Fifteen Years of a Dancer's Life, With Some Account of her Distinguished Friends
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Dance, Ageing and Collaborative Arts-Based Research
Dance, Ageing and Collaborative Arts-Based Research contributes a critical and comprehensive perspective on the role of the arts -specifically dance - in enhancing the lives of older people.The book focuses on the development of an innovative arts-based program for older adults and the collaborative process of exploring and understanding its impact in relation to ageing, social inclusion, and care. It offers a wide audience of readers a richer understanding of the role of the arts in ageing and life enrichment, critical contributions to theories of ageing and care, specific approaches to arts-based collaborative research, and an exploration of the impact of Sharing Dance from the perspective of older adults, artists, researchers, and community leaders. Given the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of this book, it will be of interest across health, social science, and humanities disciplines, including gerontology, sociology, psychology, geography, nursing, social work, and performing arts.Licence line: Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Master of the Russian Ballet - The Memoirs of Enrico Cecchetti
Anna Pavlova in Art & Life
I have had the temerity to undertake a book about Anna Pavlova for two reasons. The first is that in the whole course of her theatrical life I was her closest associate. As her husband I had her unbounded confidence, managed all her affairs - theatrical and private - carried on all her correspondence, received those who came to see her (Pavlova herself could only very rarely receive anyone), was present at and assisted her in all her interviews for the press -and she was obliged to grant interviews to press representatives all over the world - spent with her her hours of leisure, made the necessary plans for new tours and discussed with her details of our vast and complicated enterprise. I stood nearer to her than anybody, and I knew and understood her thoughts and aspirations, her disappointments and chagrins better than anyone else.In addition to my personal nearness to Pavlova, I met the thousands of people in all the corners of the earth who came to voice their enthusiasm and love. Through talking with them and receiving letters from them, during Pavlova's life as well as after her death, I am in a position to judge better than any other to what a remarkable degree she shone forth a beacon of beauty and love. All human testimony from whatever sources only goes to confirm my judgment of her exceptional personality.The second and chief reason for the appearance of this book is the wish of Anna Pavlova herself. Many and many a time in the course of her life she told me that I ought to write a book about her, as nobody knew her so well as I did. This was of course impossible while she was alive, but now it is my duty. I shall be happy beyond measure if I succeed in this book in giving an image of Pavlova full of that spiritual beauty, for which as a woman and as an artist she was so beloved. And I do not think this will be difficult, for in order to render unto her that which is justly hers, one has only to speak the truth. VICTOR DANDR?
Embraced by Dance
Matthew Rushing, an exceptional professional dancer that has taken the dance world by storm. Matthew began his professional career at age 17, and has continued to perform for 30 years with The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Through much hard work, and dedication Matthew also transitioned into leadership positions; first as Rehearsal Director/Guest Artist, and is presently the Associate Artistic Director. This amazing versatile dancer is a perfect fit for the high caliber repertoire company of The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Matthew is not only an amazing dancer, but also an outstanding humanitarian. Enjoy Matthew's journey as you turn the pages of his biographical story. The author Toni Lynn is a native of Pittsburgh, PA. She is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine, with a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Dance, and a Bachelor of Arts in dance from Point Park University, Pittsburgh, PA. Toni started dancing at the age of 11, and at 12 was awarded a summer scholarship to study dance at the University Of Pittsburgh. She danced with The Pittsburgh Black Theater Dance Ensemble, Barbara Sullivan's Atlanta Dance Theater, and Chester Whitmore's Central Avenue Dance Ensemble, Los Angeles. Toni was the featured dancer for actress Della Reese's 70th birthday party. She is also proud to be an original member of the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks 'Ole Skool' Dance Crew. She is presently a itinerant dance teacher for Los Angeles Unified School District. Toni is the proud mother of two adult sons, DeMarius and Scott
Glocal Bodies
This book is a critical study of Iranian dance and the works of Iranian-American female dancers in exile. Focusing on the study of contemporary Iranian dance through analysis of the choreographies of three female dancers in diaspora (namely Aisan Hoss, Shahrzad Khorsandi, and Banafsheh Sayyad), this research is among the first of its kind. Elaheh Hatami investigates the transformation of professional Iranian dance and discusses the role of relocation and displacement in its performance. She argues that Iranian dance and Iranian female dancers have always been in exile - not only in a physical sense, but also in the metaphorical sense of >exile
Astaire by Numbers
Astaire by Numbers looks at every second of dancing Fred Astaire committed to film in the studio era--all six hours, thirty-four minutes, and fifty seconds. Using a quantitative digital humanities approach, as well as previously untapped production records, author Todd Decker takes the reader onto the set and into the rehearsal halls and editing rooms where Astaire created his seemingly perfect film dances. Watching closely in this way reveals how Astaire used the technically sophisticated resources of the Hollywood film making machine to craft a singular career in mass entertainment as a straight white man who danced. Decker dissects Astaire's work at the level of the shot, the cut, and the dance step to reveal the aesthetic and practical choices that yielded Astaire's dancing figure on screen. He offers new insights into how Astaire secured his masculinity and his heterosexuality, along with a new understanding of Astaire's whiteness, which emerges in both the sheer extent of his work and the larger implications of his famous "full figure" framing of his dancing body. Astaire by Numbers rethinks this towering straight white male figure from the ground up by digging deeply into questions of race, gender, and sexuality, ultimately offering a complete re-assessment of a twentieth-century icon of American popular culture.
