Book Description

New Directions in Dance is a collection of papers presented at the Seventh Dance in Canada Conference held at the University of Waterloo, Canada, in June 1979. The book focuses on the future directions of dance and covers dance thought and expression, its physical realities, related arts, and its role in society. The topics encompass a wide range of disciplines, from choreography, semiotics, and aesthetics to criticism, psychology,history, physics, biomechanics, orthopedics, education, and computer analysis. Comprised of 19 chapters, this book begins with an introduction to Aristotle's dramatic theories and their application to the criticism of dances, particularly those with dramatic structure and/or origins. Of particular relevance are Aristotle's treatment of the aesthetic concepts of unity and causality; his definition of tragedy; the means of poetic imitation as diction and melody; and the manner of poetic imitation as dramatic with the use of spectacle. The discussion then turns to R. G. Collingwood's principles of art and whether they contain a theory of dance; some applications of linguistic and semiological concepts to theater dance; and parallel trends in the development of Expressionist painting and the genesis of modern dance in Germany. Subsequent chapters explore children as dance audience; the history of dance in Canada; the link between physics and ballet; and computer-assisted notation of dance. The final section is devoted to dance policy and education. This monograph will be of interest to dancers, dance scholars and researchers, artists, students, teachers, and others involved in the dance profession.