Dance 2wice is a collection of unique photographic essays dedicated to contemporary dance, distilled from the pages of the celebrated interdisciplinary arts journal 2wice. The images explore the dynamic dialogue between performance and photography and bring together the talent of some the world's most respected dancers, choreographers, and photographers. In these carefully conceived collaborations, the transitory art of such key contemporary dance figures as Merce Cunningham, Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, and Karole Armitage is vividly captured: The pages become the stage for beautifully conceived performances, intriguing ideas, and intimate portraits. Founded in 1997, 2wice magazine is a publication that evolved out of the magazines Dance Ink and Ink, now no longer published. The publication, edited by New York-based founder and arts patron Patsy Tarr and designed and co-edited by Pentagram designer J. Abbott Miller, has been honoured with numerous awards and was named "Magazine of the Year" by the Society of Publication Designers.
Each issue focuses on a specific theme, but the broad range of material brought together in its pages shares a focus on issues of the body: its movement, its fashions, and the representations we create of ourselves and others. 2wice is a biannual journal of visual and performing arts, presenting a combination of the most original design, photography, dance, fashion, and art being created today. It is produced with the unusual support of a non-profit foundation whose mission is to document the ephemeral art of performance and to further the study and appreciation of the visual arts. The award-winning magazine aims to be a kind of curated collection, a printed exhibition that uses words, images, and design to consider a different theme for each issue. This book, Dance 2wice, focuses on the magazine's continuous celebration of modern dance by compiling the most memorable photographic essays commissioned and published since the publication's inception in 1997. These provocative images, most in colour, feature some of the most influential and exciting dancers, choreographers, and performance artists in the world, captured by the artistic lenses of various leading photographers.
Unmediated by the presence of an audience and the pressures of live performance, these collaborations brought about unusually intimate and original images of contemporary dance, and are reproduced here in book form for the first time. From the wit of Mark Morris to the elegance of Merce Cunningham and his company, to the energy of Karole Armitage, Dance 2wice presents a rare collection of images that exist at the intersection of contemporary dance, photography, and design.
