Introductions

Abstract

Transmissions in Dance is a collection of essays that capture the artistic voices at play during a staging process. The writing is by dancer/directors or close associates of the choreographers, who offer deep insights into selected dances from the performer’s perspective. Familiar practices such as reimagining , reenactment and recreation are situated alongside the related and often intersecting processes of transmission , translation and transformation . The breadth of practice on offer illustrates the capacity of dance as a medium to adapt successfully to diverse approaches and, further, that there is a growing appetite amongst audiences for seeing dances from the near and far past. The time period of the featured works spans a century, from Rudolph Laban’s Dancing Drumstick (1913) to Robert Cohan ’s Sigh (2015). In between come works by Mary Wigman , Madge Atkinson (Natural Movement ), Doris Humphrey , Martha Graham , Yvonne Rainer and Rosemary Butcher —an eclectic mix that crosses time and borders.