Jonathan Burrows: Towards a Minor Dance(New World Choreographies)

The first monograph on the work of British choreographer Jonathan Burrows, this book examines his artistic practice and poetics as articulated through his choreographic works, his writings and his contributions to current performance debates. It considers the contexts, principles and modalities of his choreography, from his early pieces in the 1980s to his latest collaborative projects, providing detailed analyses of his dances and reflecting on his unique choreomusical partnership with composer Matteo Fargion. Known for its emphasis on gesture and humour, and characterised by compositional clarity and rhythmical patterns, Burrows’ artistic work takes the language of choreography to its limits and engages in a paradoxical, and hence transformative, relationship with dance’s historical and normative structures. Exploring the ways in which Burrows and Fargion’s poetics articulates movement, performative presence and the collaborative process in a ‘minor’ register, this study conceptualises the work as a politically compelling practice that destabilises major traditions from a minoritarian position.

Table of Contents:
1.Dance and/as poiesis, poetry, poetics.- 2.Resisting from within: Dance canons and their deterritorialisation.- 3.Reduction, repetition, returns: The trouble of minimalism.- 4.Rhythm as friendship: Movement, music and Matteo.- 5.Duets and (self-)portraits: Choreographing the im/personal.- 6.Choreographies of plurality: Rethinking collaboration and collectivity.- 7.Towards a politics of poetry, gesture and laughter.

About the Author :
Daniela Perazzo Domm is Senior Lecturer in Dance Studies at Kingston University London, UK, where her specialist areas include dance theory and performance philosophy. 

Review :
“While this is a significant contribution to the field of dance and performance studies, it is also an invaluable resource for practitioners, researchers and students interested in dance and performance practice. … This book is a long-awaited careful assessment of one the most influential, prominent and progressive choreographers of contemporary dance today, and a rich and valuable contribution to dance and performance studies scholarship.” (Antje Hildebrandt, Theatre Research International, Vol. 46 (1), 2021) “Perazzo Domm’s research skillfully familiarizes the reader with the range of ways in which Burrows’s oeuvre plays at the edges of normativestructures. … I find myself drawn to consider the potential of this manuscript to act as exemplar. … this latest contribution to the field of dance studies, is a method of articulation that demonstrates empathy and deep listening with respect to both the artist and the work—a quality often absent in theoretical publications.” (Gemma Collard-Stokes, Dance Chronicle, Vol. 43 (3), 2020)