Carolyn Pavlik co-edits book on choreographyJan. 1, 2010 KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University's Carolyn Pavlik, associate professor of dance, co-edited "Site Dance: Choreographers and the Lure of Alternative Spaces," the first anthology to examine dance performances specifically designed to take place outside of concert halls. Published the University Press of Florida, "Site Dance" was co-edited with Melanie Kloetzel of the University of Calgary. Pavlik and Kloetzel explore the work choreographers create for nontraditional performance spaces and the thinking behind their creative choices. Combining interviews with and essays by some of the most prominent and influential practitioners of site dance, Pavlik and Kloetzel raise crucial questions about the site-specific dance genre and provide a portrait of an increasingly relevant cultural practice. The close examinations of work by site dance artists offer insights into what motivates some choreographers to leave the theater and embrace the challenges of unconventional venues. The book also includes more than 80 photographs of site-specific performances, revealing how the arts, and movement in particular, can speak to our everyday lives and the relationship we have with our environments. These engaging images in conjunction with the choreographers' insights allow scholars and practitioners to delve deeper into issues of performance and place. Celebrating the often-unexpected beauty and juxtapositions created by site dance, the essays and interviews reveal how choreographers and performers can change our experience of the world one step at a time. Pavlik has been a member of the WMU dance faculty since 2004 and teaches courses in modern dance technique, choreography and dance conditioning. Prior to joining the WMU faculty, Pavlik performed with Sharir + Bustamante DanceWorks in Austin, Texas. Her choreography has been recognized for excellence by the American College Dance Festival Association, and her dance "nothing was left but white fragments" won the 2008 Maggie Allessee New Choreography Award. Her dance videos "endless buttonings" and "Lady-boy" have been screened throughout the world and earned the 2004-05 Austin Critics Table Award. Media contact: Mark Schwerin, (269) 387-8400, mark.schwerin@wmich.edu WMU News |
