The unique career of choreographer Liz Lerman has taken her from theater stages to shipyards, and from synagogues to science labs. In this wide-ranging collection of essays and articles, she reflects on her life-long exploration of dance as a vehicle for human insight and understanding of the world around us. Lerman has been described by the Washington Post as "the source of an epochal revolution in the scope and purposes of dance art." Here, she combines broad outlooks on culture and society with practical applications and accessible stories. Her expansive scope encompasses the craft, structure, and inspiration that bring theatrical works to life as well as the applications of art in fields as diverse as faith, aging, particle physics, and human rights law. Offering readers a gentle manifesto describing methods that bring a horizontal focus to bear on a hierarchical world, this is the perfect book for anyone curious about the possible role for art in politics, science, community, motherhood, and the media.
""[R]eaders will be excited to evaluate and evolve their own practices. Anyone interested in making or teaching dance, regardless of where the dance takes place, who is dancing, or what it is about, will agree that this book matters.""
Karen Schupp
"Lerman's concise text inspires and equips the reader with a host of new perspectives from which to tackle the making of artworks.... Lerman's ideas are novel, deep, and challenging and, as such, require time to take in, analyze, and potentially adopt."
Lisa Jo Sagolla
""Hiking the Horizontal constructs a portrait of a compelling artist whose convictions are at the core of her creative engagement in dance-a choreographer whose activism is personal.""
