Review Of "Movable Pillars: Organizing Dance, 1956-1978" By K. Kolcio

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

7-1-2010

Published In

Choice

Abstract

In this, her first book, Kolcio (dance, Wesleyan Univ.) focuses on the founding of six major American dance organizations established between 1956 and 1978: American Dance Guild, Congress on Research in Dance, American Dance Therapy Association, American College Dance Festival Association, Dance Critics Association, and Society of Dance History Scholars (listed here, and examined by Kolcio, in chronological order by founding date). Combining extensive library research with 19 interviews of people who started and helped build the organizations she studies, the author creates an effective argument for the significant and specific role each group played in fostering an environment that enabled American dance to develop as a rigorous intellectual and performance discipline. Kolcio divides the discussion into two parts. Part 1 offers a historical review of dance as art, education, and cultural study in relation to the economic, political, and philosophical contexts of the late-20th century. Readers learn how these organizations worked, individually and collectively, to support the development of dance scholarship. Kolcio devotes part 2 to interviews with two or more original members of each of the six organizations. These vary in tone and topic due to the author's open-ended interview format. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, professionals.

Comments

This work is freely available courtesy of Choice Reviews. The review has been reproduced in full in the abstract field.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS