Anna Halprin, vanguard postmodern dancer turned community artist and healer, has created ground-breaking dances with communities all over the world. Here, she presents her philosophy and experience, as well as step-by-step processes for bringing people together to create dances that foster individual and group well-being. At the heart of this book are accounts of two dances: the Planetary Dance, which continues to be performed throughout the world, and Circle the Earth. The Circle the Earth workshop for people living with AIDS has generated dozens of "scores" for others to adapt. In addition, the book provides a concrete guide to Halprin's celebrated Planetary Dance. Now more than 35 years old, Planetary Dance promotes peace among people and peace with the Earth. Open to everyone, it has been performed in more than 50 countries. In 1995 more than 400 participants joined her in a Planetary Dance in Berlin commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Potsdam Agreements, at the end of World War II. More recently, she took the Planetary Dance to Israel, bringing together Israelis and Palestinians as well as other nationalities. Throughout this book Halprin shows how dance can be a powerful tool for healing, learning and mobilizing change, and she offers insight and advice on facilitating groups. If we are to survive, Halprin argues, we must learn, experientially, how our individual stories weave together and strengthen the fabric of our collective body. Generously illustrated with photographs, charts and scores, this book will be a boon to dance therapists, educators and community artists of all types.

アンナ・ハルプリンという巨星が綴る本作は、舞踊を「鑑賞物」から「生を営むための儀礼」へと鮮やかに解き放ちました。身体を動かすことが個人の癒やしに留まらず、社会の再生や平和への祈りへと昇華される過程は、もはや芸術を超えた現代の叙事詩です。彼女の言葉は、自己と世界の境界を溶かし、私たちが一つの「集団的肉体」としていかに共存すべきかを鋭く問いかけてきます。 本書の白眉は、エイズ患者との対話や紛争地での活動から生まれた「スコア」の思想です。個々人の傷跡が織り成す物語がいかにして世界を癒やす力に変わるのかを説く哲学は、混迷の時代を生きる読者の魂を激しく揺さぶります。人間が生き延びるために他者との繋がりに命を吹き込もうとする彼女の情熱は、未来への希望を照らし出す、美しくも力強いマニフェストなのです。