Dance

Written for the dance novice, this reference is a concise history of all forms of dance. Detailing the development of dance from its earliest beginnings, this guide covers the intersection of dance and religion, social dance, ballet, modern dance, tap, jazz, film and theatrical dance, and contemporary dance. This fourth edition has been thoroughly revised and includes a chapter on dance in the new millennium, along with lists of the social dances of Europe and America, basic ballet terminology, Hollywood movie-musicals, dance organizations, suggested readings, and filmographies. Brief biographies of notable dancers and choreographers who have contributed to each form of dance are also included.

Traces the development of ballet, describes influential choreographers, dances, and dancers, and looks at modern trends in dance.

Written for the adult beginner, Ballet Basics is a well-illustrated introduction to the fundamentals of ballet technique. The text also provides an overview of the history of ballet and introduces students to the world of ballet.

40 designs representing 19 premieres of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, which toured from coast to coast, helping develop an enthusiastic new audience for ballet in America.

Movement is our first language, our universal language. Expression of body movement is the very basis of life as the nineteen contributors to "The Body Can Speak: Essays on Creative Movement Education with Emphasis on Dance and Drama" attest.

This collection of essays poses a series of questions revolving around nonsense, cacophony, queerness, race, and the dancing body. How can flamenco, as a diasporic complex of performance and communities of practice frictionally and critically bound to the complexities of Spanish history, illuminate theories of race and identity in performance? How can we posit, and argue for, genealogical relationships within and between genres across the vast expanses of the African—and Roma—diaspora? Neither are the essays presented here limited to flamenco, nor, consequently, are the responses to these questions reduced to this topic. What all the contributions here do share is the wish to come together, across disciplines and subject areas, within the academy and without, in the whirling, raucous, and messy spaces where the body is free—to celebrate its questioning, as well as the depths of the wisdom and knowledge it holds and sometimes reveals.

The Dance Bible is a book for beginners who have the passion to dance but are unsure how to transform their creative impulse into a career. Advises readers on modern dance, jazz, ballet, contemporary, non-western forms, and even street dance Describes and discuses training regimes and fundamental dance techniques Offers suggestions on how to develop one's own unique style of expression Dancers get advice on physical conditioning and learning to care for their body, on and off the stage Finally, the author offers detailed advice on how beginning dancers can effectively market their talent, maximize income, and sustain a successful career in the highly competitive world of dance.

This revised core text addresses the rationale, process, techniques and methodologies specific to the study of dance history. A team of dance historians covers the study of dance in its traditional and performance contexts, offering a range of starting points for study.

The life of Howard Johnson, nicknamed "Stretch" because of his height (6'5"), epitomizes the cultural and political odyssey of a generation of African Americans who transformed the United States from a closed society to a multiracial democracy. Johnson's long-awaited memoir traces his path from firstborn of a multiclass/multiethnic" family in New Jersey to dancer in Harlem's Cotton Club to communist youth leader and, later, professor of Black studies. A Dancer in the Revolution is a powerful statement about Black resilience and triumph amid subtle and explicit racism in the United States. Johnson's engaging, beautifully written memoir provides a window into everyday life in Harlem--neighborhood life, arts and culture, and politics--from the 1930s to the 1970s, when the contemporary Black community was being formed. A Dancer in the Revolution explores Johnson's twenty-plus years in the Communist Party and illuminates in compelling detail how the Harlem branch functioned and flourished in the 1930s and '40s. Johnson thrived as a charismatic leader, using the connections he built up as an athlete and dancer to create alliances between communist organizations and a cross-section of the Black community. In his memoir, Johnson also exposes the homoerotic tourism that was a feature of Harlem's nightlife in the 1930s. Some of America's leading white literary, musical, and artistic figures were attracted to Harlem not only for the community's artistic creativity but to engage in illicit sex--gay and straight--with their Black counterparts. A Dancer in the Revolution is an invaluable contribution to the literature on Black political thought and pragmatism. It reveals the unique place that Black dancers and artists hold in civil rights pursuits and anti-racism campaigns in the United States and beyond. Moreover, the life of "Stretch" Johnson illustrates how political activism engenders not only social change but also personal fulfillment, a realization of dreams not deferred but rather pursued and achieved. Johnson's journey bears witness to critical periods and events that shaped the Black condition and American society in the process.

