Dance as Reverie: Ancient Preludes to a Modern Idea

That the visual experience of ballet performance resembles dreams has been a particularly popular idea in modern times, repeatedly stated in influential nineteenth-century ballet criticism, such as that of Théophile Gautier and Stéphane Mallarmé. This talk will explore the cognitive and broader aesthetic implications of this exciting notion and will trace similar approaches to dance in Greek and Greco-Roman antiquity.  

Anastasia-Erasmia Peponi is Professor of Classics at Stanford University. She works on Greek and Greco-Roman aesthetic thought, often in relation to modern aesthetics. One of her ongoing interests is ancient dance in performance and theory, about which she has taught, published, and given lectures in the US and in Europe. Among her publications are Frontiers of Pleasure : Models of Aesthetic Response in Archaic and Classical Greek Thought ( Oxford University Press, 2012) and (ed.) Performance and Culture in Plato’s Laws ( Cambridge University Press, 2013).

Please note that registration for this event will open on April 9th.

Registration is required at isaw.nyu.edu/rsvp

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