ABSTRACT
Professor Monroe Beardsley's paper is distinguished by his customary clarity. Many of the distinctions he draws will undoubtedly be useful not only for dance theoreticians, but for dance critics as well. Beardsley's basic point claims that a superfluity of expressiveness is a defining feature of a dance "moving". Although Room Service may appear similar to a dance Beardsley discusses— Anna Sokolow's Rooms— it differs from it in important ways. Beardsley's definition, Room Service reflects the values and prejudices of its cultural context because of the sheer practicality of its movement. Room Service is an extremely complex dance, with several levels of symbolic import. Room Service might also be called expressive in the sense that the choreography metaphorically possesses certain anthropomorphic qualities. Professor Beardsley's paper also raises issues relevant to postmodern choreography in the section where he argues that the basic constituents of dance are not bodily motions as such. The philosophical problems raised by dances like Accumulation can be quite vexing.
