Description: This new collection of essays celebrates the incredible originality of British post-war Counterculture.
Brief description:
Cheryl Robson is a producer of several independent films, most recently Rock 'n' Roll Island, broadcast on BBC4, winner of 4 awards at film festivals and nominated for Raindance Film Festival. She worked at the BBC for several years and then taught filmmaking at the University of Westminster, before setting up a theatre company producing and developing women's plays. She also created a publishing company where she has edited over one hundred and fifty books including co-editing Celluloid Ceiling: women film directors breaking through. She has published over 300 international writers and won numerous awards. As a writer, she has won the Croydon Warehouse International Playwriting Competition been longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize and has had several stage plays produced.
www.cherylrobson.net
Review Quotes: I'm still working through most of the book but have read chapter 4, Dance: Anarchy from the margins and free expression and wanted to write a review of that chapter. I found it really easy to read and loved the links made to the developments within the music world as well. It was great to be reminded of the close relationship between the developments of music and the dance styles that naturally coupled with them. Such quotes as "music and dance combined offered a critique against mainstream beliefs and values" really sum this up for me. Again, the author stating such things as "music has always been a marker of identity for the countercultures" shows the strong link between music, and other art forms such as dance, and how they can challenge existing cultures within society.
I found it interesting when the author questioned the idea of whether "counter culture" declines when it becomes the "culture" and is therefore no longer pushing against anything. I also enjoyed the way the author reminded the reader that the new technology of today's world really helps give space for people to explore their interests/fantasies and share them with others. I wonder where that will take us in the future? ****