Publisher's Synopsis
The sublime has been much discussed since Longinus's ancient treatise, On Sublime Writing. Since then, it has been applied and theorized in relationship to nature, literature, painting, architecture, music, and film. This book represents the first extended and rigorous attempt to theorize about the sublime and its relationship to the artform of dance. Armed with a conception of the sublime as an emotional experience which is overwhelming but ultimately uplifting, Heckman presents a bold theory of how the sublime is evoked and how the artform of dance may specifically evoke it. He introduces a novel type of the sublime called, 'The Embodied Sublime.' This is, Heckman argues, a uniquely dance-centered type of the sublime which is evoked through empathetically feeling movement seen on stage. Heckman then discusses extensively how the embodied sublime interacts with and may be enhanced by the use of music on stage, and he completes his analysis by arguing that the elicitation of sublime experiences also requires a recognition of a profound sentiment, a recognition of some kind of relationship one has with the world around them. Throughout this study, Heckman looks at and analyzes works of dance by famous choreographers such as Elizabeth Streb, Pina Bausch, Mark Morris, Tero Saarinen, and Carolyn Carlson. This interdisciplinary book should appeal to philosophers, dance scholars, choreographers, and anyone interested in the arts and the sublime.