Performance, Dance and Political Economy
This book examines the relation between bodies and political economies at micro and macro levels. It stands in the space between ends and beginnings - some long-desired, such as the end of capitalism and racism, and others long-dreaded, such as the climate catastrophe - and reimagines what the world can be like instead. It offers an original investigation into the relation between performance, dance, and political economy, looking at the points where politics, economics, ethics, and culture intersect. Arising from live conversations and exchanges among the contributors, this book is written in an interdisciplinary and dialogical manner by leading scholars and artists in the fields of Performance Studies, Dance, Political Theory, Economics, and Social Theory: Marc Arthur, Melissa Blanco Borelli, Anita Gonzalez, Alexandrina Hemsley, Jamila Johnson-Small, Elena Loizidou, Tavia Nyong'o, Katerina Paramana, Nina Power, and Usva Seregina. Their critical and creative examinations of the relation between bodies and political economy offer insights for both imagining and materializing a world beyond the present.
Choreographing Intersubjectivity in Performance Art
This book offers new ways of thinking about dance-related artworks that have taken place in galleries, museums and biennales over the past two decades as part of the choreographic turn. It focuses on the concept of intersubjectivity and theorises about what happens when subjects meet within a performance artwork. The resulting relations are crucial to instances of performance art in which embodied subjects engage as spectators, participants and performers in orchestrated art events. Choreographing Intersubjectivity in Performance Art deploys a multi-disciplinary approach across dance choreography and evolving manifestations of performance art. An innovative, overarching concept of choreography sustains the idea that intersubjectivity evolves through places, spaces, performance and spectatorship. Drawing upon international examples, the book introduces readers to performance art from the South Pacific and the complexities of de-colonising choreography. Artists Tino Sehgal, Xavier Le Roy, Jordan Wolfson, Alicia Frankovich and Shigeyuki Kihara are discussed.
The Power of Dance
Keen amateur dancers of the world: At last, a single authoritative book encapsulating everything necessary to move from social ballroom to performance and competitive DanceSport and on to the Olympics. Includes history, definitions, syllabi, dance notation, and the power of dance with its unique ability to change lives.
Soviet Choreographers in the 1920s
Soviet ballet immediately following the Russian Revolution of 1917 until the advent of Stalin in the thirties is one of the most important, yet least documented, periods in ballet history.In this new study Elizabeth Souritz, former head of the Dance Section of the Moscow Institute of the History of the Arts, draws on Russian archival material, theatre literature, and reminiscences of performers, designers and choreographers to paint a powerful and colourful picture of this influential time.
