Composing while Dancing: An Improviser’s Companion

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the artists, first, for their many years of dedicated work and for articulating such amazing ideas through the medium of the body and movement—and then, for their patience in conversing with me and redirecting me where I went astray in conveying that magic. The editing process has been a most educative one. I would also like to acknowledge the photographers who have donated their work here, making the dance come to life: Bill Arnold, Stephen Aubuchon , Bob Braines, Nancy Campbell, Fred Covarrubias Jr., Carolyn DeMers, Rita Fazakas, Lona Foote, August Goulet, Malgorzata Haduch, Paul Kyle, Raymond Mallentjer, Dona Ann McAdams, Dominik Mentzos, Ilya Noé, Stephen Petegorsky, Theo Robinson, Ben Topf, and Carl Yamamoto. I couldn’t have completed the book without the help of many readers, proxies, and reporters: Peentz Dubble (Richard Bull); Bonnie Eldred (Katie Duck); Penny Campbell, Lisa Nelson, and Susan Sgorbati (Judith Dunn); Helen Pickett (William Forsythe); Pamela Matt (Ideokinesis and Anatomical Release Technique); John Solt (Kazuo Ohno); Stephanie Skura (Joan Skinner); Susan Bauer, Diane Butler, and Margit Galanter (Suprapto Suryodarmo ); Dana Iova-Koga, Kazue Kobata, Melinda Ring, Roxanne Steinberg (Min Tanaka); and Jen Harmon (Nancy Topf). Thanks to Nancy Stark Smith and Contact Quarterly for their help obtaining images, to Karen Schaffman for advice and encouragement, to Barbara Dilley and Miriam Zoll for an early draft read, and to Margit Galanter for an early draft read, consultation, and for sharing her vision, insight, and body knowledge on the topic over our years of friendship. Special thanks to Lisa Nelson for her draft reads, editorial feedback, advice, and inspiration during Acknowledgments xi several stages of the book’s creation. Thanks to Ann Cooper Albright for a critical read through as well as to Paul Langland, Andrea Olsen, and the other anonymous reviewers who gave constructive feedback on the project. Where would I be without my dance buddies, with whom I have danced, viewed, created, debated, and formulated—particularly my friend Jen Harmon, who read and indeed lived through many of the scenarios I mention in the field notes at the end of every chapter. Thanks to Loré Mitra, my godmother, who introduced me to the mysterious dualities of life and reviewed the enneagram in Living Backward. Also, many thanks to Pooh Kaye for consultation on the subject matter and for lending her design savvy eyes in the image selection process. Thanks to Nancy Allison and Dance & Movement Press for initiating the project and for allowing me to improvise along the way. Without her foresight , encouragement, and support this book would not exist. Thanks for personal and editorial support to John Selfridge, who gave advice and editing help when dance jargon was gibberish and who puts up with being a “dance widower” more often than I might like to acknowledge. And finally, thanks to a loyal friend, my chocolate Labrador, Nellie, for accompanying me through grad school and patiently indulging my improvisational forays off the path during our walks through the woods. xii ACKNOWLE D G ME NTS composing while Dancing Judith Dunn’s The Dance Company performing during a residency in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institute at the American University in Washington, D.C. (1973 or 1974). From left: Barbara Ensley, Judith Dunn, Cheryl (Niederman) Lilienstein, Penny (Larrison) Campbell. Photo courtesy Penny Campbell ...