used to fool us, They are poetry. Homophones remind us that words have vide a cryptic clue. in the Southern States “pin” very like can sound accents (“pen” in parts of “by” or “buy” can sound like “boy” just as of the US, the same sound pro- a homophone is also In music, Ireland). a violin. such as the same note played on different strings of duced in two different ways, Rite Out of Place in his earlier publication, “right” and “rite” alluded to the wordplay between are not necessarily related etymologically or seman- these words Like all homophones, (2006). and “write” to we also find reflections related publication, In this Their kinship is sonic. tically. for (3): a handbook “a book for the hand” of Ritual Studies as He describes The Craft “wright.” and the- case, It is divided into three parts: method, scholars and practitioners of ritual studies. nonhierarchical dance. (3) in an interactive, “play off each other” which ory, and conducting inter participant observation, field, it contains useful introductions to the ritual The Craft of Ritual Studies. Studies. of Ritual Craft The Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on25 September 2021

178 Books for andexperienceofthecraftritualstudies. students ofritualarealways “doing” ritual. Rite, write, right, andwrightcombineinoursearch saying, “Wisdom sits in places” (334). Whether sitting at our desks or working in the ritual field, plow a field byturning itover inyour mind.” It remindsme ofGrimes’s reference tothe Apache quote inthisregard: “Ní dhéanfaidhsmaoineamhantreabhadhduit.” Itmeans, “You’ll never in theorderof “doing,” albeitepistemicandreflexive. ThereisanIrishproverbIfrequently notwithstanding, bynamingthestudyofritualasa “craft,” Grimespositionsresearchsquarely practices andvariouslynamed(folk, popular, indigenous, traditional) “poorer” relations. This tence onthedifferencehasledtocenturiesofvexedrelationshipsbetweenso-called “high art” is, asGrimessuggests, “art’s practical minded, hands-on, manuallabourcousin” (4);theinsis- against anoveremphasisonthedifferencebetweenartandcraft. Iamnotconvincedthatcraft while alsoinsistingontheethicalimperativeofphronesis. Inthisredress, Iwouldonlycaution ship betweendoingandthinkingasordersofknowledge;epistemetechné asitwere, the theoryandpracticeofritualstudies, hearguesforareevaluationoftherelation- in thetraditionofacartwright, aplaywright, orashipwright. Blurringtheboundariesbetween ualizing, isapersonal, bodilyaction” (334). Inthissense, aritualscholaris “wright”: amaker ritual studiesandtheembodiednatureofresearch: “[N]o matterhowheady, theorizing, likerit- to providethis, despitehisownmisgivingsaroundtheusefulnessofdefinitions. tum, heunderstandsthevalueofbeingabletobounceoffsomething. Itisanactofgenerosity ied, condensedandprescribedenactment” (196). Whether wearebuildingtheoryormomen- providing whatwillsurelybecomeanewtouchstoneforritualdefinitions: “[R]itualisembod- Grimes thepedagogueismoststronglypresent. Heacquiescestothedesirefordefinitionin invitation tojointheconversation, challengeaposition, orproposeanewone. Itisherethat this hotlydebatedspaceofdefinition, classification, utility, andperformanceispresentedasan and ritualstudies, toalifelongengagementwiththeworldoftheory-building. Hismasteryof tural, andsonicdimensionsofhumanexperience. Shusterman 2008)arguingfortheimportanceofaddressingephemeral, performative, ges- Grimes addshisvoicetoagrowingnumberofsomaticscholars(Gallagher2005;Johnson2007; visual representationforenhancingtheoreticalandmethodologicalreflection. Indoingso, the movementbetweenfilmandtextisproposedasawayofharnessingpotentialaudio- (96). Remindingusthattheperformativecharacterofritualrenders “capture” anelusivesport, New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology TDR: The Drama Review 62:3 (T239) Fall 2018. ©2018 University Press, 2017). Limerick, Ireland, andauthorof Helen Phelan isProfessor ofArts Practice attheIrish World Academy ofMusic andDance, University of Shusterman, Richard. 2008. Body Consciousness: A Philosophy ofMindfulnessandSomaesthetics. Cambridge: Johnson, Mark. 2007. TheMeaningoftheBody: Aesthetics ofHumanUnderstanding.University Chicago:The Gallagher, Shaun. 2005. HowtheBody ShapestheMind. Oxford: ClarendonPress. References It isinthisthirdsectionthatGrimesmakesoneofhismostimportantclaimsforthecraft The thirdsection, “Theory,” movesfromGrimes’s deepexperientialknowledgeofritual Cambridge UniversityPress. of ChicagoPress. [email protected] Singing theRitetoBelong: Music, RitualandtheNew Irish

ee Phelan —Helen (Oxford of Books 179 - have gener — By Felicia Rice, Guillermo Rice, By Felicia facilitated by the bookwork, which takes the pains and pleasures which takes facilitated by the bookwork, — video, audio, and digital and audio, video, —

personal and political

— Both projects first manifested as artists’ books created by Gómez-Peña and collaborators Both projects first manifested as artists’ or bank accounts afford you that experience, credentials, Whether or not your location, the proj- describes a term advanced by the late artist-archivist Ulises Carrión, “Bookwork,” ated much more scholarly commentary than his publications, commentary than his publications, ated much more scholarly Border World his widely read The New even taking into account American to garnering Gómez-Peña an In addition (1996). inaugurated a significant collaboration that book Award, Book Columbus also produced Codex Espangliensis: From between Gómez-Peña and City Lights that DOC/UNDOC: volume, A sequel of sorts to that extraordinary (2000). Patrol to the Border constitutes a more thoroughgoing effort Shamánica Performática Ars Documentado/Undocumented (15) as a collaborative process that encompasses mul- “re/imagine the future of bookmaking” to “new”) and makers. and tiple media (“old” edi- Moving Parts Press in and were issued by Rice’s Felicia Rice, including printer-publisher artists’ Copies are expensive enough that most people interested in Gómez-Peña’s tions of 50. Codex Espangliensis (1998) and DOC/UNDOC (2014) books will encounter the limited-edition to work in or near you happen like me, If, collections. only in museum and university rare book splendor. you too can experience them in all their intermedial an institution that holds copies, of the códi- bound accordion-style in the manner can unfold each letterpress-printed book, You can You 6 inches. to its full length of 31 feet, ces painted by preconquest Mesoamerican scribes, papers on which Rice printed the collages she com- see and feel the texture of the handmade and photographed images with Gómez-Peña’s engraved, painted, posed by combining drawn, you can lift , If you can procure one of the 15 deluxe copies of DOC/UNDOC performance texts. the built-in hear the audio files resounding from the book out of its decorated aluminum case, enough to own one, If you are fortunate and watch the videos on an enclosed DVD. speakers, “con- generously suggest in one of the audio pieces: you can do as Gómez-Peña and colleagues personae with the fashioning [...] for a few hours,” sider yourself a Chicano performance artist arranged in a tray beneath the book. “ritual objects” and assorted makeup, mask, luchador As they did with its predeces- the new edition of DOC/UNDOC more than merits a reading. have reconceived DOC/ and City Lights editor Elaine Katzenberger Rice, Gómez-Peña, sor, of making the artists’ book and its col- with the admirable intention UNDOC as a trade edition, The oversize volume commences laborative production process accessible to a larger audience. of the case opened to display the objects high-resolution color photographs with striking, see yourself or your Though you won’t to its lid. as well as the mirrors affixed packed inside, the edition does elicit less literal forms of reflec- masked personae in these images of mirrors, tion of identity formation and transformation as its major subject. the printed which may unduly emphasize book,” “artists’ ect better than the more widely used the project actually began As the copious introductory texts and images detail, component. DOC/UNDOC: DOC/UNDOC: Ars Documentado/Undocumented Performática. Shamánica Gómez-Peña, Jennifer A. González, Gustavo Vazquez, and and Vazquez, Gustavo González, A. Jennifer Gómez-Peña, and Moving Francisco: City Lights San Watkins. Zachary James $24.50 paper. 2017; 104 pp.; illustrations. Parts Press, Guillermo would probably identify Casual readers of TDR in that order. artist and writer, Gómez-Peña as a performance But his service as a contributing editor. Subscribers might note pub- hold all 10 of Gómez-Peña’s even those whose shelves pedagog- essays, poems, performance texts, lished collections of interviews may not think of him as especially and ical exercises, His appropriations printed matter per se. invested in producing of electronic media Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on25 September 2021

180 Books matter carries performance writinginaDOC/UNDOCaudiofile. Wary oftheculturalconnotationsprinted tations ofstrictlinearity, butalsovisuallysignifythe in-progressstatusheascribestoallhis through thegutter. reproductions of Artemio Rodriguez’s ElMuertoriderprint Gómez-Peña’s “Tired of Walking North” boundaries ofthe Western printedpagetogreatvisualimpact. For example, hercollagefor That said, thephotographsofRice’s denselyoverprintedspreadsdotransgresstheconventional an embodied, performance-orientedreadingpracticewiththeinsistenceoflimitededition. members oftheRoyalChicano Airforce collective. The paperback’s formatdoesnotdemand intermedia artistFelipeEhrenberg(amentorofGómez-Peña’s), writerCherríeMoraga, and ists, includingpainterandprintmakerEnriqueChagoya(whoseimagesinhabitEspangliensis), American codex, asformatandmetaphor, hasbeentakenuptosuchvitaleffectbyLatinxart- those thatemergedinword-worshippingEuropeanditscolonies. That iswhytheindigenous about thecódicessuggestsverydifferentrelationsbetweeninscriptionandperformancethan Diana Taylor, Walter Mignolo, andMiguelLeón-Portillahave shownthatwhathistoriansknow dimensional preconquest-stylecódices, whichunfoldfromrighttoleft. Scholarsincluding entary, linear, left-to-right, page-turningpracticedisorientedbythemoreblatantlythree- they afford. Becausethisbookisformattedasa Western codex, readerscanmaintainthesed- engagement thepaperbackeditioncannot. The editionsalsodifferinthereadingpractices (1935–41), andcontemporaryMexicanChicanxhomealtars early moderncabinetsofcuriosities, modernistartworkslikeMarcelDuchamp’s Boîte-en-valise case off “paranoia, racism, culturalloneliness, formalistaesthetics, andpoliticaldespair” (3). The reflected inthecase’s mirrors, using itsobjectsin “rituals” intendedto “heal” andtoward history whenthisrelativelymodestrequestsoundsnotjustradicalbututopian. ary transnationalcollective’s efforttoperformand “embrace difference” (12)atamomentinUS to createresponsiveyetdistinctiveinstallmentsoftheirown An Invitation,” isoneofmanyexplicitindicationsthattheedition’s creatorsencouragereaders tice, whichnowincludesliveperformance. Heressay’s title, “Collaboration andMetamorphosis: group ofcollaborators, aprocessRicedescribesastransformativeforherownartisticprac- Each newcomponentandparticipantproceedsfromaninvitationextendedby Vazquez, soundartist Watkins, andarthistorianGonzález, andanotherwithKatzenberger. Gómez-Peña’s publicprominence. As ithappened, RicemadeaninstallmentwithGómez-Peña, enced intheDOC/UNDOCaudio, andwhichhasalwaysbeenacollaborativeendeavordespite nated thateditionasaninstallmentof “Documented/Undocumented,” whichisdirectlyrefer Had Ricedesignedandprintedasolo “response” tothevideos, theymightwellhavedesig- serves toplaceanynumberofdiscreteworksincloserelation, butwithoutamalgamatingthem. ing “Border Brujo: A PerformancePoem” publishedinTDR Undocumented, recallsGómez-Peña’s earlierseriesofperformances, writings, andvideos, includ- who invitedRicetomakeabook “in response.” The titleofthesequence, Documentado/ as avideoseries(accessedinthiseditionviaUSBkey)madebyGómez-Peñaand Vazquez, tion, Gómez-Peñawrote initialversionsofmostthesetextsinpreviousdecades. At nopoint psychological, andeconomicviolence theUnitedStatesinflictsuponpeopleofcolor. impelled totraversenational, cultural, andlinguisticboundarieswhileconfronting thephysical, the script’s flexibilitybutalsotheuncertaintyandexhaustionofperformance artist, whois slightly aboveandbelowoneanother. The wordswaveracrossthelines, suggestingnotonly “tentative.” Ricehasrenderedthistraitbydigitallycomposingthetext, setting individualletters Further, Rice’s typographicinterpretationsofGómez-Peña’s scriptsnotonlyeschewexpec- Readers ofthiseditioncannotrespondbyperformingdifferencefortheaudienceone Mexico City–bornandCalifornia-based, atransnationalsubjectbynecessityandinclina- — which González’s informativeessayconfirmsismeanttoevokemedievalreligiousart, — fixity, durability, andauthority

— which layershistext, herownghostlysketches, and — Gómez-Peña pointedlypronouncesthetexts — — (1991). The seriesdesignation rolls intothemarginsandright to “join in” theinterdisciplin- — obviously offersmodesof expanding - Books 181 - Theater,

By Elise Jennifer — Jennifer Buckley By Simone Browne. Durham, Durham, By Simone Browne. with one of the well-known per with one of the well-known (“being the Spanish documentado — — is now an excruciating one for US residents is now an excruciating

—

SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, Shaw Bernard of Journal The SHAW: . [email protected] Journal Theatre , Modernism/modernity

The photographs of the trenchant text-image collages and the case, and the illuminat- case, the trenchant text-image collages and the The photographs of Theatre Survey, Theatre NC: Duke University Press, 2015; 213 pp.; illustrations. $84.95 cloth, $23.95 paper. $84.95 cloth, pp.; illustrations. 2015; 213 NC: Duke University Press, From revelations of the documents leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013 to the recent the public has become increasingly enlightened about the Analytica data breach, Cambridge Google use ubiquitous GPS tracking systems through We everyday surveillance of citizens. we In every corner of our urban spaces, Maps and location-specific filters on Instagram. perhaps our concern is not as much with being media, Using social encounter CCTV cameras. and Discipline and Desire Elise Morrison’s climate, In this watched as not being seen enough. both remind us of important questions specific to theatre and Matters Dark Simone Browne’s Morrison. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016; 367 pp.; illustrations. $75.00 cloth, $75.00 cloth, 2016; 367 pp.; illustrations. Arbor: University of Michigan Press, Ann Morrison. $34.95 paper. Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness. On the Surveillance of Blackness. Dark Matters: Discipline and Desire: Surveillance Technologies in Performance. in Performance. Technologies Surveillance Discipline and Desire: TDR: The Drama Review 62:3 (T239) Fall 2018. ©2018 2018. Fall (T239) 62:3 Review Drama The TDR: New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of Institute Massachusetts the and University York New did he experience a reprieve from the racist and imperialist aggressors to whom he talks back whom he talks back aggressors to the racist and imperialist a reprieve from did he experience he recent years, In Interrogation.” “Border and There” Were You Here Because Are “We in constitutes If DOC/UNDOC relevance. their contemporary such scripts to test has performed - upon this edi is agonizingly apparent the scripts’ salience in a different medium, a similar test presidency College granted the after the US Electoral occurs one year which publication, tion’s those especially demonized immigrants, racial resentment and who stoked white to a candidate “painful dichot- The origin. and Middle Eastern American, and South Central of Mexican, in the first two terms in the subtitle Rice identifies omy” informed”) and the English “undocumented” informed”) and the English (10). who lack legal status “re/ which less comprehensively constitute the core of this edition, ing essays by the creators, the paperback also That said, 2014 installment. than does DOC/UNDOC’s the book imagine[s]” which readers and video files, of printed codex and digital audio innovates in its combination video Each the inside back cover. drive inserted in an envelope glued to access through the flash encounter with another performance stages Gómez-Peña’s formance artists to whose work he responds in humorous (Stelarc) or meditative (James Luna) work he responds in humorous (Stelarc) formance artists to whose on whom the performer turns Vazquez, with homenaje; with the Others inhabiting his psyche; or no medium merely The videos foreground the fact that the camera in a sharply funny duelo. serves as an like the screen watched by viewers, lens, documents a performance; the camera’s makes drive” “thumb (A USB one or more of which may be human. interface between systems, which the The same is true of the paperback edition, this point more clearly than does a DVD.) It is their frankly utopian “a traveling case for apprentice shamans.” have subtitled colaboradores learn to inhabit like shamans, the bookwork will, hope that readers who actively interface with world. the interstices of our dangerously polarized she teaches courses where of Iowa, at the University of English is Assistant Buckley Professor Jennifer in modern appeared have and contemporary essays and reviews drama and performance studies. Her in , and Drama Comparative Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on25 September 2021

182 Books with morequestionsthananswers. Shealsoeminentlysetsupconceptualframesthat helpus as (new)media. Morrison guidesusclearlythroughhermomentsofspectatorshipyet leavesus but itisalsoawelcomeaddition tothescholarshipondigitaltheatreandperformanceaswell Morrison shows, willhelp usshedourculturalhabituations. ation effectsorSituationiststrategies ofdétournement. Iffullysuccessful, theperformances, examples makeournormsfeel “productively queasy” through theiruseofBrechtianalien- capture andevidence” (34). trates howthecriticallensofperformancehelpsuslearnabout “emergent visualtechnologiesof form ofrepresentation. Morrison’s theorizingandcontextualizationoftheseperformancesillus- tion. Itfunctionsinmanyoftheperformancesbyplacing surveillanceinamorerecognizable They allcommunicateacrossthechaptersandshouldnotbe considered inisolation. tion andactivism. The samemetaphorappliestoherdiscussions ofartiststrategiesandtactics. depending onwherewetunein, wecanlistentodifferent strandsofongoingfeministtheoriza- feminist wavesoftheorization, Morrisonwritesthatsheprefersthemetaphorofwavelengths: stages, instreets, onscreens, inourbodies, onourskins, andintheskies. Inherdiscussion of linearity orasenseofprogressbetweenthem There issomeemphasisonrecentdevelopmentssuchastheBlackLivesMattermovement. of theparticularlymaterialistandpsychoanalyticfeministtheoristsshedeploysinheranalyses. ences ofsurveillance. That said, Morrisonstilldoesnotlosefocusofanintersectionalcritique ume succeedsinthatmanyoftheexamplesbookchallengeexplicitlygenderedexperi- what shecallsanundertheorizationofgenderinsurveillancestudies. The missionofhervol- inisms asatheoreticalframeworkwithwhichtounderstandsurveillancepractices ralist inthefifthchapter, forinstance. Shealsofirmlycommandssecond-andthird-wavefem- applies totheexamples:antibiometricartworksaresimultaneouslycontextualizedasantinatu- ways theydesire. This isanideathatgreatlypermeatesDark Matters as well. mines whatisrenderedvisibleandinvisibleallowsforthemtoexistperforminwhichever strongly linkedtothatofsurveillance:certainbodieswatchother storytelling, andfurtherarguesthatthedynamicthroughwhichwecreateouridentitiesis Not onlywillDisciplineandDesire beusefulforstudentsoftheatre andperformancestudies Particularly usefulinMorrison’s survey-likestudyisthewaysheshowshowsomeofher Among thestrategiesthatMorrisonidentifiesacrosscase studiesisaboveallremedia- Morrison hasorganizedherchaptersspatially Morrison displaysafundamentalknowledgeoftheoriesthetheatricalavantgardethatshe veillance asanaltogethertheatricalornarrativemediumfor traditional dramatictheatricalproductions. Shetheorizessur formance” andherexamplesareprimarilyperformances Britain, Canada, andtosomeextenttheCaribbean. Browne’s examplesareremarkablyoftenfromtheUS, Great of historicalandcontemporarysurveillance, Morrison’s and although theybothpointoutthetransnationalorglobalreach the darkmomentof9/11anditsenduringaftermath. However, tive waysofexistingintheworld. Bothofthemalsodealwith importantly, enablescreativeresponsesthatgeneratealterna- ship, aswellthewaythatsurveillancepermeatesourlivesand, veillance inourcontemporaryandhistoricalmodelsofcitizen- intersection ofthesetechnologiesandourselves. the analyticalcategoriesofrace and genderinunderstanding the performance, andthecontinualstressthatweneedtoplaceon Morrison focusesonwhatshecalls “surveillance artandper Both authorslookcloselyattheproductiveforcesofsur — as wemovefromperformancestakingplaceon — an interestingchoicetoescapetemporal — a logicthatdeter — to counter - - - - Books 183 - - recent history to suggest a hopeful futurity. Browne recent history to suggest a hopeful futurity. — more or less —