Dark Matter in Breaking Cyphers
The dance circle (called the cypher) is a common signifier of breaking culture, known more for its spectacular moves than as a ritual practice with foundations in Africanist aesthetics. Yet those foundations--evident in expressive qualities like call and response, the aural kinesthetic, the imperative to be original, and more--are essential to cyphering's enduring presence on the global stage. What can cyphers activate beyond the spectacle? What lessons do cyphers offer about moving through and navigating the social world? And what possibilities for the future do they animate? With an interdisciplinary reach and a riff on physics, author Imani Kai Johnson centers the voices of practitioners in a study of breaking events in cities across the US, Canada, and parts of Europe. Dark Matter in Breaking Cyphers: the Life of Africanist Aesthetics in Global Hip Hop draws on over a decade of research and provides a detailed look into the vitality of Africanist aesthetics and the epistemological possibilities of the ritual circle.
Choreographing Agonism
In Choreographing Agonism, author Goran Petrovic Lotina offers new insight into the connections between politics and performance. Exploring the political and philosophical roots of a number of recent leftist civil movements, Petrovic Lotina forcefully argues for a re-imagining of artistic performance as an instrument of democracy capable of contesting a dominant politics.Inspired by post-Marxist theories of discourse theory, hegemony, conflict, and pluralism, and using tension as a guiding philosophical, political, and artistic force, the book expands the politico-philosophical debate on theories of performance. It offers both scholars and practitioners of performance a thought-provoking analysis of the ways in which artistic performance can be viewed politically as 'agonistic choreo-political practice, ' a powerful strategy for mobilising alternative ways of living together and invigorating democracy.Choreographing Agonism makes a boldand innovative contribution to the discussion of political and philosophical thought in the field of Performance Studies.
Dance Research Methodologies
Dance Research Methodologies: Ethics, Orientations, and Practices captures the breadth of methodological approaches to research in dance in the fine arts, the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences by bringing together researchers from around the world writing about a variety of dance forms and practices.This book makes explicit the implicit skills and experiences at work in the research processes by detailing the ethics, orientations, and practices fundamental to being a researcher across the disciplines of dance. Collating together approaches from key subdisciplines, this book brings together perspectives on dance practice, dance studies, dance education, dance science, as well as dance research in cross-, multi-, and interdisciplinary fields. Practice-based chapters cover methodological approaches that provide rich examples of how research design and implementation are navigated by practicing scholars. Dance Research Methodologies also includes a practical workbook that helps readers to decide upon, refine, and enact their research, as well as develop ways in which to communicate their process and outcomes.This vital textbook is a valuable resource for research faculty interested in interdisciplinary conversation and practice, emerging scholars honing their methodological approaches, graduate students engaged in research-based coursework and projects, and advanced undergraduates.
Dance Pedagogy and Education in China
This pivot offers an innovative approach to dance education, bringing a creative and inclusive dance education pedagogy into Chinese dance classrooms. Associate Professor Ralph Buck's experiences of teaching dance at the Beijing Dance Academy and the possible implications for dance education in China lie at the heart of this text. Through a critical examination of personal teaching practice, pedagogical issues, trends and rationales for dance education in the curriculum are highlighted. Informed by constructivist ideals that recognise dialogue and interaction, this pivot suggests that dance can be re-positioned and valued within educational contexts when pedagogical strategies and objectives are framed in terms of teaching and learning in, about and through dance education.
Kinaesthesia and Visual Self-Reflection in Contemporary Dance
Kinaesthesia and Visual Self-reflection in Contemporary Dance features interviews with UK-based professional-level contemporary, ballet, hip hop, and breaking dancers and cross-disciplinary explication of kinaesthesia and visual self-reflection discourses. Expanding on the concept of a 'kinaesthetic mode of attention' leads to discussion of some of the key values and practices which nurture and develop this mode in contemporary dance. Zooming in on entanglements with video self-images in dance practice provides further insights regarding kinaesthesia's historicised polarisation with the visual. It thus provides opportunities to dwell on and reconsider reflections, opening up to a set of playful yet disruptive diffractions inherent in the process of becoming a contemporary dancer, particularly amongst an increasingly complex landscape of visual and theoretical technologies.
Milestones in Dance History
This introduction to world dance charts the diverse histories and stories of dancers and artists through ten key moments that have shaped the vast spectrum of different forms and genres that we see today.Designed for weekly use in dance history courses, ten chosen milestones move chronologically from the earliest indigenous rituals and the dance crazes of Eastern trade routes, to the social justice performance and evolving online platforms of modern times. This clear, dynamic framework uses the idea of migrations to chart the shifting currents of influence and innovation in dance from an inclusive set of perspectives that acknowledge the enduring cultural legacies on display in every dance form.Milestones are a range of accessible textbooks, breaking down the need-to-know moments in the social, cultural, political, and artistic development of foundational subject areas.
