Poetics of Contemporary Dance is a major reference work published in French. It’s author, historian and critic Laurence Louppe, is renowned for her perception and insight. 1980, Louppe brilliantly and eruditely reviews the main ‘tools’ of contemporary dance creation and thought: the body, weight, space, time, flow, breath, style and composition. She also made a significant contribution to the analysis of the historical and philosophical issues and challenges of this particular art. Rather than taking an objective, the cognitive approach to the role of observing and criticizing Louppe writes from an intimate place of attention to all of the contemporary dancer’s resources and practices: from the pre-movement to the point of being invisibly in bodies, to the moment of performance and the encounter with a public. This is how it is written. « Poetics of Contemporary Dance » is both a call and a testament to contemporary dance literacy.

Published by Dance Books, translated from French by Sally Gardner.