Terpsichore in Combat Boots

Abstract

To keep this reply brief I will dispense with a detailed account of various quotations taken out of context and of numerous historical and critical inaccuracies. (To cite only one procedural instance, Manning repeatedly refers to a rewritten or revised introduction to the I987 edition of Terpsichore in Sneakers; but as any reader can immediately tell-especially since it is spelled out in the 1987 preface-the 1980 introduction stands intact, and there is, in addition, an entirely new introduction added to contextualize the I980 text. More substantive mistakes, in terms of Manning's understanding of dance history, include her assertion that ballet became less pictorial in the early 20th century, and her apparent ignorance that Martha Graham's dances are expressive, not abstract-no matter what John Martin says; and that both early Soviet ballet and early '6os avantgarde dances, to name only two historical moments, mixed techniques from different dance traditions. But the informed reader will easily recognize such errors.) Instead, I want to focus on the misdirection of the entire project Manning has attempted to outline. Terpsichore in Sneakers is the historical account of a movement that once called itself and whose practitioners still use that title. There is no theoretical issue at stake here. It is simply a matter of historical fact that certain people choose to speak of themselves in this way and that they claim to belong to a specific tradition. Terpsichore in Sneakers offers the account of this movement. As such it is not partisan; postmodern is not an evaluative term, it is descriptive. It is not a term I made up. I used it because it was already in currency to categorize the group I wrote about. Altogether, however, Manning's own project is rather obscure. She wants to use the terms modernist and postmodernist ahistorically or transhistorically as categories of essential modes or types of dance. This, she seems to think, will enable us to sort through dance history-cultural and historical contexts notwithstanding-and neatly slot people and works