Dancing Spirit, Love, and War
Meke, a traditional rhythmic dance accompanied by singing, signifies an important piece of identity for Fijians. Despite its complicated history of colonialism, racism, censorship, and religious conflict, meke remained a vital part of artistic expression and culture. Evadne Kelly performs close readings of the dance in relation to an evolving landscape, following the postcolonial reclamation that provided dancers with political agency and a strong sense of community that connected and fractured Fijians worldwide. Through extensive archival and ethnographic fieldwork in both Fiji and Canada, Kelly offers key insights into an underrepresented dance form, region, and culture. Her perceptive analysis of meke will be of interest in dance studies, postcolonial and Indigenous studies, anthropology and performance ethnography, and Pacific Island studies.
Expanded Choreographies--Choreographic Histories
From objects to sounds, choreography is expanding beyond dance and human bodies in motion. This book offers one of the rare systematic investigations of expanded choreography as it develops in contemporaneity, and is the first to consider expanded choreography from a trans-historical perspective. Through case studies on different periods of European dance history - ranging from Renaissance dance to William Forsythe's choreographic objects and from Baroque court ballets to digital choreographies - it traces a journey of choreography as a practice transcending its sole association with dancing, moving, human bodies.
Urban Sensographies
Urban Sensographies views the human body as a highly nuanced sensor to explore how various performance-based methods can be implemented to gather usable 'felt data' about the environment of the city as the basis for creating embodied mappings.The contributors to this fascinating volume seek to draw conclusions about the constitution, character and morphology of urban space as public, habitable and sustainable by monitoring the reactions of the human body as a form of urban sensor. This co-authored book is centrally concerned, as a symptom of the degree to which cities are evolving in the 21st century, to examine the effects of this change on the practices and behaviours of urban dwellers. This takes into account such factors as: defensible, retail and consumer space; legacies of modernist design in the built environment; the effects of surveillance technologies, motorised traffic and smart phone use; the integration of 'wild' as well as 'domesticated' nature in urban planning and living; and the effects of urban pollution on the earth's climate.Drawing on three years of funded practical research carried out by a multi-medial team of researchers and artists, this book analyses the presence and movement of the human body in urban space, which is essential reading for academics and practitioners in the fields of dance, film, visual art, sound technology, digital media and performance studies.
Teaching What You Want to Learn
Teaching What You Want to Learn distills the five decades that Bill Evans has spent immersed in teaching dance into an indispensable guide for today's dance instructor. From devising specific pedagogical strategies and translating theory into action, to working with diverse bodies and embracing evolving value systems, Evans has considered every element of the teacher's role and provided 94 essential essays about becoming a more effective and satisfied educator. As well as setting out his own particular training methods and somatic practice as one of the world's leading dance teachers, he explores the huge range of challenges and rewards that a teacher will encounter across their career. These explorations equip the reader not only to enable and empower their students but also to get the most out of their own work so they are learning as they teach. This is an essential book for anyone who wants to teach dance and movement, from professional and academic settings to amateur artists and trainee instructors.
HowExpert Guide to Ballet
If you are thinking about taking ballet classes, have a child who is starting to dance, or want to know more about ballet, then HowExpert Guide to Ballet is for you. This book covers many things, such as: - How to find the best studio for you.- Elements to look for in classes from ages 3 to 18. - What to wear to class if you are a child or an adult dancer.- Things to bring to class in your dance bag.- How to make the perfect ballet bun.- Proper ballet etiquette.- How to behave in class, at the barre, and when dancing in the center of the room. - Warm-up exercises to do sitting and standing.- Basic feet and arm positions.- The five major methods of ballet instruction.- Advice and encouragement for adult beginners.- The history of pointe shoes.- How dancers soften or harden their pointe shoes from ripping them apart to baking them in the oven.- What dancers wear inside their pointe shoes to make them comfortable.- How to Identify "dead pointe shoes" and why they are dangerous.- The history of male dancers in ballet.- Information for parents whose sons want to take ballet classes.- What Men's Classes and Partnering Classes are.- Featuring expert advice, tips and tricks, and stories from the barre.About the AuthorLauren Dillon is a multifaceted writer who has been dancing classical ballet for over two decades. She has worked as a dance instructor for children and enjoys sharing classical ballet with others. Born and raised in Florida, Lauren was inspired to take ballet classes by her mother, who took ballet classes as an adult. Lauren earned her Bachelor of Arts in Russian & Eastern European Studies from Florida State University (FSU). After moving across the country to California, Lauren earned her Master of Arts in Museum Studies from the University of San Francisco. When she wasn't visiting museums or working in a performing arts archive, she continued to dance at San Francisco Ballet and Alonzo King LINES Ballet.HowExpert publishes how to guides by everyday experts.
