Shirley Clarke

Dr Karen Pearlman is an Associate Professor of Screen Practice and Production at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and co-director of The Physical TV Company. She writes, directs, and edits films and has won over 30 highly competitive awards from peak industry bodies and film festivals. Pearlman’s research into creative practice, cognition and feminist film histories is widely published and her ideas about editing are having global impact through multiple editions and translations of her book Cutting Rhythms. Like the subject of this monograph, Shirley Clarke, Pearlman had a distinguished career as a professional dancer before turning to film editing and directing.

Only a dancer, choreographer and brilliant filmmaker could have written this superb book. Karen Pearlman’s expert research blends the history of modern dance, film history, the arts and social turbulence in America into my mother’s biography and each of her films. I know my mother would have loved this book and I love it too.

• List of FiguresPreface and AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Biography and Context2. Distributed Cognition and Creative Practice3. Dancing Cognitions4. Editing Thinking5. Directing Enaction6. Conclusions and ContinuancesIndex