PHILOSOPHY OF DANCING
We dance in clubs, at weddings, at house parties, alone at home
in our pajamas; we go to the ballet, the opera, to modern dance classes;
we associate dancing with vibrancy, lightness, or ecstasy.
Editors Maximilian Probst and Ursina Tossi, together with 14 authors, explore the philosophical aspects of dance. They take Friedrich Nietzsche to the club or invite Judith Butler to dance performances. In various ways, they approach the question of what makes dancing so special from childhood onward and how dancers can explore, experiment with, and define identities. The contributions show why dance is always political and often holds utopian potential—and ask what has become of dance’s claim to be avant-garde.
A book for everyone who enjoys dancing themselves or simply wants to immerse themselves in the world of dance to understand what makes it so fascinating.