HowExpert Guide to Ballet
HowExpert Guide to Ballet: 101+ Tips to Learn How to Get Started in Ballet, Discover Tips & Tricks, and Become a Better Ballet DancerIf you are thinking about taking ballet classes, have a child who is starting to dance, or want to know more about ballet, then HowExpert Guide to Ballet is for you. This book covers many things, such as: - How to find the best studio for you.- Elements to look for in classes from ages 3 to 18. - What to wear to class if you are a child or an adult dancer.- Things to bring to class in your dance bag.- How to make the perfect ballet bun.- Proper ballet etiquette.- How to behave in class, at the barre, and when dancing in the center of the room. - Warm-up exercises to do sitting and standing.- Basic feet and arm positions.- The five major methods of ballet instruction.- Advice and encouragement for adult beginners.- The history of pointe shoes.- How dancers soften or harden their pointe shoes from ripping them apart to baking them in the oven.- What dancers wear inside their pointe shoes to make them comfortable.- How to Identify "dead pointe shoes" and why they are dangerous.- The history of male dancers in ballet.- Information for parents whose sons want to take ballet classes.- What Men's Classes and Partnering Classes are.- Featuring expert advice, tips and tricks, and stories from the barre.About the AuthorLauren Dillon is a multifaceted writer who has been dancing classical ballet for over two decades. She has worked as a dance instructor for children and enjoys sharing classical ballet with others. Born and raised in Florida, Lauren was inspired to take ballet classes by her mother, who took ballet classes as an adult. Lauren earned her Bachelor of Arts in Russian & Eastern European Studies from Florida State University (FSU). After moving across the country to California, Lauren earned her Master of Arts in Museum Studies from the University of San Francisco. When she wasn't visiting museums or working in a performing arts archive, she continued to dance at San Francisco Ballet and Alonzo King LINES Ballet.HowExpert publishes how to guides by everyday experts.
Uday Shankar and His Transcultural Experimentations
This monograph presents a specific experience of modernity within the context of Indian dance by looking at the transcultural journey of Indian dancer / choreographer Uday Shankar (1900b - 1977d). His popularity in Europe and America as an Oriental male dancer in the first half of the 20th century, and his worldwide recognition as the Ambassador of Indian culture, are brought into a historiographical perspective within the cultural and social reforms of early twentieth century India. By exploring his artistic journey beyond India in the period between the two world wars, and his experience of dance making, presentational technique and representation of India through various phases of his life, a path is forged to understanding the emergence of modernity in Indian dance.
The Celestial Dancers
The Celestial Dancers: Manipuri Dance on Australian Stage charts the momentous journey of the popularization of Manipur's Hindu dances in Australia. Tradition has it that the people of Manipur, a northeastern state of India, are descended from the celestial gandharvas, dance and music blessed among them as a God's gift. The intricately symbolic Hindu dances of Manipur in their original religious forms were virtually unseen and unknown outside India until an Australian impresario, Louise Lightfoot, brought them to the stage in the 1950s. Her experimental changes through a pioneering collaboration with dancers Rajkumar Priyagopal Singh and Ibetombi Devi modernized Manipuri dance for presentation on a global stage. This partnership moved Manipur's Hindu dances from the sphere of ritualistic temple practice to a formalized stage art abroad. Amit Sarwal chronicles how this movement, as in the case of other prominent Indian classical dances and dancers, enabled both Manipuri dance and dancers to gain recognition worldwide. This book is ideal for anyone with an interest in Hindu temple dance, Manipur dance, cross-cultural collaborations and the globalizing of Indian Classical Dance. The Celestial Dancers is a comprehensive study of how an exceptional Hindu dance form developed on the global stage.
