How To Do Things with Dance

"It is exemplary in its scholarship, historical method, and originality. Above all, it speaks of a historical period and, in the way that it considers the period, exemplifies dance history research at its best. ... Kowal's daring scholarship illuminates a period now a half century distant, and, in doing so, she says much about the continuing possibilities that dance offers."

~Michael Huxley, Dance Research Journal

""As a vibrant blend of dance history and cultural context, this study offers precisely the sort of deep yet broad analysis I hope my students will emulate.""

~Jessica Van Oort, Dance Chronicle

""...Kowal nails it: she discusses Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Anna Sokolow, and others in intriguing art/social/political/sexual contexts. Highly recommended.""

~T.K. Hagood, Choice

""(T)his book is an important read for the dance community at large.""

~Gernadine Jennings, Attitude: The Dancer's Magazine

""Kowal's claim that dance did not simply represent change taking place elsewhere but actually enacted change is a compelling argument that choreographers and dance scholars will want to invoke when challenging the marginalization of dance.""

~Claire Croft, Theatre Journal

""The premise of the book is fascinating. ... It would be a shame if this book were only seen as a contribution to the field of Dance Studies and not also within American Studies.""

~Kate Elswit, The Drama Review

""It is exemplary in its scholarship, historical method, and originality. Above all, it speaks of a historical period and, in the way that it considers the period, exemplifies dance history research at its best. Kowal's daring scholarship illuminates a period now a half century distant, and, in doing so, she says much about the continuing possibilities that dance offers.""

~Michael Huxley, Dance Research Journal

""A stimulating scholarly book blending U.S. history and an engaged active arts practice""

~Philip Szporer, Montreal Hour

"Integrating dance into U.S. social and political life, Kowal's book demonstrates persuasively that mid-century dance initiatives contributed crucial innovations to modern dance while also vitally engaging with the tensions within the American body politic that would lead to the fights for racial and gender equality in the 1960s. Her research combines meticulous scholarship with a broad and insightful command of U.S. history."

~Susan Leigh Foster, professor, UCLA

"Kowal convincingly argues that the most salient point of postwar American dance was not the insularity of objectivism but the engagement of action. By questioning the normative movement practices inscribed on our bodies, choreographers like Sokolow, Cunningham, and Halprin bridged method acting and the sit-ins.""

~Daniel Belgrad, author of Culture of Spontaneity: Improvisation and the Arts in Postwar America