, is squarely is squarely , Desire than Discipline and more so , Matters Dark Browne spends many pages tracking the etymology and con- Browne spends many dif- makes apparent another big strongest, which is perhaps her third chapter, Browne’s almost teasing the reader to leave some thoughts unfinished, sometimes she tends However, and both volumes frame everyday experiences in such a way that our perspective Ultimately, which the European Union agreed upon the General Data Protection Regulation, Recently, located in the field of surveillance studies. Browne makes clear Browne studies. the field of surveillance located in this area with the surveillance between terms in connections as such America, in 17th-century North and control of slaves slave adver runaway managerial control, Tait’s Williams Charles categorize and understand the performances. As such, the book can be a useful tool in the class- be a useful tool in the the book can such, As performances. and understand the categorize used and both about the methodologies many conversations it would quickly spur room where spectatorship. the role of tisements, and racial inscriptions in the federal census. As such, such, As inscriptions in the federal census. and racial tisements, . than Discipline and Desire has a narrower focus Matters Dark makes use of fewer examples from per Browne Consequently, formance art and theatre. These appear alongside visual art and These appear alongside visual art formance art and theatre. to the more sociological history of film as creative responses to anti-black racism in the US, surveillance and its connection her introduction and first chapter. detailed by Browne in such as the panop- text of terms such as surveillance and ideas the coining strongest contribution is Browne’s Indeed, ticon. to surveillance” “racializing She uses of new and useful terms. are rendered marked describe the moment when certain bodies “dark term Her by the very surveillance itself. or racialized and often discriminated against discrim- names the tactics that enable a critique of racializing surveillance when sousveillance” by coping, either themselves out of (white) sight, inated subjects or artists attempt to render sousveillance range from advertisements describing Seth, Examples of or critiquing. resisting, video installation Adrian Piper’s to whiteness, a runaway slave passing as white by performing of anti-black surveillance What It Is #3 (1991) in which the usual suspect/object Like, What It’s speaks back against objecthood and subjectification. and the comprehensive approach of Matters Dark ference between the affective language of Browne inserts sentences that move the reader out of compla- At times, . Discipline and Desire racist history making us aware of the painful, cency and into the materiality of the histories, a worn-down branding discussion of An example can be found in Browne’s describing. she’s to be used to mark humans as property, “Think here of what it means for a branding iron, iron: (100). worn down” complex questions about agency and subjectivity under with more provocations than answers to and the exam- Some transitions between the more theoretical passages racialized surveillance. ples would have been useful at times. They both remind us about the invisi- perhaps even our very behavior might change as a result. and privileging structures that govern us and that discipline us as dif- prioritizing, ble ordering, Morrison unrecognized ways or ways that we forget. often in ferently gendered and racialized, “process by a “new amnesia,” explicitly refers to this forgetting by referencing James Harding’s (229). which we might choose to forget about data doubles that we cannot see or control” The initiative is designed to protect the data doubles described will be enforced mid-2018. While it is unclear to what extent the regulations will affect corporate and gov- by Harding. to note here that we are not facing a hopeless it is important ernment surveillance in the US, they Rather, described here are conclusively dystopic. neither of the books Similarly, future. offer us glimpses into Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on25 September 2021

184 Books out alifetime, furtherevidenced intheintergenerationalLizLermanDanceExchange andthe Against theOdds(1988)indicatesthat, indeed, thereisadesiretocontinuedancingthrough- of booksondancerself-care, including DanielNagrin’s seminalHowtoDanceForever: Surviving are justafewwhohavesustained theirdancecareersinto60s, 70s, andeven 80s. The host former danceselves, and performerssuchasSimoneForti, GusSolomonsJr., andEikoOtake as MikhailBaryshnikovand Wendy Whelan haveexplorednewpossibilities sinceretiringtheir Arts, Science, and Technology (HASTAC). Alliance andCollaboratory [email protected] the 2010s.” He isalsoDirector ofHASTAC Scholars,avibrantstudentnetwork withintheHumanities, Burlesque inNew York City from 1930sGolden Age Burlesque totheNew York Boylesque Festival in currently “The Roots and completinghisdissertation, Routes ofBoylesque: Queering Male Striptease and Kalle Westerling isaPhD Candidate inTheatre and atThePerformance Graduate Center, CUNY, us toexist, physicallyanddigitally, intheworld. reminds us, thereisagreatdealmoreworktobedonebyartistsmodelalternativewaysfor living with, refusals, andalternativestoroutinized, racializingsurveillance” (82). As Morrison points outthat “cultural production, expressiveacts, andeverydaypracticesoffermomentsof New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology TDR: The Drama Review 62:3 (T239) Fall 2018. ©2018 and Beautyseries(2014 Hennessey/Sara SheltonMann’s relatedSara theSmuggler(2015), toMiguelGutierrez’s Age able stageworks, fromRemyCharlip/LucasHoving’s GrowingUpinPublic(1984)andKeith side injury. Comingtotermswithchangeinrelation toafixedidealhasyieldedsomeremark- benefit fromagreaterdiversityofbodilyperspectivesandrole models. lar displaysofparticularkindsvirtuosity, evenasonthe wholewearelivinglongerandmight of theleasthospitabletoagingbodies. We remainayouth-oriented culturedrawntospectacu- cert dancewithitsrelatedtechniques(ballet, modern, contemporary, andnowhiphop)isone For aprofessionaldancer, the agingprocessisoneofmostprofoundinacareer, along- –15) andDavidGordon’s Live Archiveography $44.95 paper, e-bookavailable. Brandstetter. London:Routledge, 2017;180pp.;illustrations. Further compoundingtheissueisthatfieldof Western con- culture’s lackofunderstandingaboutthebodymindconcept. ers likeit(Frontiers2017)arejustfurtherexamplesof Western ing newstothosewhopracticedance, yetthisarticleandoth- exercise forthebrain” (Brown2017). This isnotexactlybreak- addition toitsobviousphysicalbenefits, itis “themosteffective ber oneexerciseforslowingdowntheagingprocess” because, in Dance, accordingtorecentneuroscienceresearch, is “the num- illustrations. $35.00paper. By SusanneMartin. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2017;192pp.; through ImprovisationPractice andPerformance. Dancing Rethinking Age(ing): Age(ing) inand Perspective. The Aging BodyinDance: A Cross-Cultural Edited byNanakoNakajimaandGabriele

(2016–17). Virtuosossuch Kalle Westerling —Kalle Books 185 - themselves and not all Japanese artistic forms are as accessi- and not all Japanese artistic forms are as — as touchstones. The ongoing careers of these artists The as touchstones. — often based in improvisation