The Shapes of Change
"What is strikingly new about Miss Siegel's achievement is that she goes beyond the usual kind of historical reassessment. . . . She performs on behalf of this most evanescent of the arts an act of significant recovery. By tracking down--often in rare stage revivals, on film or on videotape--as many of the works by major creators of the last half century as survive, and by describing them . . . in a manner that combines accuracy and imagination, she has enriched our knowledge of the past and added immeasurably, to our resent stock of critical resources."--Dale Harris, New York Times Book Review "Siegel has a gut feeling for dance and a razor-sharp intelligence about it. It's an irresistible combination."--Margaret Pierpont, Dance Magazine "After you've seen and felt dance this deeply--even vicariously--your way of looking at dance will never be the same."--William Albright, Houston Post She sees, acutely, with her muscles as well as her eyes. She thinks about dance as much as she experiences it. . . . This is dance choreography reconstituted. Dances leap off the page. . . . The ability to do that is extraordinary."--Jean Bunke, Des Moines Sunday Register "The sections in which she describes the dances themselves make up the bulk of the book and they are profoundly illuminating. . . . These descriptions represent an amazing literary, as well as critical, accomplishment, for they are both accurate and resonant, both objective and enlightening, both formal and personal."--Laura Shapiro, The Real Paper "Siegel draws on her years of experience as a working dance critic, a profession she has helped to shape, and brings to a range of American dance a sense of honesty and a mind that wants to understand the antecedents of what is currently in vogue as the dance explosion."--Iris M. Fanger, The Christian Science Monitor
Dancing in the Muddy Temple
In this book, Eline Kieft creates an embodied spirituality that is based in improvised movement and embedded in the land. Weaving between theory and practice, this innovative work explores fundamental interconnections between self, surroundings, and the sacred.
Lilly
"When I stepped to the center mark and that spotlight hit me, I thought, Aqui estoy mami, aqui estoy!""When I stepped to the center mark and that spotlight hit me, I thought, Aqui estoy mami, aqui estoy!"Growing up in an orphanage in the Bronx, separated from the mother she adored, Lilly never knew the care and loving attention of a stable family. But she didn't let mounting obstacles and family tragedy stand in the way of her dreams. From the time she was a little girl, when the nuns first took her to see the Rockettes perform, Lilly was driven to become a dancer. This is the compelling story of her spirited journey from the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Home for Children to the great stage at Radio City Music Hall-where she danced her way into history as the first Latina Rockette.Today, Lillian Col籀n inspires others to find the joy in dancing and was recently featured in Forbes' 50 Over 50 2021 as a woman of excellence.
Dance and Activism
This study focuses on dance as an activist practice in and of itself, across geographical locations and over the course of a century, from 1920 to 2020. Through doing so, it considers how dance has been an empowering agent for political action throughout civilisation. Dance and Activism offers a glimpse of different strategies of mobilizing the human body for good and justice for all, and captures the increasing political activism epitomized by bodies moving on the streets in some of the most turbulent political situations. This has, most recently, undoubtedly been partly owing to the rise of the far-right internationally, which has marked an increase in direct action on the streets. Offering a survey of key events across the century, such as the fall of President Zuma in South Africa; pro-reproductive rights action in Poland and Argentina; and the recent women's marches against Donald Trump's presidency, you will see how dance has become an urgent field of study. Key geographical locations are explored as sites of radical dance - the Lower East Side of New York; Gaza; Syria; Cairo, Iran; Iraq; Johannesburg - to name but a few - and get insights into some of the major figures in the history of dance, including Pearl Primus, Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow and Ahmad Joudah. Crucially, lesser or unknown dancers, who have in some way influenced politics, all over the world are brought into the limelight (the Syrian ballerinas and Hussein Smko, for example). Dance and Activism troubles the boundary between theory and practice, while presenting concrete case studies as a site for robust theoretical analysis.
