TANDEM DANCES: CHOREOGRAPHING IMMERSIVE PERFORMANCE by Julia M. Ritter. 2020. New York: Oxford University Press. 288 pp. 41 Illustrations. $35.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780190051310. $125.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780190051303.

symbol and excavate connections on a micro and macro level to reveal all facets of the work. In Myth, an unstable image of the cross —from crutches, to a weapon, to a crucifix— emphasizes the overarching theme that nothing is fixed. Cherkaoui’s productions offer fertile ground, porous enough to inject one’s own subjectivity into the meaning-making process, shifting between viewing and research. Those who have not seen his work may be inspired to see it live, and Uytterhoeven’s book may prompt a re-examination by those who have seen his productions. The reader is encouraged to contemplate the act of performance: What lives in the moment and what lives outside the body in mnemonic devices? How do they inform one another? Athough Uytterhoeven does not speak often about her visceral experiences of watching, she reflected: “I realised that I had no means of accounting for the strong affective, physical responses I felt to the powerful sections of the performance” (114). Is there a power in live performance that resides in the body and cannot be translated? Both writer and choreographer are utopian in their visions. For Uytterhoeven, the continued dramaturgy that happens after performance leads to cross-cultural conversations and possible shifts in perspective, engaging with Marianne Van Kerkhoeven’s “Grote Dramaturgie” (69), whereas Cherkaoui perceives movement as a universal language that possesses the ability to bring people together literally and figuratively. Uytterhoeven perceives movement as embedded in a cultural point of view (147). Chapter 3 elucidates problems with the idea of the universality of movement and transculturality in zero degrees and Sutra (2008). In both pieces Cherkaoui choreographs the physicalization of difference even as he tries to dance like the “Other.” In Babel (co-choreographed with Damien Jalet in 2010), spoken languages separate people, while movement unites them. Uytterhoeven explains, “For Cherkaoui and Jalet, people from diverse cultures can be connected through dance and bodywork as a transcultural act, which they propose are an antidote to conflict and misunderstanding as a result of language confusion” (203). The reader is left to ponder the properties of movement through different perspectives. Uytterhoeven focuses on one choreographer, but her scholarship expands outward into a myriad of directions. Her book inspires continued engagement, just as Cherkaoui’s work does. Can individual or social change be ignited after watching a performance? What ignites: the moment of watching or the analysis after viewing the performance? What are the tools of an artist in the twenty-first century? Cherkaoui’s large-scale theatrical productions, with sets and numerous performers and collaborators from all over the world, raise the question: What kind of work is possible, based on the financial support available? Not everyone will immerse themselves in the kind of in-depth, engaged spectatorship that Uytterhoeven advocates, but her strategies can inspire the viewer to go deeper. Her analytic approach is not applicable to choreography, which is not as interdisciplinary, tied to language, or apt to probe territories of “identity, culture, nation, religion and language” (27). Different disciplines will see her scholarship through distinct lenses—the eye of a choreographer, dancer, anthropologist, or dance studies scholar. Uytterhoeven’s interdisciplinary effort mixes different ways of seeing and perceiving, mirroring Cherkaoui’s creativity. Many conversations and lines of inquiry are being birthed. Reading her book may take you down a new path that you did not foresee.