Allen Lane to publish 'immersive' global history of modern dance by Weir

Allen Lane has acquired academic and BBC New Generation Thinker Lucy Weir’s “immersive” history of modern dance. 

Ka Bradley, commissioning editor at Penguin Press, signed world rights to What Moves Them: A Global History of Modern Dance, directly from the author. Allen Lane will publish in autumn 2025.

What Moves Them explores the development of modern dance through the 20th and into the 21st century. Each chapter takes a decade and an important figure from the dance world and uses them as an example to chart the major changes in technique, choreography, staging and artistic intention – inextricably linked to the social and cultural changes of its era.

Weir is Chancellor’s Fellow in History of Art at the University of Edinburgh. Her first book, Pina Bausch’s Dance Theatre, was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2018, and she is completing a new publication on self-injury in performance art with Routledge.

Bradley said: “I’m thrilled for this opportunity to work with Lucy, who brings such authority and deep knowledge to her subject – and writes so playfully, gracefully and engagingly that her text is as much of a joy as a perfectly executed pirouette. What Moves Them will be a work of major cultural importance, and one I am so excited to be publishing with Allen Lane.”

Weir added: “This passion project has evolved over 10 years of teaching modern dance to art historians. Across the globe, modern dancers have recorded history through the language of the body, responding to political revolutions, world wars, and battles for equality and civil rights. I am delighted to be working with Ka Bradley and for Allen Lane to bring the enthralling story of how modern dance evolved to a wider audience.”