No Fixed Points

The definitive history of twentieth-century theatrical dance, enhanced with more than 200 exceptional photographs

Winner of the 2005 Congress on Research in Dance Award for Outstanding Publication in Dance Research

"This work is not just reader friendly, it's downright compelling in its chronicle of the most explosively revolutionary century the art form of dance has ever experienced."—Karen Campbell, Christian Science Monitor

No Fixed Points chronicles one hundred years of dramatic developments in ballet, modern, and experimental dance for stage and screen in Europe and North America. The volume is magisterial in scope, encompassing the history of theatrical dance from 1900 through 2000. Beginning with turn-of-the-century dancer-choreographers like Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Michel Fokine, and a bit later Vaslav Nijinsky, and proceeding through the profusion of dance styles performed today, the book provides an unparalleled view of dance in performance as it changed and grew in the twentieth century.

Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick set dance in broader cultural and historical contexts, examine specific dance works, and explore the contributions of outstanding choreographers, performers, visual artists, impresarios, composers, critics, and other figures. They discuss the breakaway barefoot dance of the early 1900s and demonstrate its links with later forms and styles.

With unusual detail, fascinating illustrations, and wide-ranging insights, No Fixed Points is an indispensable guide to the transformations in the dance scene of the twentieth century.