Using the Sky

<p>In the mid 1990’s Deborah Hay’s work took a new turn. From her early experiments with untrained dancers and after a decade of focusing on solo work the choreographer began to explore new grounds of choreographic notation and transmission by working with experienced performers and choreographers. </p><p>Using the Sky: a dance follows a similar path as Hay’s previous books—<i>Lamb at the Altar </i>and <i>My Body the Buddhist</i>—by exploring her unrelenting quest for ways to both define and rethink her choreographic imagery through a broad range of alternately intimate descriptive poetic analytical and often playful engagement with language and writing. </p><p>This book is a reflection on the experiments that Hay set up for herself and her collaborators and the ideas she discovered while choreographing four dances <i>If I Sing to You</i> (2008) <i>No Time to Fly</i> (2010) <i>A Lecture on the Performance of Beauty</i> (2003) and the solo <i>My Choreographed Body</i> (2014). </p><p>The works are revisited by unfolding a trove of notes and journal entries resulting in a dance score in its own right and providing an insight into Hay’s extensive legacy and her profound influence on the current conversations in contemporary performance arts.</p>