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  • Excursion for Miracles: Paul Sanasardo, Donya Feuer and Studio for Dance (1955-1964)
  • Stacey Prickett
Mark Franko , Excursion for Miracles: Paul Sanasardo, Donya Feuer and Studio for Dance (1955–1964), Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6744-2

Mark Franko's Excursion for Miracles focuses predominantly on Paul Sanasardo and Donya Feuer and their Studio for Dance in New York City, offering fresh insight into the emergence of American postmodern dance between 1955 to 1964. Although absent from the dance history canon, at least in the UK, their influence extends to the European avant-garde, exemplified by their former dancer Pina Bausch. Drawing on critical theory and ethnographic research from his time performing in Sanasardo's company, Franko aims to 'shift emphasis from Judson Dance Theatre as the only site of innovative choreography for that period' (xiv). Evocative readings of evening-length performances reveal diverse representational strategies out of which a new type of political voice emerged, divergent from the danced expressions of social consciousness of the 1930s and postmodern experiments of the 1960s.

Excursion combines multiple methodological strands in historical recovery and analysis. Densely packed with photographs and extensive primary source material, the book moves back and forth chronologically and thematically, facilitating its use for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Chapter 1 [End Page 169] locates Sanasardo and Feuer within the larger dance community and detailsthe vibrant artistic environment of their studio. An evocative account of Laughter After All (1964) comprises Chapter 2, revealing a multi-disciplinary and highly theatrical collaboration, tracing the transformation of eclectic inspirational sources into surreal and at times maniacal actions, juxtaposing absurd and dark imagery. Deeply personal reflections are peppered throughout, taken from Franko's interviews with Sanasardo, Feuer and some of their dancers.

Another aspect of Sanasardo and Feuer's legacy is seen in their unique work with children, explored in Chapter Three. In Dust for Sparrows (1958), a haunting duet with Feuer, ten-year-old Judith Blackstone tentatively walks downstage with her eyes shut, moving ever closer to the abyss beyond the stage. The young dancers who worked with the company appear as mature beyond their years, performing in roles which were uncharacteristic for their age.

Parts of Chapter 4, 'Unexploded Bombs: Formal Reduction and the Libidinal Aesthetic', would be challenging for those uninitiated in the Frankfurt School of critical theory, Marxism and post-structuralism. A 'diagrammatic mapping' (p. 105) of three New York locales referenced in dances frames theoretical discourse on diverse political issues: the representation of women, expression of gay male identity, alienation and reification. The gems of historical research expand to consider Martha Graham's celebrity status and Paul Taylor's infamous Seven New Dances (1957). Franko clarifies the record in terms of Taylor's prescient use of an everyday gestural vocabulary seen in later postmodern dances. The last chapter, Five Theses and a Coda pulls together the multiple strands, followed by some of Sanasardo's essays and a chronology. Although their choreography has had minimal exposure, Franko's readings and contextualisation of Sanasardo's and Feuer's work situates them at the vanguard of an alternative postmodern aesthetic generally taught as emerging years later.

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