(Re)Positioning Site Dance

[Barbour, Hunter, and Kloetzel] have pooled their estimable talents as writers and their vast knowledge of site dance into this valuable examination of, to paraphrase the subtitle, local acts reflecting global perspectives in dance. The authors bear witness to performers who emphasize complex interactions of citizens, dancer, and place. Viewing their subject through the prism of site dance techniques in three regions (Europe, North America, and the Oceania-Pacific), the authors examine cultural, political, ecological, and economic issues faced by citizens of those areas. The useful introduction will provide clarity even for those with little familiarity with site dance and its issues. The contents are divided into three sections-- Historical Lineages and Contemporary Concerns, Practice into Theory, and Moving towards the Global --each of which comprises three chapters, one by each author. The text is well written and well researched, and the authors include evocative images that inspire deeper appreciation of the form. Readers interested in dance's engagement in community will find many rewards in this volume. . . . Recommended. -- CHOICE Rather than presenting an overview of the field, [the editors] focus on themes including localized activist and resistant practices, the affective potential of dance as part of cultural shaping, and the relationship of site dance to wider ecological imperatives. Within this framework, socio-cultural politics play a large part in the overall discourse, and Barbour, Hunter, and Kloetzel foreground their position as part of the discussion. The most substantial content within each chapter focuses on each author's own extensive practice research. This provides a level of detailed discussion that is both critically situated and highly engaging. The book aims to re-position the field toward a consideration of the 'implications' of site dance--ethically, politically, and ecologically. . . . Each chapter of the book contains one or more 'excursions', which are instructions for the reader to explore practical site-based activity aligned to the themes and issues discussed. These excursions are enticingly written with the same critical awareness offered throughout the book. They would likely be useful to academics and students of dance and performance as a way of deepening an individual's or a group's understanding of the intersection between the personal, place, and broader social politics. --New Theatre Quarterly