Singularities: Dance in the Age of Performance Andre Lepecki 9781138907706

How does the production of performance engage with the fundamental issues of our advanced neo-capitalist age?

Andre Lepecki surveys a decade of experimental choreography to uncover the dual meaning of 'performance' in the twenty-first century: not just an aesthetic category, but a mode of political power. He demonstrates the enduring ability of performance to critique and subvert this power, examining this relationship through five 'singularities' in contemporary dance: thingness, animality, persistence, darkness, and solidity.

Exploring the works of Mette Ingvartsen, Yvonne Rainer, Ralph Lemon, Jerome Bel and others, Lepecki uses his concept of 'singularity'-the resistance of categorization and aesthetic identification-to examine the function of dance and performance in political and artistic debate.

Andre Lepecki is Associate Professor of Performance Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU and affiliated Professor at Stockholm University of the Arts, UNIARTS.

Singularities is a sparkling work of dance theory that reads like an urgent and prescient call to action.

Sima Belmar - The Drama Review