—

developed from two symposia held in Berlin, Germany (2012), and Germany (2012), in Dance developed from two symposia held in Berlin, Aging Body The through Nakajima’s essay selection and organization are best understood The book’s Two recent books make important contributions to age as it pertains to dance, albeit via it pertains to dance, to age as make important contributions recent books Two Yvonne Anna Halprin, as postmodern dance pioneers such The texts similarly recognize gery, and gender construction, ultimately the message is that we all want to belong rather than ultimately and gender construction, gery, norms we go to great lengths to meet youthful cultural West and in the stand apart as different, “enhanced Agamben to understand the aging person as an Drawing on Giorgio of belonging. “radical cross- Nakajima concludes with the suggestion that (14), corporeal subject: bare life” through the visibility of the aestheti- cultural juxtaposition of dance aesthetics and its politics, of Euro-American unsettles the negative valuation” cally valued aging body in Japanese dance, is at times awk- “Overview” and “Introduction” While the writing in both the perspectives (25). both of the nuanced topics in these sections, clouding some of the complexities wardly phrased, as a coun- are clear in their argument that Japanese dance stands less as an object of study than terpoint for a reconsideration of Euro-American values and beliefs. collectively gesture to a larger topic of inquiry within dance studies that moves beyond any one a larger topic of inquiry within dance studies collectively gesture to a testa- Danspace Project 2017), of these artists are still performing (see Many artist biography. with the condition of ongoing bodily change in ment to the multiple ways each has contended ways that redefine the profession. cross- The series of essays address the themes of biological aging and Japan (2014). Tokyo, scholar, a lecturer, by Nakajima, “Introduction” as outlined in the cultural aesthetics of aging, professor at Freie a senior and Brandstetter, Japan, and dramaturg working in Germany and a range of esteemed authors familiar to dance stud- The slim text hosts Universität in Berlin. Petra Kuppers, Foellmer, Susanne Albright, Ann Cooper Ramsay Burt, including Rainer, ies, Japanese schol- They are joined by the voices of European and and Mark Franko. Janice Ross, essays some of whose Watanabe, Tomotsu and Toyama, Kikuko ars such as Johannes Odenthal, essay “Overview” by a theoretical four sections are prefaced The book’s appear in translation. the impressively wide-ranging theoretical threads by Nakajima that attempts to weave together continuous updating of is the “Aging all to argue that, and culture, politics, that address gender, (11). identity” one’s As traditions. critique of ageist Euro-American dance structures by way of Japanese “Overview” level of ability” aging is considered a progression to a higher “For dancers in Japan, she notes, one that has in professional dance this is not just any aging body but rather Importantly, (22). remained practicing in a particular tradition in which teachings are passed down from system, “family” (the iemoto or West ble as those in the her argument Nakajima does not reduce Still, is strictly regulated). masters to select students, “schism between a dancer’s observation that there is a Beginning with the to mere comparison. “what one thinks one can she explores the complexities of (11), reception” feeling and a viewer’s aesthetic sur theoretical discourses on biopolitics, Tracing (12). do and what one can really do” , edited , Perspective A Cross-Cultural in Dance: Aging Body The and approaches. different forms written volume of short essays is an edited Brandstetter, Nakajima and Gabriele by Nanako Dancing Age(ing): and Japan. Europe, from the US, and artist-scholars by scholars Rethinking a single- by Susanne Martin is and Performance Practice in and through Improvisation Age(ing) both texts notably agree that dancers However, monograph. authored practice-based their expectations and aware of their changing bodies and update need to become more audiences might in various ways, as each text also stresses Equally, approaches to their craft. experiences beyond the kinesthet- viewing and sensorial expectations and begin to expand their ics of youthful virtuosity. they the techniques and choreographic structures and and Simone Forti, Steve Paxton, Rainer, forged former Nederlands Dans Theater 3 comprised of artists over 40. It is thus well past due that the thus well past due that It is over 40. 3 comprised of artists Theater Dans former Nederlands traditions. wisdom found in its living the knowledge and dance embraces Western field of Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on25 September 2021

186 Books artist KazuoOhno. the restofbodyhasceasedtobemobile, sensitivelytoldinNakajima’s finalessayonbutoh concern continuesinthefinalsection’s essaysonhandmovementaswheredanceresidesonce as apoliticsofenergyandcritiquesthevaluethatequateshypermobilitywithdanceitself. This happen toyou. [...]Itwill. I’msorry. Itwillhappen” (78–79). The thirdsectionreturnstoaging ful “Silent Rhythm” upendsfantasiesofavoidingdeathwhenshewrites, “I’m so, sosorry. Itwill diversity ofpossibleexpressionsthehumanbody” (74). KaiteO’Reilly’s chillingandpower essay inparticularchronicleshow “peeling back” expectationsofnormalcyallowsfor “a broader studies andrecognizestheneedfornewchoreographicprocesses. Artist-scholar JessCurtis’s a bodychanges. The secondsectionaddressesalternatemodesofmobilitybasedindis/ understanding ofvirtuosityacrossUS, German, andJapanesedancethatisnolessrigorousas which highlightsbutisnotlimitedtoage. FromRainertoZeami, theessayscallforanupdated first sectionaddressesissuesofchoreographicexperimentationinthefacephysicallimitation, tributions. Collectively, however, theyposearichrangeofquestionsforfurtherresearch. The incomplete asresearchstudies, whichmaybedueinparttotheiroriginationassymposiacon- she productivelylaysoutinher chaptersascholarlyresearchfoundation, presentsaparticular between researcherandresearched (47). Utilizinga “practice-as-research” methodof inquiry, ing ofscholarshipandself-reflexive practice, orasMartinputsit, thefluidprocess of inquiry postmodern dance. youth- dialog andsupportstructures, andbuild “microstructures for sustainedartisticpracticeina ing ofvirtuosity. Shediscusseshowexpertimprovisersdeal withphysicalconstraints, rethink temporary dancepracticewithinthecontextof’60spostmodern improvisationanditsrethink- in mid-20th-centurydanceexperiments, andMartinsimilarly situatesherownevolvingcon- ize age(ing)moregenerally” (171). The Nakajima/Brandstetter anthologyanchorsitsdiscussion reflective andsomaticallyintelligentembodiedpracticethat can influencehowweconceptual- Martin’s project, hermainagendais “to acknowledgeandfurtherdance’s potentialasacreative, areas withindancestudiesscholarship. Yet whilediversity andinclusionareimportantto “cultural age,” “psychological age,” and “statistical age” (59) K. Woodward’s categories In comparisontothe “Overview,” thesubsequentessaysarequiteshortandattimesfeel In additiontoabroaderlenson postmoderndance, whatdistinguishesthistextisthe meet- This text’s agestudiesscholarshipprovideshelpfulframeworksforlookingatdance. oriented professionalfield” (89) — “chronological age,” “biological or functional age,” “social age,” not haveauniversalvalue. cess weexperiencethroughoutourlivesthatinandofitselfdoes that “age” referstooldage, wheninfactageisanongoingpro- “age criticaldancepractice” asawaytodeconstructthenotion alongside class, race, andgender. Shealsodeploysthephrase and toolforunderstandingageasasocialmarkerofdifference employs parenthesesin “age(ing)” asagrammaticaldisruption Borrowing fromGermanageresearcherMiriamHaller, Martin viewed asdualisticandfixedpositions the gapsandspacesofnegotiationbetweenwhatarecommonly reographer, performer, andscholar, Martinhaskeeninsightinto within acertainculturalcontext coupled withanextendeddiscussionofspecificartisticstrategies what thefirstlacks conference thatspawnedthefirstbook, andshehelpfullybrings tion, andcriticalanalysis. Coincidentally, Martinwaspartofthe bination ofscholarlyandembodiedresearch, practice, reflec- Dancing Age(ing) Dancing Age(ing) — topics thatextendwellbeyondtheboundariesof’60s — addresses agingindancethroughacom- a focusonagingassustainedprocess — offer arangeofunder-researched — in thiscasetheUK. As acho- — youth andoldage. ability - Books 187 Megan V. — Megan V. Nicely further inquiry. further inquiry. — and indeed call for —

, and others. She is currently Coeditor of the Critical of the Critical Coeditor is currently , and others. She Research Performance and Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of San Francisco, whose program whose program Francisco, of San at the University of Dance TDR and Assistant Professor one of “reciprocity and complicity” akin to a host-guest situation at a dinner party situation at a dinner akin to a host-guest and complicity” “reciprocity one of

— as well as to larger discourses on spectatorship. as well as to larger discourses

— -number-one-exercise-slowing-aging-process/. -number-one-exercise-slowing-aging-process/. www.danspaceproject.org/calendar 17 November 2017. Accessed 22–28 October. City, York New /simone-forti-steve-paxton-yvonne-rainer-tea-for-three/. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170825124902.htm. 1 December 2017. If the larger concern of both texts is that cultural understandings of lifelong changes in If the larger concern of both texts is that The topic of aging cuts across dance studies in multiple ways, making the exact interventions across dance studies in multiple ways, The topic of aging cuts TDR: The Drama Review 62:3 (T239) Fall 2018. ©2018 2018. Fall (T239) 62:3 Review Drama The TDR: New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Technology of Institute Massachusetts the and University York New Megan V. Nicely is an artist-scholar working within contemporary choreography and Japanese butoh. butoh. is an artist-scholar within contemporary working and Japanese Nicely choreography V. Megan and she has published in TDR, performances in the US, UK, and Europe, been produced have Her , Practices Choreographic Acts section of Acts focuses on the arts and social change. [email protected] References https://ideapod.com/neuroscientists-reveal Accessed 18 November 2017. Ideapod. 2017. Justin. Brown, Danspace Project, Three.” for Tea Rainer: Yvonne Steve Paxton, “Simone Forti, 2017. Danspace Project. Accessed 25 August. ScienceDaily, in the brain.” “Dancing can reverse the signs of aging 2017. Frontiers. mobility deserve careful attention, then questions of which bodies can move freely, and where then questions of which bodies can move freely, mobility deserve careful attention, particularly at the current moment of increased racial are also of central importance, and when, While these issues are unad- and digital surveillance. global migrations, and ethnic tensions, is thus much to There the ground has been laid for linkages to be forged. dressed in the works, life is surely a cre- Living both separately and together. be applauded in the two contributions, from the exists in all aspects of our culture, Age discrimination ative and often improvised act. solve these Dance alone cannot friendship relations. workplace to urban planning to family and the worlds and re-envisioning challenging, but it can reveal ways to practice questioning, issues, in which bodies think and move. is both more difficult and more useful in that in Dance is both more difficult Aging Body The of each text hard to place. “a cross-cultural perspective,” While the subtitle, for future research. it poses numerous avenues and social inquiry when in suggesting multiple points of geographic is somewhat misleading, stands Japan dance in the US and Europe (by way of Germany), Western fact the critique is of and counter example that cultural reference Western-related but as a productive non-Western limited scope serves to frame rather The from speaking in generalizations. prevents the volume the relations between the essays in and while comprehensive study, than fall short of a promised the gaps do allow tighter, each section might be choreographic work or process, and then engages in self-reflective analysis. That the author and That the author self-reflective analysis. and then engages in work or process, choreographic that but naval-gazing, skillful hands result in study could in less also the objects of her work are into provides insight and the content is clear and accessible, The writing here. is not the case notion of her For instance, for performance. values and larger concepts personal both Martin’s rela- approach to the performer-audience both to her particular speaks audience” “hosting an tionship (43) Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on25 September 2021

