P.S. #23: How to Sell It

With Live Arts/Fringe and the new season ahead, we’re reading lots of blurbs and previews. What works to draw you to see dance? How do you think about writing these descriptions well?

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  • Book Reviews

Zooming Out and Weighing In

Jennifer Passios

Thirty-three writers shape Contact Improvisation’s next chapter.

A flat image of the front cover of "Resistance and Support: CI @ 50" appears centered on a dark maroon background. From top to bottom, the cover descends through sunset – muted burnt orange, carrot, creamsicle, golden rod, pale yellow, into a black and white photo of two dancers partnering in the ocean. One dancer is on his ass in the water. The other stands, both knees bent, reaching out for her comrade in the waves. They hold hands at the wrists, arms fully extended. The title “Resistance and Support,” each word on its own line, spans the top third of the cover page in a burgundy, serif font. Below, the subtitle “CI @ 50” slants in smaller white italics. The text “EDITED BY: Ann Cooper Albright,” back to the burgundy with no italics, sits about one thumbs width above the dancers in the ocean.
Photo: Courtesy of Ann Cooper Albright, includes photo by Lasse Lychnell
  • Reviews, thINKpieces

Rave, or Revelation? Celibate Orgies & Mixed Messaging in The Testament of Ann Lee

Lauren Berlin

In this cinematic story of the Shakers, contradictory messages about the body compete with ecstatic movement sequences

A scene from the 2025 film, The Testament of Ann Lee: Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried) opens her arms wide and looks on a slight upward diagonal, lips gently parted, gaze forward, or perhaps “beyond.” The reverent gesture takes up the whole horizontal span of the image. Lee dresses modestly in a muted cerulean dress with long sleeves. A cream colored scarf covers her head and wraps around her bust in an X. The image cuts off just beneath the scarf.
Photo: Courtesy of Disney and Searchlight Pictures