Four American women: Marcia Siegel, Deborah Jowitt, Arlene Croce and Nancy Goldner are writers who became dance critics partly by design. By showing us extensive examples from their vivid writing about dance, Diana Theodores presents a detailed and illuminating analysis of their styles and ideas from 1965 to 1985, the Golden Age of Dance in New York

Surveys the origins and development of dance over the past 2,000 years.

Where does the impulse to create originate? What is the choreographer's responsibility to the dancers, the audience, the self? These are just a few of the probing questions that Rose Eichenbaum asks some of America's most celebrated choreographers in her quest to understand the secrets of creativity. A collection of photographic portraits and vignettes based on intimate conversations, Masters of Movement is a rare journey into the world of dance.

Winner of the Selma Jeanne Cohen Memorial Prize (2010) In this stunning new collection of reviews and essays, dance critic Marcia B. Siegel grapples with the floating identity of ballet, as well as particular ballets, and with the expanding environment of spectacle in which ballet competes for an audience. Drawn from a wide variety of published sources, these writings concentrate on canonical works of ballet and how the performances of these works have been changing in significant ways. Siegel writes with a keen awareness of the history and mythology that surround particular works, while remaining attentive to the new ways in which a work is interpreted and re-presented by contemporary choreographers and dancers. Through her readable and provocative writings, Siegel offers critical insight into performances of the past twenty-five years to give us a new understanding of ballet in performance. The volume includes over one hundred pieces on a variety of ballet topics, from specific dances and dancers to companies and choreographers, ranging from Swan Lake and The Nutcracker to Nijinsky, Balanchine, Tharp, and Morris to the Bolshoi, the Joffrey, the Miami City Ballet, the Boston Ballet, to name just a few.

How is the politics of Blackness figured in the flamenco dancing body? What does flamenco dance tell us about the construction of race in the Atlantic world? Sonidos Negros traces how, in the span between 1492 and 1933, the vanquished Moor became Black, and how this figure, enacted in terms of a minstrelized Gitano, paradoxically came to represent Spain itself. The imagined Gypsy about which flamenco imagery turns dances on a knife's edge delineating Christian and non-Christian, White and Black worlds. This figure's subversive teetering undermines Spain's symbolic linkage of religion with race, a prime weapon of conquest. Flamenco's Sonidos Negros live in this precarious balance, amid the purposeful confusion and ruckus cloaking embodied resistance, the lament for what has been lost, and the values and aspirations of those rendered imperceptible by enslavement and colonization.

Matthew Shaffer's more than twenty years as a performer, choreographer, director, Broadway collaborator, writer, and producer has allowed him opportunities to work with celebrities like Megan Mullally, Ben Stiller, and the elite competition team of Dance Moms. So You Want to Be a Dancer is the ultimate book for anyone who has to fight the urge to sashay down grocery store aisles or school hallways. Shaffer discusses everything from how to break into the industry to practical advice--from how to audition and book a job to dealing with movie stars on-set. So You Want To Be A Dancer is a must-read for any creative entrepreneur, aspiring artist pursuing a career in today's social media-savvy society, or anyone who savors the heartfelt journey of an artist.

From adagio to voyage, over 800 steps, movements, poses, and concepts are fully defined. A pronunciation guide and cross-references to alternate names for similar steps and positions that vary from the Russian to the French or Italian schools are also invaluable aids. "More information available in one book than we have ever had before." -- Dance Magazine.