188 Books political, aesthetic which todetanglethematerialityandephemeralityofbodyitstimelyimport own astute, rigorousrelationshiptoimage, document, andmediation;eachsoughtameansby and text)evidences, eachoftheseartists, intheir variedmodesofembodiedresearch, forgedher tingencies, andpotentialabsencesinarchivingperformance. As RadicalBodies(bothexhibition in theircreativeprocess, itisalsoaninstitutioncommittedtonegotiatingtheparadoxes, con- (2008:125). Underscoringeachartist’s distinct incorporationofwriting, drawing, andrecording piece, the liveartofwhat-has-been,” asCarrieLambert-BeattyhaswritteninrelationtoRainer’s 1968 body. The NYPL, “a librarydedicatedtothetemporallytangledactivityofpreservingfornow ries, creatingtheirownnewenvironmentfordiscovery...for thebody, withthebody, andofthe substantial archives. Installedinrelation, theywovetogetheruncannyconversationsandsto- in thesummerof2017, Iencounteredartifactsbothfamiliarandrarelyseenfromtheseartists’ relocation tothe Vincent Astor GalleryattheNew York CityLibraryofthePerforming Arts poraneous politicsandsymbolichistory(29). Makingmywaythroughtheexhibitionuponits dance byconstellatingartisticmovementsinthe West reographer Anna Halprinshiftsthe “geographical andgenealogicaloriginstory” ofpostmodern East Coast, RadicalBodiesarguesthattheirsignificantrelationshipstoMarinCounty–basedcho- cally JudsonDance Theatre. While both Yvonne RainerandSimoneFortididhavetiestothe choreographic, performance performance makerswhowerehighlyinfluentialontheartisticinnovations lection ofartifactstoldthestorythreeinterconnected, feminist, embodiedresearchersand paintings, scores, filmsandvideo, correspondence, andscenicsculpturalobjects, thecol- cusp betweenmodernandpostmodernexperimentation. Consistingofphotographs, drawings, mary modeoftransmission locating thisradicalbodyinhistory andtrackingitslineageintothepresent. Givendance’s pri- formance, andtime-basedmaterials. Taking acuefromitstitle, the textlithelywrestleswith listic ethosthatperformativelyaddressestheintangibleaspects ofitssubjects:thebody, per invite thevoicesofartist, critic, andcollaborator, respectively, givingthebookadiversesty- sonal anecdotesbyForti, JohnRockwell, andMorton Subotnick. These supplementarypieces book’s editors, thetextadditionallyweavestogetherartistwritings, criticalreflection, and per maintaining acritical, discursiveperspective, especially inthethreegroundingessaysby offers anabsorptiverecordthatcelebratesHalprin, Forti, andRainer’s historicaloeuvres. While memory. Suchfidelity tolineagemightattimeshinderthetext, whichcould havedonemore ument revealsthetrickinessof recording thecorporealandsubjectivefluctuationsof More thananexhibitioncatalogue, thetext, populated byimagesoftheexhibit’s Performance Documentation, setinitsgalleries, providesanotablesettingfortheexhibition — through choreographicpractice. — — through filiation historically associatedwith1960sNew York City, andspecifi- midable womenartiststhroughoutthisnascentperiodonthe York, 1955–1972, tracingthesharedlineagesofthesethreefor Halprin, SimoneForti, and Yvonne andNew RainerinCalifornia inaugurated anextensiveexhibitiontitledRadicalBodies: Anna In Januaryof2017, theUniversity of California at Santa Barbara Yale UniversityPress, 2016;249pp.;illustrations. $75.00cloth. Schneemann,Vito Acconci. The Concrete Body: Yvonne Rainer, Carolee 1955–1972. and Yvonne andNew RainerinCalifornia York, Radical Bodies: Anna Halprin, SimoneForti, Press, 2016;192pp.;illustrations. $55.00cloth. Perron, andBruceRobertson. Berkeley:UniversityofCalifornia — Edited byNinotchkaBennahum, Wendy evidencing thislineageinthearchival doc- — a moverepletewithitsowncontem- By Elise Archias. NewHaven: — visual, literary, artifacts, — social, - - - Books 189 sexualized project (1972) or Linda Linda or (1972) project Womanhouse art historical project, to “bring both to art historical project, –15). Ultimately, Perron generously extends her insights Ultimately, –15). The Concrete Body: Yvonne Rainer, Carolee Schneemann, Vito Acconci also affirms Vito Carolee Schneemann, Rainer, Yvonne Body: The Concrete

1 (1961), providing insight into the oft-discussed min- Columns (1961), (1961) and Robert Morris’s

’ environmental score, which both de-centers New York City as a nexus of art- City York which both de-centers New Radical Bodies’ environmental score, For instance, Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro’s Los Angeles–based Los Schapiro’s Miriam and Chicago Judy instance, For Nochlin’s important call to the art world in 1971, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”Women (in Great No importantBeen art the to call “Why1971, in world There Have Nochlin’s Reilly 2015). Her transformation of the lithe dancer into an empathic body resonated deeply with the lithe dancer into an empathic body Her transformation of she the center of public life, [...] Placing the radical body at survive. Americans trying to (84) change. conceive of the body as an agent of social Americans to taught poetics of the personal to theoretically Bruce Robertson effectively utilizes the uncanny Elise Archias’s editors offers a close perspective on one of the three artists. For artists. on one of the three a close perspective Radical Bodieseditors offers Each of the 1. imalist climate of the time. Addressing the intersection of body and artwork with humorous Addressing imalist climate of the time. he demonstrates the reaches of Radical Bodies’ undertones, Rich with descriptions of Forti’s brazen, “undomesticated” imagination (99), Wendy Perron’s Perron’s Wendy imagination (99), “undomesticated” brazen, Rich with descriptions of Forti’s of art- firsthand vantage point into this community contribution to the volume offers a keen, interviews and filling out the tapestry of relationships and cast of characters with extensive ists, familiarity and objectivity At times the balance between the nuanced ear of a writer/practitioner. of recol- threatening to narrow the subjective aperture and highlighting the unreliability falters, lection in the valuation of legacy (114 cohesive portrait of Forti. and provides a thoughtful, The Rainer’s Yvonne in his investigation of map intersections between dance and sculpture Bells mutu- each other historically [...] as codependent, works back into proper relationship with essay clearly and gracefully narrates how Robertson’s (133). and productive” ally co-formative, relevant in our Especially one another during this time. dance and sculpture mutually influence in the way Robertson notes tangible differences contemporary context of dance in the museum, and nego- and venue, authorship, economics, each artform is inflected differently by gender, and ontological, epistemological, corresponding tiates the blur between dance and visual art’s aesthetic traditions. embodied agency and the agency of embodiment as the prominence and profound impact of paradigm-shifting 1960s. Meticulously it intersects visual art and dance during the rebellious, as well as other forms of documen- researched and replete with photographs of performances, - collabora book attunes the performance work, Archias’s including notes and scores, tation, artist to intersect respectively) of each and writing, painting, and adjacent mediums (film, tions, Archias invig- an art-historical eagle eye, With body.” “concrete with her theoretical axis of the its focus from universal form rerouting predilection towards abstraction, orates modernism’s to material concreteness and locates it choreographically on the vulnerable (Rainer), ist innovation and cites Halprin’s “intertextual couplings” between dance, the body, and an the body, between dance, “intertextual couplings” Halprin’s ist innovation and cites and Forti, run through Halprin, critical to the elements of play that a context open landscape, philosophic interlocutors (ranging Discussing Halprin’s aesthetic innovations (63). Rainer’s and influential choreographic to Rabbi Max Kadushin to John Dewey) from Isadora Duncan enactments of her participa- [1965] to the present-day and Changes Parades achievements (from writes: Bennahum tory ritual Planetary[1987]), Dance Ninotchka Bennahum, Halprin’s dance deck, a large, outdoor platform suspended amongst the suspended amongst outdoor platform a large, dance deck, Halprin’s Bennahum, Ninotchka architect Lawrence landscape husband, and designed by her of Northern California redwoods the scene post-studio site sets This (76–78). to the natural world” “stage open offers a Halprin, for to redress history by situating the work in relation to feminist movements in visual art of to feminist movements work in relation history by situating the to redress the time. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on25 September 2021

