Book excerpt: It was indeed an adventure for those pioneers in France who struggled for the recognition of the new-born dance of the twentieth century - from the free dance of Isadora Duncan, through the absolute dance of Mary Wigman, to the modern dance of Martha Graham. Jacqueline Robinson has lived at the heart of this adventure, sharing the aspirations of a whole generation who often suffered from the lack of understanding of an establishment more inclined towards classical ballet. From the breaking of the soil in the twenties, to the flowering in the sixties, here is a chronicle of the changing landscape of French dance. Here is the story of those men and women, ploughmen and poets, rebels and visionaries - the recollection of those events that made it possible for dance as an art form in Western countries to rise again as a fundamental expression of the human spirit.