The Body is a Clear Place is a collection of ten intelligent, lyrical essays that serve as a testament to Erick Hawkins' long career in dance. The last two essays were written especially for this volume while the first eight essays were collected from speeches, statements and articles Hawkins has written. The essays are framed by a foreword written by Alan Kriegsman.

Essay titles are: The Rite in Theatre; Theatre Structure for a New Dance Poetry; Modern Dance as a Voyage of Discovery; Questions and Answers; The Body is a Clear Place; My Love Affair with Music; Inmost Heaven, or The Normative Ideal; Dance as a Metaphor of Existence; The Principle of a Thing; Art in Its Second Function.

Accompanying the text is a photo section illuminating Hawkins' work as a dancer and choreographer from his early years on. He has created an aesthetic of movement based on the notions that art can exist both for its own sake and as a means towards deeper enlightenment; that dance is a metaphor for existence; that all body movement contributes to the moment-to-moment wonder of living.

Philosopher, experienced performer and pithy observer of the American modern dance scene, this elder spokesman for modern dance-who Anna Kisselgoff calls "the poet of modern dance"-challenges us to revolutionize our responses to movement and dance. Includes 12 illustrations.