Through the Eyes of a Dancer compiles the writings of noted dance critic and editor Wendy Perron. In pieces for The SoHo Weekly News, Village Voice, The New York Times, and Dance Magazine, Perron limns the larger aesthetic and theoretical shifts in the dance world since the 1960s. She surveys a wide range of styles and genres, from downtown experimental performance to ballets at the Metropolitan Opera House. In opinion pieces, interviews, reviews, brief memoirs, blog posts, and contemplations on the choreographic process, she gives readers an up-close, personalized look at dancing as an art form. Dancers, choreographers, teachers, college dance students--and anyone interested in the intersection between dance and journalism--will find Perron's probing and insightful writings inspiring. Through the Eyes of a Dancer is a nuanced microcosm of dance's recent globalization and modernization that also provides an opportunity for new dancers to look back on the traditions and styles that preceded their own.

As a study of theatrical dance which places developments in dance within the larger artistic and historical environment, Deborah Jowitt's generously illustrated book makes a valuable contribution to modern cultural history.

Designed for students, scholars and general readers with an interest in dance and queer history, A Queer History of the Ballet focuses on how, as makers and as audiences, queer men and women have helped to develop many of the texts, images, and legends of ballet. Presenting a series of historical case studies, the book explores the ways in which, from the nineteenth century into the twentieth, ballet has been a means of conjuring homosexuality - of enabling some degree of expression and visibility for people who were otherwise declared illegal and obscene. Studies include: the perverse sororities of the Romantic ballet the fairy in folklore, literature, and ballet Tchaikovsky and the making of Swan Lake Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and the emergence of queer modernity the formation of ballet in America the queer uses of the prima ballerina Genet's writings for and about ballet. Also including a consideration of how ballet's queer tradition has been memorialized by such contemporary dance-makers as Neumeier, Bausch, Bourne, and Preljocaj, this is an essential book in the study of ballet and queer history.

A breathtaking collection of contemporary photography, sculpture, illustration, and design that celebrates the world of danceThere's no question that humans have been fascinated by movement and dance for as long as we've been creating art, from prehistoric cave drawings to the paintings of Degas. This stunning art anthology brings together a unique collection of 50 renowned contemporary artists from across the globe whose works celebrate, pay tribute to, and are inspired by the dazzling world of dance. From social media stars to international fine art sensations, household names to rule-breaking newcomers, Dance Vision showcases the wondrous diversity of art and dance today. The artists featured within this anthology boast a variety of unique personal perspectives, approaches, and styles that will be sure to delight and mystify dance and art enthusiasts of all ages and backgrounds.

A vibrantly illustrated and inclusive celebration of dance in all its styles, moods, and meanings.   Dance can be radical self-expression, community celebration, revolutionary protest, or pure elation. Whether you're a professional ballet dancer or the first person on the dance floor at parties, whether you dance in your living room or out in the streets, you know the power of moving to music. Artist and author Aurélia Durand bottles the lightning of dance in these vibrantly illustrated pages. You're invited to embark on a world tour of styles, explore a who's-who of iconic and inspiring dancers, and celebrate all the amazing ways movement can make you feel: empowered, fabulous, free. With joyful affirmations and playful interactive content, this book brings together culture, history, and neon illustrations that practically dance off the page. A foreword by popular jam skater Oumi Janta reflects on the magic of Durand's artwork. This is for anyone who feels a rhythm and the need to move with it.   STAR ILLUSTRATOR: From illustrating the New York Times-bestselling This Book Is Anti-Racist, to delivering a keynote slot at Adobe Max, Aurélia Durand captures the zeitgeist in bold shape and color. She's an ambitious and multitalented artist, poised to move hearts and minds with her first authored book and an accompanying stationery line.   INCLUSIVE AND EMPOWERING MESSAGE: This book weaves together movement traditions from around the world, offering a truly inclusive vision, and highlights all the ways that dance intersects with liberation and empowerment.   A NEW GENERATION OF DANCERS: Online platforms like Tiktok have ushered in a new era for dance, with challenges going viral and new styles being shared around the world. Durand's uplifting images are perfectly pitched for those who have discovered a new passion for expressing themselves through movement online.   Perfect for: Dancers and dance lovers Aurélia Durand and Oumi Janta fans People passionate about inclusivity and joyful activism People seeking to celebrate Black excellence Creatives of all types Fans of Tiktok dance videos