Love, Dance and Ecstasy
Dionysos is the Greek god of the grape-harvest and winemaking, of the growth and fertility of vegetation - especially orchards and vineyards - and, lastly, of insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity and theatre. Because of his links to plant growth, he also became associated with death, resurrection and regeneration. He was also known as B獺kkhos to the Greeks, a name adopted by the Romans as Bacchus. The focus here is on the links between Dionysos' cult and the perennial human preoccupations of drugs, sex and ecstasy.
Dance Legacies of Scotland
Dance Legacies of Scotland compiles a collage of references portraying percussive Scottish dancing and explains what influenced a wide disappearance of hard-shoe steps from contemporary Scottish practices.Mats Melin and Jennifer Schoonover explore the historical references describing percussive dancing to illustrate how widespread the practice was, giving some glimpses of what it looked and sounded like. The authors also explain what influenced a wide disappearance of hard-shoe steps from Scottish dancing practices. Their research draws together fieldwork, references from historical sources in English, Scots, and Scottish Gaelic, and insights drawn from the authors' practical knowledge of dances. They portray the complex network of dance dialects that existed in parallel across Scotland, and share how remnants of this vibrant tradition have endured in Scotland and the Scottish diaspora to the present day.This book will be of interest to scholars and students of Dance and Music and its relationship to the history and culture of Scotland.
Practices of Relations in Task-Dance and the Event-Score
In this study, Josefine Wikstr繹m challenges a concept of performance that makes no difference between art and non-art and argues for a new concept. This book confronts and criticises the way in which the dominating concept of performance has been used in art theory and performance and dance studies. Through an analysis of 1960s performance practices, Wikstr繹m focuses specifically on task-dance and event-score practices and provides an examination of the key philosophical concepts that are inseparable from such a concept of art and are necessary for the reconstruction of a critical concept of performance, such as "practice", "experience", "object", "abstraction" and "structure". This book will be of great interest to scholars, students and practitioners across dance, performance art, aesthetics and art theory.
A Guide to a Somatic Movement Practice
An introduction to embodied movement through the workof a dance education pioneer In thisintroduction to the work of somatic dance education pioneer Nancy Topf (1942-1998), readers are ushered on a journey to explore the movement of the body through aclose awareness of anatomical form and function. Making available the full textof Topf's The Anatomy of Center forthe first time in print, this guide helps professionals, teachers, and studentsof all levels integrate embodied, somatic practices within contexts of dance, physical education and therapy, health, and mental well-being. Hetty King, a movement educator certified in theTopf Technique(R), explains how the ideas in this work grew out of Topf'sinvolvement in developing Anatomical Release Technique--an important concept incontemporary dance--and the influence of earlier innovators Barbara Clark andMabel Elsworth Todd, founder of the approach to movement known as"ideokinesis." Featuring lessons written as a dialogue between teacher, student, and elements of the body, Topf's material is accompanied by twenty-oneactivities that allow readers to use the book as a self-guided manual. A Guide to a Somatic Movement Practiceis a widely applicable entry point into the tradition of experiential anatomyand its mindful centering of the living, breathing body.
Tap Talk, Tidbits, and Tips for Dilettante Tappers
If you're looking for an old-fashioned honest chapbook about the experience of being an amateur tap dancer, look no further. Welcome to the world's first and only tap book written by a student of the art-not a teacher, a studio owner, or an expert. Delve into these real-life tap adventures and let them inspire you to bring the magic of the dance into your own life. This humble chapbook will open your mind to the world of this unique form of dance in ways that only a student of the art could.Tap Talk, Tidbits, and Tips for Dilettante Tappers will help your brain direct your heart, nerves, muscles, sinew, and soul to serve your tap-dancing goals and increase your tapping fun. Here you will find ideas, suggestions, and discussions about tap, including the fundamental idea that dance is mainly a task of the mind and not just the body. Dr. Patten shows us how the brain and memory benefit hugely from learning dance, backed up by real psychological studies and personal experience with the Silver Star Tappers of Pasadena, Texas.So, quit delaying, and read what amounts to a satisfying mix of deep scientific fact, real research results, tap tips, tap talk, chit-chat, chatter, and amusing anecdotes. Whet your appetite, and get a head's up on what to expect from tap dancing should you decide to give it a try.
