Kirkus评论

This latest of Price's cross-cultural appreciations conveys as usual a strong sense of the art's integral place in community life. More reasonably and less categorically than did Berger in The World of Dance (1978), she points to links between the forms the dance takes in a particular culture and the way of life it rises from. Her method of crisscrossing the world for examples of war dancing, circle dancing, or dances of homage to a god gives a sense of the dances' significance that would be less striking in a geographical or chronological survey; and her present-tense descriptions of particular ceremonial dances conveys some of the power and mystery of the occasion. One statement early on seems out of place: ""Birds and beasts and insects,"" says Price, ""were the first dancers, using a language of movement more vivid than words."" Perhaps, but this could be misleading or at best loaded with controversy on a page that goes on to emphasize the very human attributes of ""meaning,"" ""magic,"" and implied aesthetic qualities in the dance's dim beginnings. Overall, though, a worthy companion to Price's evocative introductions to masks, drums, and other arts. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.