Dance Faculty Releases new book on Choreography and War

Jens Giersdorf Book cover

Giersdorf is Professor of Dance at Marymount Manhattan College and this is his third published book. Choreographies of 21st Century Wars is the first book to analyze choreography in relationship to contemporary warfare through the means of field notes, participant observations, photographs, and essays by choreographers reflecting on war’s relationship to their choreographic practices.

In the preface, Giersdorf shares some of his experiences growing up in East Germany. “It was the Cold War—and we learned to hide behind our desks in the event of a nuclear attack, probably the same way a child in Pittsburgh was instructed to do. In 1982, like every man in East Germany, I was drafted into the army, serving at the border between the two Germanies. The border was the symbol of Cold War divisions, and it was at that point armed with over a million land and splatter mines. Border guards were stationed there not only to prevent fellow citizens from escaping to the West; we were also trained as the first defense against the capitalist aggressors.”

And on his experience editing the book, “When my co-editor Gay Morris approached me with her idea of a project on dance and war, I assumed it would deal mainly with the Cold War… We soon realized that the 21st century warranted study on its own, and so focused solely on contemporary warfare.”

Choreographies of 21st Century Wars is available for purchase now. The Dance Department is delighted to celebrate Giersdorf’s accomplishment.

Published: March 16, 2016