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Making Dances That Matter
Making Dances That Matter
RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITY CREATIVITY
ANNA HALPRIN
with
RACHEL KAPLAN
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS
Middletown, Connecticut
Wesleyan University Press
Middletown CT 06459
© 2019 Anna Halprin
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Typeset in Miller and Didot by Tseng Informations Systems, Inc.
Title page image © Jay Graham Photographer. Anna Halprin Papers; courtesy of Museum of Performance and Design, San Francisco
Every effort has been made to identify and locate the rightful copyright holders of all material not specifically commissioned for use in this publication and to secure permission, where applicable, for reuse of all such material. Credit, if and as available, has been provided for all borrowed material. Any error, omission, or failure to obtain authorization with respect to material copyrighted by other sources has been either unavoidable or unintentional. The author and publisher welcome any information that would allow them to correct future reprints.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Halprin, Anna, author. | Kaplan, Rachel, 1963– author.
Title: Making dances that matter: resources for community creativity / Anna Halprin with Rachel Kaplan.
Description: Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018023905 (print) | LCCN 2018030717 (ebook) | ISBN 9780819575661 (ebook) | ISBN 9780819578440 (cloth: alk. paper) | ISBN 9780819575654 (paperback: alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Halprin, Anna—Criticism and interpretation. | Dance—Social aspects. | Postmodern dance—United States.
Classification: LCC GV1785.H267 (ebook) | LCC GV1785.H267 H35 2018 (print) | DDC 792.8092 [B] —dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018023905
5 4 3 2 1
Cover illustration: Photograph of Planetary Dance on Mount Tamalpais by Brian Collentine.
For my daughters,
DARIA and RANA HALPRIN,
for their continued support and participation
CONTENTS
| Introduction | 1 |
| 1. The Life/Art Process: An Approach to Making Dances That Matter | 8 |
| Ordinary Movement | 12 |
| Awareness of Your Embodied Self | 13 |
| When Ordinary Movement Becomes Dance | 15 |
| The Power of Body Wisdom | 18 |
| The Psychokinetic Visualization Process and Healing Through Dance | 19 |
| The RSVP Cycles | 25 |
| 2. A History of Circle the Earth and the Planetary Dance | 31 |
| 3. Circle the Earth: Dancing with Life on the Line | 49 |
| Day 1. The Beginning of Community | 53 |
| The Name Game | 57 |
| Trails | 59 |
| The Vortex Dance | 60 |
| First Self-Portrait Drawing: Who Am I? | 65 |
| A Special Ceremony: Presentation of the Feathers | 66 |
| Unifying Dance for Closure | 69 |
| Day 2. Planetary Dance | 71 |
| The Four Directions | 72 |
