Dance and the Body in Western Theatre

Sabine Sörgel is Senior Lecturer in Dance and Theatre at the University of Surrey, UK.

'A significant and inspiring book, connecting history, philosophy and art. The wish to return to one's self in these contemporary times of struggle and change is Dr Sorgel's major theme, and she beautifully reveals how artists reflect this concern in their work.' - Meade Andrews, Rider University, USA 'At last, an excellent and original publication, which devotes itself entirely to examining the history of Dance in post 1948 Western Theatre. I expect to see this become essential reading within a range of University Departments. The parameters of knowledge fields extend beyond dance and theatre and form coherent and accessible bridges with diverse bodies of critical thinking, from the socio-political to the philosophical. No other writer has so convincingly and engagingly managed to bring Western theatre history to life, and conjure the magic of the body, the irrefutable experiential, lived and breathing body, imprinting, shaping and moulding Western cultural histories.' Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsPreface1. The Body, Dance and Phenomenology2. Writing Dance into Theatre: Antonin Artaud's Affective Athleticism3. Choreographing Gestus: Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) and the Evolution of Epic Theatre4. Dancing the Wrong Side Out: Archetype in Martha Graham (1894-1991) and Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999)5. Resurrecting the Dancing Chorus in the 1960s: Peter Brook's Marat/Sade (1964), The Living Theatre's Antigone (1967) and Richard Schechner's Dionysus in 69 (1969)6. Dance and the 1960s Counter-Culture: Merce Cunningham, Anna Halprin and Postmodern Dance7. Un-Masking the Social Mask in Post-War Tanztheater: Pina Bausch, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Sasha Waltz8. From Decolonization to Globalization: Discourses of Freedom and Emancipation in Wole Soyinka, Alvin Ailey, Bill T. Jones, Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui9. Phenomenological Encounters: Theatre, Dance and Human RightsBibliography.