190 Books fully locatingthebodyinthiscontingent, complexspace, withallitsrigor, physicality, and play. to performance’s historiography, drawingcriticalvisibilitytotheartists’archivesandsuccess- Minimalism, Pop Art, andConceptual Art. Eachofthesebooksoffersimportantcontributions 1960s, assertingthisbody’s positioningalongsidemajortrendsledby Abstract Expressionism, mance, andchoreographicpracticeinrelationtoanexpanded fieldofartisticpracticeinthe Nonetheless, cally modernistfashion, Archias tendstostayaway fromsocialandpoliticalmarkersofidentity. is crucialtosituateandanalyzetheirartisticoutput. Inwhat might beinterpretedasaclassi- including thecapacityfortheirworkandbodiestobereadthrough thelensofhistoricalrecord, Novack 1990:68). The importanceofeach oftheseartist’s subject-orientedagency andprivilege, as mass, volume, density, etc., ignoringtheeffectsofsocialinscriptionandidentitymarkers(see echoes thesentimentsofearlyContactImprovisationpractitioners, whofocusedonthebody ing thetheatricalaspectsofRainer’s task-likedeliveries, thebody’s materiality theorizedassuch construed asacoldlyobjective, analytic, andproblematicmodeofaddress(119–21). While valu- differently. Forcingtheconcrete into “existing tropes” and “cultural expectation,” couldbemis- contemporary context, wherethestakesofone’s identityandagentialselfmightbethought be interestingtoconsiderhowsuchareadingoftheconcretemightcomplicatedwithin modernist fashion; ‘it’s aboutwhatthe materials cando. It’s abouttheseforms’” (88). Itwould cal assessmentoftheconcrete: “What wasatissue ‘not abouttheself,’ sheinsistedinarch the artists’discussionoftheirworkduringthisperiodandalignswithSchneemann’s categori- to alignthebodywithphysicalmatter” (114). Herargumentadherestoconclusionsbasedon the bodywithsensationinordertobreakitfreefromitshabitsofcontrolserves, quitesimply, example, ofSchneemann’s 1964seminalwork,(1964),writes, MeatJoy Archias “Overwhelming crete” questionsaboutactualbodies, theirexcess, unruliness, andsensorialresponsiveness. For at timesfeelsslightlyopaque, tightlyboundasitistoitsanalytictheses, yetstillraising “con- (dance’s) subjectiveand(visualart’s) objectiveepistemologicalproduction, Archias’s writing between art-makingpracticesandbroadercultural, collectivemovements. immediate andcontinuousengagement, andfor Archias thisrealityisbothaconnectivetissue and inconstantnegotiationforeveryone” (114). The body’s materiality, asconcrete, requires embracing collectivizingnotionofthehuman,” where “culture andphysicalityareintertwined enduring reality” (30), and Archias’s theorizationoftheconcretepointsto “a morebroadly In comparisontoRadicalBodies’ The Concrete Body underscorestheimportanceandinfluenceofaction, perfor physicalized action. As Rainernotes, “My bodyremainsan specific periodofexperimentationcenteredonthebodyand text ofeachartist’s oeuvre, theperformanceworkfeaturesa next ambiguousandhardtoread” (94). Within thebroadercon- substance dyadinonemomentmundanelyrecognizable, inthe senting “bodies attheextremesofcode-versus-concrete- and representation. They dothis, accordingto Archias, bypre- between immediatephysicalityandtheabstractionsoflanguage Acconci articulatethroughtheirworktheproductivetensions simplification, excess, orlimitation, Rainer, Schneemann, and cratic “extra-artistic realmofeverydaylife” (1, 3). With aesthetic ing possibleroutesinto “contemporary feeling” andthedemo- the medium” andthe “physicality ofitsmaterials,” demonstrat- work seestheconcrete body interveningbetween “the structureof (Schneemann), anddesiring(Acconci)body. Hervisionofthis strategic attentiontopotentialdissymmetrybetween ia Bell —Biba - Books 191 - - what does this art do, if what does this art do, — -

, Journal Performance Research Movement Edited

, Research Detroit . Bell earned her PhD in . Bell earned in her PhD , and FRONT Journal American Sound dislodging our northern hemispheric centricity. She arrived at cur dislodging our northern hemispheric centricity. — , Research Performance

of Wisconsin of Wisconsin Press. Witnessing even one of Forti’s performances reveals the elusiveness of Morse’s subject. At subject. performances reveals the elusiveness of Morse’s one of Forti’s even Witnessing Forti’s improvisation intertwined spoken words and kinesthetic storytelling to deal with cur Forti’s References The MIT Press. MA: Cambridge, . Rainer and the 1960s Yvonne Watched: Being 2008. Carrie. Lambert-Beatty, Madison: University Culture. American and Dance: Contact Improvisation Sharing the 1990. Cynthia J. Novack, Thames & Hudson. London: Reader. The Linda Nochlin Artists: Women 2015. ed. Maura, Reilly, Rhythm Field: The Dance of Molissa Fenley. Dance of Molissa Fenley. The Field: Rhythm , Pastelegram Technology of Institute Massachusetts the and University York New After. in the 1960s and Simone Forti Soft Is Fast: TDR: The Drama Review 62:3 (T239) Fall 2018. ©2018 2018. Fall (T239) 62:3 Review Drama The TDR: Biba Bell is Assistant Professor in Dance at Wayne State University in Detroit, and her work as a dancer as a dancer and her work in Detroit, University State Wayne at in Dance Bell is Assistant Professor Biba the US. She and across Canada, Italy, Germany, Russia, in France, has been shown and choreographer , Journal Research has published in Dance By Meredith Morse. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2016; The MIT Press, MA: Cambridge, By Meredith Morse. available. e-book $36.95 cloth, 242 pp.; illustrations. by Ann Murphy and Molissa Fenley. Kolkata: Seagull Books, Kolkata: Seagull Books, Ann Murphy and Molissa Fenley. by $45.00 paper. 2015; 164 pp.; illustrations. the artist Simone Forti is finally hitting an apex of At age 83, with a 2014 solo show at the Museum der critical attention, exhibition Radical Moderne Salzburg and the 2017 bicoastal Rainer in California Yvonne and Simone Forti, Anna Halprin, Bodies: curated by Ninotchka Bennahum, 1955–1972, York, and New catalogues and criti- and and Bruce Robertson, Perron, Wendy of high-profile perfor cal essays that accompanied both; a series Art and the Louvre; and now mances at the Museum of Modern After. in the 1960s and Simone Forti Soft Is Fast: Meredith Morse’s a scholarly monograph, linked Forti opened an evening in January 2017, the University of California Santa Barbara while I watched her from backstage, to the Radical Bodies exhibition with a solo improvisation. at the hotel anx had spent the morning over breakfast- We . A Trio waiting to perform Rainer’s coun- ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority Trump’s iously caught up in Donald that afternoon with a photo that had appeared in Peggy Phelan launched her lecture tries. signing away the day before: half a dozen men in suits in the Oval office, Times the New York The question hovered in the air rights over their bodies. women’s anything, in relation to this political-historical moment? “Are you going to deal with all this in “Are moment? in relation to this political-historical anything, up. She said it might come asked Simone. Yvonne your dance tonight?” stars you She began by wondering aloud how many rent politics both directly and obliquely. Australia could see from “A signa- as a poet will do: rent events through fragmented images that intensified the details, dissolving the power of an she said while indicating writing, just a signature,” a signature, ture, jaw- as did Benito Mussolini’s A black snake appeared, executive order through pure gesture. As I watched her trembling hands and head, chin. which she evoked by jutting out her line, Performance Studies from New York University. [email protected] University. York New from Studies Performance Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on25 September 2021

192 Books Morse convincinglyreadstheorganization ofForti’s textworksastravelingfrom thedistantto a physical, masochisticconflict inwhichonemantriesrepeatedlytotieanothera wall (72). onion fallingoffthelipofabottle thatbeginsthetexts, totheunusualfifthentrythat setsup time and, Morseargues, display “an increasingproximitytothemovingbody”: fromasprouting is definedasscrutinizedmovement Operations (1963), tice. Inchapter3, MorseanalyzesForti’s fivetextworks, publishedinAn Anthology ofChance neglects toanalyze. This isanoversight, grantingthat itisanentirelyothercanofworms.) innovative work, thischapterbeautifullypositionsFortinotonlyin dialoguewithvisualart, butasan In arguingthatClothscreatesa “picture-plane-cum-object,” like thatinRobertRauschenberg’s ideas of “the image,” especiallythroughForti’s extensionofpaintingintoliveaction inCloths. Cloths human anatomythatshapeshermovementimages. Morse isgoodatreturningtothephysicalinteriorofForti’s work, tothedeepknowledgeof H’Doubler, onanatomicalawareness, usingmoreimprovisationthanCagehadeverpreferred. the score, forinstance, byessentially “Cageifying” thelessonsofHalprin, andviaHalprin, theoretical discussionsthatattempttoaccountforForti’s distinctuseoftimeandaffect. relates Forti’s worktoprocessartand “the personal” inminimalistabstraction, andinterweaves artistic practice, duetothe “radically embodiedformofvision” thatitproposes(9–10). She formed andcriticallyassessedwork lier practice. MorsearguesforthedanceconstructionHuddle(1961) two dealswithForti’s post-1960sworkwithimprovisation, discussedinconnectiontoherear Margaret H’Doubler, Ann Halprin, JohnCage, Robert Whitman, andLaMonte Young. Part especially herdanceconstructionsandtexts, situatedinrelationtotheinfluenceofartists cal frameworks, inabookthatisdividedintotwoparts. PartonedealswithForti’s 1960swork, to extendtheinfluenceofdanceartistsintovisualculturemorebroadly. dance intoarthistoricaldiscourse. The fieldofdancestudiesbenefitsfromtheirrigorousefforts Julia Bryan-Wilson, andthetrailblazerCarrieLambert-Beatty, whohaveallcreativelyinserted art historianswritingabout1960spostmoderndance, includingSusanRosenberg, Elise Archias, ness isthemostdifficult, andmostgenerative, totheorize. Morsejoinsagrowingcollectionof and classifyapracticethathaswiggledinaroundthediscoursesofitsday:Forti’s suigeneris- reason herentireoeuvrehaslargelybeenuntouchedinacademicscholarship, untilrecently. akin tonailingabutterflythewall. Itsproteanqualityisitsstrength, butalsopotentiallythe multiple mediums, seemsimpossibletopindown, asifcontextualizingitwouldsomehowbe totally introspective, whimsicalyetutterlyserious. Herbodyofwork, spanning50yearsand web ofsocialandpoliticalforcesthatbindustogether. we didn’t saywedidn’t doit, either[...].” Forti’s artinfluences, withtremendoussubtlety, the which adanceofhershadcoincidedwithpoliticalbreakthrough, “We didn’t saywedid it, but TRUMP BAN.” As Halprin hadsaidonapanelearlier, concerningadifferentsituationin standing ovation. on herownterms. The worldwentinandspiraledbackoutFortiform. Shereceiveda enfeebled byParkinson’s, sculptthesestories, Irealizedshewascrackingthepatriarchy, entirely By thebook’s midpoint, weunderstandthefar-reaching, intermediascopeofForti’s prac- One unexpectedpleasureinthebookisgettingtoknowForti’s lesserknownpieces, suchas Frequently, Morsemustparseoutmultipleinfluencesatonce. FortiextendsCage’s useof Morse approacheshersubjectinapointillistfashionbyapplyingmanydifferenttheoreti- Morse’s startingpointisthelackofscholarlyattentiontoForti’s work. Her taskistocontain Forti’s powerliesinhercontradictions. Sheappearsfragileyetsteely, outward-gazingyet Later thatevening, theNewYork Times onlineeditionpostedtheheadline: “JUDGE STAYS (1967). MorsecraftsacompellinganalysisofRobert Whitman’s influenceuponForti’s visual artistinherownright(61). (Fortialsohasabodyofdrawings, whichMorse edited byLaMonte Young. Forti’s textsarebrilliantlittledances — — enacted inwords. The texts differintheirtreatmentof as a “bridging piece” betweenthesetwoperiodsinForti’s — her mostfrequentlyper — if dance - - Books 193 - - unravelling a —