Tap Talk, Tidbits, and Tips for Dilettante Tappers
If you're looking for an old-fashioned honest chapbook about the experience of being an amateur tap dancer, look no further. Welcome to the world's first and only tap book written by a student of the art-not a teacher, a studio owner, or an expert. Delve into these real-life tap adventures and let them inspire you to bring the magic of the dance into your own life. This humble chapbook will open your mind to the world of this unique form of dance in ways that only a student of the art could.Tap Talk, Tidbits, and Tips for Dilettante Tappers will help your brain direct your heart, nerves, muscles, sinew, and soul to serve your tap-dancing goals and increase your tapping fun. Here you will find ideas, suggestions, and discussions about tap, including the fundamental idea that dance is mainly a task of the mind and not just the body. Dr. Patten shows us how the brain and memory benefit hugely from learning dance, backed up by real psychological studies and personal experience with the Silver Star Tappers of Pasadena, Texas.So, quit delaying, and read what amounts to a satisfying mix of deep scientific fact, real research results, tap tips, tap talk, chit-chat, chatter, and amusing anecdotes. Whet your appetite, and get a head's up on what to expect from tap dancing should you decide to give it a try.
On Site
On Site: Methods for Site-Specific Performance Creation is a practical book for artists and students at all levels who create or are learning to create making sited dance works. Author Stephan Koplowitz covers specific, hands-on strategies for an array of issues to consider before, during, and after embarking upon a project, including site selection, procuring permits, designing the audience experience, researching and exploring a site for inspiration and content, differences in urban and natural environments, definitions of key production roles, building effective collaborations with artists, and techniques to generate site-inspired production elements such as sound/music, costumes, lighting, and media. He also offers helpful chapters on project budgeting, contract negotiation, fundraising, marketing, documentation, and assessment. Based on the author's career spanning over 30 years of site-specific creation, the book also includes the voices of over 24 other artists, producers, and writers who share their perspectives and experiences on the many topics covered. A guide designed to make site work practical, intentional, and attainable, On Site will become a well-worn reference for anyone interested in the creative process and discovering the power of site-specific works.
Research Methods in the Dance Sciences
A comprehensive guide to conducting empirical research in dance ResearchMethods in the Dance Sciences introducesconcepts and practices that support effective, empirical research in the dancesciences, including medical science. A valuable new resource for this growingfield, this book provides foundational knowledge for anyone who wants tounderstand, apply, and conduct research with dancers and proposes ways tofacilitate more collaboration between the many disciplines that often overlapin this area. Inthis volume, pioneers of dance medicine and science guide readers through thestages of the research process. They address topics such as choosing a researchquestion, writing a literature review, developing a framework and methodology, influencing the field, and progressing in a research career. Offeringdance-specific examples as illustrations, this volume provides clear andinstructive strategies for developing a solid repertoire of research skills toexamine dance and movement-centered activities. It is ideal for practicing andaspiring dancers, teachers, and clinicians in fields including exercisephysiology, motor learning, behavioral sciences, food sciences, medicine, psychology, and somatics who are interested in dance science research.
Putting My Heels Down
"If your father practiced medicine the way you dance, he'd be under a million lawsuits."That's what Miss Lorraine used to tell Kara as a young dancer in between yelling, "Put your heels down!" In dance, criticism is considered a compliment, so as a young dancer with short Achilles tendons, tight hamstrings, and knobby knees she fancied herself a star. Thirty years of leotards and tights later, she had to face some hard truths. Maybe she wasn't a dancer after all. After graduating from a top conservatory and embarking on her Martha Graham dreams, Kara reluctantly chose to teach Pilates to pay the bills. After initially failing her certification thanks to a nasty margarita hangover, she became one of the most sought after Pilates instructors in Manhattan. She cracked herself up, with what could only be described as Pilates stand-up, poking fun at high maintenance clients and gym culture. But, after hitting many unexpected speed bumps in her dance career, what started as a nothing day job had become her everything. And it wasn't funny anymore. Underneath that peppy six-pack Pilates persona was a sad little girl fighting for her dream. Putting My Heels Down exposes the harsh realities of life as a dancer but more importantly, the conflict so many of us experience between having a day job and having a dream. You won't need to know about pli矇s to relate.
