Jill Johnston in Motion
Dance, Writing, and Lesbian Life
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Duke University Press
Published:29th Oct '24
Should be back in stock very soon
This book examines the life and influence of Jill Johnston, a key figure in dance criticism and feminist activism, showcasing her contributions to the arts.
In Jill Johnston in Motion, Clare Croft explores the significant impact of Jill Johnston, a pioneering figure in dance criticism and feminist activism. Johnston, a vibrant presence in the queer community during the 1970s, was not only a performer and writer but also a critical voice in the evolution of dance. She was among the first to recognize and articulate the arrival of postmodernism in American dance, while simultaneously advocating for the visibility and importance of lesbians within the feminist movement.
Croft delves into Johnston's prolific career, examining her journalism and criticism, particularly her influential columns in the Village Voice from 1960 to 1980. These writings, along with her memoirs and biographical works, provide insight into her unique perspective on dance and its relationship with feminism. Croft also highlights Johnston's dynamic participation in feminist protests, showcasing her as both a dancer and an engaged audience member, which underscores the interplay between her activism and artistic expression.
By weaving together Johnston's critical writings and her activism, Jill Johnston in Motion illuminates how the arts, especially dance, informed Johnston's feminist ideology during a transformative era. Croft's analysis reveals the foundational role of lesbian feminism in avant-garde art practices, positioning Johnston as a key figure in both dance and feminist history, whose contributions continue to resonate today.
“Clare Croft’s book is a love letter to Jill Johnston, an ode to the lesbian feminist potential that unfurled with dance investigations in the 1960s, a call for writing as a kind of touching through time, pleasure, juxtapositions, and passionate political imaginings. Gorgeously written and deeply researched, it puts the reader in a richly woven world of thinkers and ideas about what bodies in motion can upend when in sync with feminist possibility. It has an ease, a slouch, and funny adjacencies to queer pleasures and adamancies that helps us sense and move more queerly.” -- Jennifer Monson, Professor of Dance, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
“Jill Johnston in Motion is a smart and engaging read that sheds light on one of the most significant writers of the twentieth century. Clare Croft tells a compelling story about Jill Johnston’s transition from dancer to dance critic to feminist cultural critic over the course of her life as a writer. With remarkable care, Croft not only underscores the importance of Johnston’s contributions to dance and feminist history, she also demonstrates how Johnston’s writing was itself an embodied practice and performance. This important book will be a primary text for performance studies and gender and sexuality studies.” -- Ricardo Montez, author of * Keith Haring’s Line: Race and the Performance of Desire *
ISBN: 9781478031055
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 363g
264 pages