Insights such as this one reward wading through Morse’s own organization, which can be which can own organization, wading through Morse’s as this one reward Insights such first is Morse, The work under its analysis. from clouding Forti’s things rescue the book Two her own who is in the book is Forti herself, The other and the most important standout Ann Murphy edited by , Field It feels unfair to review Rhythm when she joined Fenley rose to prominence in the 1980s, elucidates her “Intuition and Magic,” central essay, Fenley’s izes much of Forti’s group works. group of Forti’s izes much use of with Forti’s Morse deals ideas skate across chapters. Characters and their confusing. from Forti’s it to support everything mobilizing and five, four, voice in chapters two, sound and One her use of time. of the personal and to her incorporation Young to Cage and relationship this fracturing to rather than use of the voice, dedicated to Forti’s begins to wish for a chapter be purposeful The fragmented organization might support theoretical points. work tends to get But Forti’s using a nonlinear rhetorical form. practice, multilayered artistic other artists and aesthetic under the labyrinthine discussions about chopped up and buried movements. In her discussion of effect. presses theory against practice to radiant who in the finest passages treatment Young’s and she suggests that Forti for instance, dance constructions of 1961, Forti’s or intense per “intensity,” notion of an that evokes Brian Massumi’s of time shared a sensibility “task time into “‘temporal In extending a hole in time’” as a (99). sink, ceptual engagement, beyond the ostensible time of “temporality Forti achieved a interior sense of time,” a slowed, analysis here gives us a way to think about the originality in Forti’s Morse’s 102). (99, the task” Theater peers and the live art which shared overlapping concerns with her Judson Dance work, into unique territory. of the ’60s while nonetheless pushing firmly quotations from her writing consistently display ana- The strongest interlocutor and theorist. choose the dis- “Realizing that one could Forti writes: On composition, lytic and poetic depth. control as I came to see movement performed, tance from the point of control and the final and of the act within the interplay of many forces, being a matter of placement of an effective If you have ever seen Huddle or dived into a (50). selection of the effective vantage points” Her words what she means. you will understand as I have, (1970), walking score like Scramble that characterizes the scope at once unassuming and forceful, describe the political engagement, improvisation in 2017. right up to her of her career, because , as Soft Is Fast in the same space and Molissa Fenley, the task invites compari- although they are different projects, in-depth scholarly effort makes everything that is Morse’s son. read- work Fenley’s missing from the anthology of writings on ily apparent. Anderson and Cindy Sherman as a top marquee name Laurie Her relentlessly energetic compositions led critics to proj- (150). One fitness and aerobic frenzy. ect onto her work the decade’s revelation in the book is the sharp divide between this critical reception and her choreographic inspiration: where critics saw culture. Yoruba of she was thinking the rhythms Jane Fonda, cultural forms that She threads through the creative process. rituals to Haniwa figurines Yoruba from have inspired her, exposure to Nigeria, Starting with her upbringing in (50–51). Source mate- cultures ignited her choreographic imagination. non-American and non-Western Nijinsky himself showing up in the studio to Vaslav of including the ghost rial is everywhere, studio is for her a Fenley’s had wished to compose a solo Rite of Spring (57). too, tell her he, Tharp describes her studio in The Creative Twyla as much sacred and metaphoric space (49–50), Habit (2003). the intimate, an arc that moves progressively into the thicket of human relations that character the thicket of human progressively into an arc that moves the intimate, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on25 September 2021

194 Books New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology TDR: The Drama Review 62:3 (T239) Fall 2018. ©2018 studies curriculumsinceitsinception [email protected] University Press. She Professor isAssociate (adjunct)at Yale University, where shehasdirected thedance Physics andDance, coauthored physicistSarah from Demers, withparticle isforthcoming Yale Tharp, and YvonneRainer, andpresented herchoreographic work inmajor dance venues. Her book withNewinternationally York City Ballet, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, Twyla Emily Coates isadancer, choreographer, andwriter. Over her25-year career, shehasperformed Young, LaMonte, ed. 1963. An Anthology ofChanceOperations ... Bronx, NY: LaMonte Young &Jackson Tharp, Twyla.2003. References Forti inthe1960s. innovations inadissertationonexperimentaldanceofthe1980s, justasMorsehasdonefor tribution todance. IhopeatalentedyoungscholarinthenextfewyearswillfeatureFenley’s festschrifts. MolissaFenleydeservestoberecognizedforhersustainedcareeranduniquecon- ists needtowrite, inordertoimprinttheirvoicesthearchive, Iamsuspiciousofself-edited untrammeled lifeforce... New York City ing enteredcommonusage. The infamyofher1995injury a queered, androgynousfemalebodyonstagewellbeforetheterminologyoftransgender St. Denis history. Shesitswithinalineofwhitefemalesoloists performed toIgorStravinsky’s TheRiteofSpring, isaseminalworkin American moderndance characterizes livingandworkingwithinafieldofscarceresources. HersoloStateofDarkness, to herartforfourdecades, inthefaceofbodilyinjury, shiftingfads, andthegeneralhustlethat aspects ofFenley’s work, Murphy offersamultifacetedportraitoftheartist. substantive criticalandhistoricalcontexts. Bydelvingintoboththehypedandcritiqued language, spokenbyonlyararefew. And Ann Murphy’s essayalonegroundsFenley’s workin indulge inthedetailsofcraft:theirexquisiteexchangeallowsreaderstolistenonadying O’Connor’s conversationwithFenleystaysfocusedonchoreographicpractice. Together, they ity” (153). We areevengivena “Praise PoemforMolissaFenley” byBobHolman(79). pable reaches “Each momentofFenley’s workseemstobringexhilaratingnewsofuncharteddepths, unmap- shares thetransgenderingimpulse, towarddifferentends. is soverydifferentfromhisowncross-dressinginperformanceofMarthaGraham, but of Darkness. Iwouldhavebeencuriousabouthisinterpretationofherandrogynousbody, which of scholarlyquotesintohisessayonthe “exceptional labour” inFenley’s seminal1988soloState feel gratuitous, likecelebritytestimonials. RichardMove, inanacademicturn, pilesawho’s who from Bill T. JonesandElizabethStrebtheinterviewwithPeterBoalareeloquentbutalso I amcertainthereismoretosayaboutFenley’s bodyofwork. As muchasIthinkdanceart- Here aretheimportantdetailsthatsurfaceaboutFenley’s work:shehasremaineddevoted These gushingcontributionsfeelsuspiciouslyemptyofsubstance. Fortunately, Tere The weakestwritingveersintohagiography. Inflatedlanguagepermeatesthecollection: Few oftheothercontributionstoanthologyaddsignificantcriticalheft. Thereflections Mac Low. Schuster. — who borrowfromcenturies-oldandnon-Western culturalsources. Shepresented — — like themomentsofconsciousnessthatgurussayareentrypointstoinfin- reflects herwarrior-like approachtodancing. Herworkethic, herdrive, her The Creative ItandUseforLife: Habit:Learn A Practical Guide. New York: Simon&

