"Going beyond the typical theoretical constructs of choreography and improvisation, Pil Hansen’s book indulges in the inventive components of creating dance productions utilizing performance generating systems. What could be overly abstract is grounded in concrete definitions that guide the reader toward an understanding of the included theories and possible applications. . . .This text is well suited for a graduate-level dance studies seminar involving practical application of creation methods. . . .In addition to graduate study, Hansen’s book is a wonderful source of thoughtful queries, ideas, and experiential knowledge that would benefit any dance educator guiding students in maintaining and deepening curiosity and explorative actions."
— Heather Trommer-Beardslee, Journal of Dance Education
"Hansen is defining and creating terminology that is useful for practitioners and researchers to understand more deeply what a [Performance Generating System] is and what it has the potential to do. […] [In the section on performativity] she articulates the relationship of PGSs within the iterative nature of performance and the way this makes space for the possibility of something new to appear. What her research reveals is that when trauma, or trauma memory, is approached performatively, and specifically within a PGS process, the rule-bound yet agentic frames that this offers allow for the increased possibility for actual change. […] This ability for change within the art practice, Hansen then extends, can move outward into the world to “gently address interpersonal, intergenerational, and environmental dissociation performatively” (3). It is a profound call to recognize the power and potential of embodied performance practices and the arts."
— Thea Patterson, TRIC: Theatre Research in Canada