This volume brings together philosophical and interdisciplinary perspectives on improvisation. The contributions connect the theoretical dimensions of improvisation with different viewpoints on its practice in the arts and the classroom. The chapters address the phenomenon of improvisation in two related ways. On the one hand, they attend to the lived practices of improvisation both within and without the arts in order to explain the phenomenon. They also extend the scope of improvisational practices to include the role of improvisation in habit and in planned action, at both individual and collective levels. Drawing on recent work done in the philosophy of mind, they address questions such as whether improvisation is a single unified phenomenon or whether it entails different senses that can be discerned theoretically and practically. Finally, they ask after the special kind of improvisational expertise which characterizes musicians, dancers, and other practitioners, an expertise marked by the artist’s ability to participate competently in complex situations while deliberately relinquishing control. Philosophy of Improvisation will appeal to anyone with a strong interest in improvisation, to researchers working in philosophy, aesthetics, and pedagogy as well as practitioners involved in different kinds of music, dance, and theater performances.

This volume brings together philosophical and interdisciplinary perspectives on improvisation. The contributions connect the theoretical dimensions of improvisation with different viewpoints on its practice in the arts and the classroom. The chapters address the phenomenon of improvisation in two related ways. On the one hand, they attend to the lived practices of improvisation both within and without the arts in order to explain the phenomenon. They also extend the scope of improvisational practices to include the role of improvisation in habit and in planned action, at both individual and collective levels. Drawing on recent work done in the philosophy of mind, they address questions such as whether improvisation is a single unified phenomenon or whether it entails different senses that can be discerned theoretically and practically. Finally, they ask after the special kind of improvisational expertise which characterizes musicians, dancers, and other practitioners, an expertise marked by the artist's ability to participate competently in complex situations while deliberately relinquishing control. Philosophy of Improvisation will appeal to anyone with a strong interest in improvisation, to researchers working in philosophy, aesthetics, and pedagogy as well as practitioners involved in different kinds of music, dance, and theater performances.

This book takes as its point of departure diverse conventions of and perspectives on practices and discourses in dance. The anthology is strongly motivated by the fact that space continues to be explored and debated within dance practices and studies as well as the human sciences more generally. Yet, there are still only few publications offering a contemporary view on how the relation between movement and space can be tied to the descriptions and analyses of actual movement practice. Already owing to its embodied nature, dance is essentially spatial. It forms, produces, and takes place in space. It is thus no coincidence that dance studies have increasingly begun to address the complex issue of movement and space. This anthology aims to link conceptual descriptions that concern space as process and in process to the undertakings of specific movement practices in dance. The articles in the anthology address how historical and geopolitical influences impact our understanding and practice of dance art. In them, the kinds of spaces and interrelationships, which different forms of dancing generate, are considered. Aspects of embodied space that dancing relies upon are likewise discussed. Through case examples, the articles take a closer look on how recent artistic practice in dance utilises given environments and constructs space.