— including IsadoraDuncanandRuth — onstage, attheJoyce Theater in ml Coates —Emily - Books 195 By Kirsty , as well as , The Glass Menagerie and Tennessee Williams’s Williams’s and Tennessee performative staging of clinical pathology also risked undermining his authority and performative staging of clinical pathology

consolidate his expertise and to manifest his nosology. Yet, Marshall demonstrates how Yet, his nosology. consolidate his expertise and to manifest Johnston. London: Bloomsbury, 2016; 240 pp. $85.20 cloth, $29.95 paper, e-book available. paper, $29.95 $85.20 cloth, 2016; 240 pp. London: Bloomsbury, Johnston. the central place of disability Kirsty Johnson takes seriously volume, In this highly readable theoretical and theatrical insights Johnston draws together important within modern theatre. powerfully moving beyond of disability and modern drama, into the complex commingling representations of disability that read disability as a metaphor or evaluate reductive approaches “recasting modern- critical project of This or regressive framework. within a narrow progressive clear Johnston’s part of the book, In the first an inventive two-part structure. is detailed in ism” a brief history of and debates, chapters provide a synthesis of key terms introduction and four UK, companies in the US, and an introduction to disability theatre art, disability activism and The second modernist plays. that are taking innovative approaches to Australia and Canada, texts by theorists and artists who and performance interviews, essays, part includes compelling widely applicable work excellent, The result is an and/in modern drama. think anew disability and contradictory readings of disability history in modern drama through creative “recasts” that Endgame plays such as Samuel Beckett’s and design in contem- dramaturgy, training, casting, through analyses of inclusive practices of accessibility as not only an ethic but as a genera- porary theatre productions that engage with tive aesthetic. Performing Neurology: The Dramaturgy of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot. Charcot. Jean-Martin of Dr. Dramaturgy The Neurology: Performing $90.00 paper, 2016; 277 pp.; illustrations. Palgrave, York: New Marshall. W. By Jonathan e-book available. turning to neuroscience as an explanatory model, In a moment in which theatre scholars are historiographic intervention through Marshall offers a welcome and necessary W. Jonathan Drawing neurological work. in Jean-Martin Charcot’s this study of the fraught place of theatre Marshall offers a vivid and photographic materials, architectural, artistic, on a range of textual, In so laboratory to the lecture hall. neurological dramaturgy from the analysis of Charcot’s and a Marshall demonstrates how Charcot managed theatricality as both a resource doing, of neuropathology at the Parisian hospital- threat in his diagnostic and pedagogical practices calculated juxtaposition of his how Charcot’s for example, He shows, the Salpêtrière. asylum, excesses in the lecture theatre worked performative own monotonous speech with a patient’s to Charcot’s pathologizing his medical practice. This reversal was most spectacularly realized in the carni- pathologizing his medical practice. and expertise and excess in normal and monstrous, valesque inversions of doctor and patient, Alfred Binet in the horror former student grotesque medical scenarios played out by Charcot’s study troubles neat distinctions between the- compelling Marshall’s theatre of Grand Guignol. and pathology and health in and rational and irrational, knower and known, atre and medicine, moves center stage in this rich archaeology of as theatricality beyond the space of Salpêtrière, neurological practice. More Books More Modernism. Recasting and Modern Drama: Theatre Disability Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on25 September 2021

196 Books Theatre andEvolutionfromIbsentoBeckett. On Repetition: Writing, Performance, Art. and Yoga.Stanislavsky training inandbeyondStanislavsky’s works. between oldandnewStanislavsky, andilluminatesthesignificanceofyogatomodernactor ful study, Tcherkasski makesastrongcaseforthecontinuity, ratherthantheoft-citedbreak, correspondences anddivergencesbetweentheSystemcoreelementsofyoga. Inthiscare- lar technique-based “Modern Yoga” for Western readers. The finalchapterexploresthebroader ter isthatRamacharakawasthe American William Atkinson, whoseworkwaspartofthesecu- Raja Yoga andStanislavsky’s CollectedWorks. Oneofthemostinterestinginsightsfromthischap- main influence 1930s. The secondchapterexaminesthehistoricalcontextandliterarycontentofStanislavsky’s the Moscow Art Theatre, andcontinuedintotheOperaStudioaswellhislateperiodin delineates howStanislavskycametostudyandapplyyogaintheFirstSecondStudiosof ysis ofthewritingsandlettersKonstantinStanislavskyhisstudents, thefirstchapter actor trainingisdirectlydrawnfromyogicteachingsandtechniques. Through acloseanal- Sergei Tcherkasski offerspersuasiveevidencethatclosetohalfoftheStanislavskySystem cloth, $24.95paper, e-bookavailable. practice ofempiricism;andeditor EiriniKartsaki’s contributionruminateson threeexamplesof “pointless” domesticpastimeof copyingimagesthroughpin-prickingwasacreativeandcritical repetitive joke “The RapSingers”; Alice Barnabydemonstratesthattherepetitive, seemingly and re-readthetensionofwaiting againandforthepunchlineinStewartLee’s rambling, tition’s returns. Forexample, EmmaBennettengageswith repetitionasamethodologytoread tion ofart, subjectivity, andsociallife. A unifyingthemeisthepleasureanddifficultyofrepe- and enacttheenduringtensionsthatmarkrepetitionasade/stabilizing forceintheconstitu- mance art, stand-upcomedy, visualart, craft, film, andpoetry, contributorsdifferentlyexplore tural production. In11essaysthatengagewithwhiteEuro-American theatre, dance, perfor This editedvolumeframesrepetitionasafundamentalanddynamic dimensionof Western cul- Intellect, 2016;225pp.;illustrations. $107.00cloth, e-bookavailable. mutual influenceoftheatreandscience. of evolutionaryknowledgesandscientificculturesinthistimelyinformativestudythe ories, ethicalinquiries, andprescientimaginings, dramatistsemergeasengagedcoproducers antagonistic readings, energeticmisinterpretations, anachronisticadherencetooutmodedthe- with evolutionresist, challenge, andultimatelytransformtheideasattheircore” (4). Through rical worksshowcasedinthebookilluminatediversewayswhich “theatrical encounters playing outonthestage, includingLamarkismandSpencerism. Similarly, therangeoftheat- tation, andspeciesrelation, CharlesDarwin’s workemergesasoneamongseveralothertheories of theatricalengagementswithevolutionarythemessuchassexualselection, competition, adap- them bothwithintheirbroaderculturalandhistoricalcontexts. Through anextensivetreatment to evolution, whilealsoattendingtoeachfield’s internalinconsistenciesanddisputes, situating Shepherd-Barr explorestheexchangesunfoldingbetweenscientificandtheatricalapproaches maps aheterogeneoushistoryofroughly150yearsevolutionarytheoryinthetheatre. Kirsten E. Shepherd-Barr’s mostrecentworkontherelationbetweenscienceandstage York: ColumbiaUniversityPress, 2015;400pp. $60.00paper, e-bookavailable. — Ramacharaka By Sergei Tcherkasski. London:Routledge, 2016;126pp. $95.00 — by readingnumerousoverlapsbetweenhisHathaYoga Edited byEiriniKartsaki. Bristol, UK: By KirstenE. Shepherd-Barr. New and - Books 197 Women & & Women — Coleman Nye (material) of a tradi- told from the perspectives of the drama- — The subsequent two chapters provide insights The subsequent two chapters provide insights By Peter M. Boenisch and Thomas Ostermeier. Thomas Ostermeier. and Boenisch By Peter M. Stoff method of inductively working from the

of the People his 2012 production of An Enemy — London: Routledge, 2016; 262 pp.; illustrations. $135.00 cloth, $49.95 paper, e-book available. available. e-book $49.95 paper, $135.00 cloth, 2016; 262 pp.; illustrations. London: Routledge, Thomas theatre director practice of internationally acclaimed German The philosophy and interviews, of essays, together in this English-language assemblage Ostermeier are gathered Peter Boenisch’s The volume opens with work. of the director’s and case studies images, important essays in which by first-time English translations of two followed introduction, brings together essays by a stage Chapter 3 his new approach to realism. Ostermeier outlines video artist (Sébastien Dupouey), and a an actor (Lars Eidinger), designer (Jan Pappelbaum), Chapter 4 includes an in Berlin. with Ostermeier at the Schaubühne all of whom work closely which sets up the first case study in chapter Henrik Ibsen by Ostermeier, interview and essay on 5 and assistant director. visual artist, actors, turg, Regie into Ostermeier’s situating its story within the context of the production and the contemporary tional play text, process is detailed This and effectively communicating its message to an audience. social world, 6 and an in-depth case study of his method in chapter through an overview of Ostermeier’s including a diary from the formal III written from his perspective, 2015 production of Richard with an interview and essay by Ostermeier on the pol- The volume concludes rehearsal period. the book is filled In addition to these lively and instructive essays, itics and future of theatre. as an appendix as well and drawings, diagrams, with rich visual materials such as color photos, be a tremendous resource to theatre This volume will no doubt works. listing all of Ostermeier’s the contemporary European context. scholars and practitioners in and beyond Fraser at Simon Studies Women’s and Sexuality, of Gender, is Assistant Professor Nye Coleman Medical of Friendship, publications include the graphic ethnography Lissa: A Story Her University. as articlesTDR, in as well 2017), Press, Toronto of (University and Revolution Promise, Studies from Performance and in Theatre holds a PhD . She Matters , and Performance Performance [email protected] University. Brown The Theatre of Thomas Ostermeier. Theatre The of Thomas Ostermeier. subjects who repeatedly return to the same event, even as they enact a desire for and fear of the desire for and fear of even as they enact a to the same event, repeatedly return subjects who each chapter repeats strength of this work: point to the formal These pieces return. end of this attempts to the reader’s undoing performatively and method, repetition as a concept and revises with each iteration. question of repetition resolve the Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_r_00786 by guest on 25 September 2021