Joseph Campbell, Ecstasy of Being

Joseph Campbell’s collected writings on dance and art assembles seven previously uncollected essays and the unpublished manuscript “Mythology and Form in the Performing and Visual Arts,” the project he was completing at his death. Edited and introduced by Nancy Allison, CMA — founder of Jean Erdman Dance — the volume situates Campbell’s reflections within the choreographic world he inhabited: Jean Erdman, a leading figure in modern dance who worked with Martha Graham and gave Merce Cunningham his first company, and the Theater of the Open Eye, which Campbell and Erdman formed after his 1972 retirement and where they presented nearly fifteen years of performances, lectures, and experiments. The texts examine myth, movement, and visual form.