Customer Reviews

The Knowing Body: The Artist as Storyteller in Contemporary Performance

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For some reason, this book is still the only one of its kind, delving into the performance art philosophies of Meredith Monk, Barbara Dilley, Ping Chong, and Spalding Gray, just to name a few. Beautifully illustrated, this book explores dance and performance art from a kind of Jungian/shamanist/Buddhist perspective. You can learn from this book just what it means to be an artist--or just what it means to be alive

Steinman's book really stands alone among performance art books. While there are many that document what particular artists are doing, this one offers a way in for a person who wants to perform (or know more about how performance artists work). The book is difficult to characterize: while not exactly a "how-to" manual, it inspired me to create new art and to think about how we tell stories with our bodies, with images, in front of an audience. Must reading for anyone interested in performance art, it will also be fascinating to those in theatre, playwriting, visual arts and performance of any sort. I lend mine out all the time (but it's one of a few among my many books that I make sure I always get back!)