Book Description

B> Setting dance within a cultural context that is both understandable and interesting, this insightful reference captures the true art form of dance and traces the activity of dance as it existed down through the ages and all over the world.Beginning with the origins of dance and moving on to what takes place on Western dance stages today, this volume offers a sweeping overview of primitive, ethnic, and folk dance forms ... examines the major branches of Western dance art including ballet from its inception in 16th century Europe, modern dance, jazz, avant-garde, and the international eclectic contemporary scene ... tracks the repertory, technical training of performers, and creative theory of the many traditions that unify this art form ... includes discussions of significant dancers, their contributions, and the performers that inspired them; the background of period styles; pertinent ideas of major choreographers; capsule biographies of outstanding dance artists; effects of music and design on choreography; national characteristics of dance; the psychology of performers; and coverage on such concepts as Classic, Romantic, and Avant-garde to clarify trends and invoke thought on the Dance Art and society ... and makes many comparisons to current day events.Suitable for anyone involved or interested in dance history. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Best Book Ever Written
This book has brought me back from the cusp of darkness to a state of enlightened euphoria in which I shall remain forever. If you do not own this book, you will be condemned to a firey hell.

This is the greatest book ever
This book has brought me back from the cusp of darkness to a state of enlightened euphoria in which I shall remain forever. If you do not own this book, you will be condemned to a firey hell. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Unlike so many biographies of dance maestros, Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years offersno litany of substance or psychological abuse. The volume, assembled by thearchivist of Merce Cunningham's world-renowned U.S. company, records and analyzes Cunningham'swork process and documents theprovenance of his modern dance classics.Heavily spiced with biographical detail, Merce Cunningham packages the choreographer's life story in a lovely design that respects his whole body andconveys a rare sense of movement in its mass of still photos. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Merce Cunningham:Fifty Years
An excellent resource. Insightful. Beautiful pictures. Highly recommend for folks in dance education, collaborative artists, school teachers, dancers, and children. ... Read more

Book Description

Covering today's most important modern, ballet, contemporary and post-modern choreographers in Europe and North America, this unique guide is a valuable quick reference for students and critics, dancers and general readers in love with dance.

Each entry includes a biographical section, a chronological list of works, a detailed bibliography and a critical essay. In entries on choreographers such as Richard Alston, Pina Bausch, Laurie Booth, Christopher Bruce, Jonathan Burrows, Michael Clarke, Merce Cunningham, Anna Theresa De Keersmaeker, Eiko and Koma, William Forsythe,Jiri Kylain, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp and other leading figures, readers can easily locate each choreographer's style and influence within the development of contemporary theatre dance, and swiftly discern the essential facts in his or her career. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An intriguing 'blurred genre'
Taylor's _Paper_Tangos_ is a great example of how autobiography and ethnography can come together to 'write culture'. The text is introspective, reflecting the nature of the Argentine culture at the time that Taylor lived in South America. In this respect, she was involved in 'participant observation'; it seems that everyone hid from society at the time (lots of scary terrorism going on). In _Paper_Tangos_, she finds refuge in the 'underground' tango culture, and discovers much about her past as she learns about the dance and social practices.

If you become Taylor's 'dancing' partner, and read this book on its own terms--outside of genre traditions and 'rules'--you may, like me, appreciate it for the unique perspective that it offers. This book has inspired my own writing and approaches to both memoir and ethnography. And the little flip book it really cool too!!

An odd little book
An odd little book about a former ballet dancer dancing tango in Buenos Aires. The author describes herself as blonde and beautiful. She marries and divorces an Argentine man, but it's all in the background of her consuming tango obsession. With disjoint time and amost hallucinatory digressions into the emotions brought to the surface by tango, this reads a bit like "Trout Fishing in America" if it were tango instead of trout. There is a flip book built into the pages where a tango turns first into a violent attack and then into sheets of falling paper. This low-tech animation wordlessly caputures the themes in the text. ... Read more

Book Description

This book chronicles one hundred years of dramatic developments in ballet, modern, and experimental dance for stage and screen in Europe and North America. The volume is magisterial in scope, encompassing the history of theatrical dance from 1900 through 2000. Beginning with turn-of-the-century dancer-choreographers like Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Michel Fokine, and a bit later Vaslav Nijinsky, and proceeding through the profusion of dance styles performed today, the book provides an unparalleled view of dance in performance as it changed and grew in the twentieth century.Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick set dance in broader cultural and historical contexts, examine specific dance works, and explore the contributions of outstanding choreographers, performers, visual artists, impresarios, composers, critics, and other figures. They discuss the breakaway barefoot dance of the early 1900s and demonstrate its links with later forms and styles. With unusual detail, fascinating illustrations, and wide-ranging insights, this book is an indispensable guide to the transformations in the dance scene of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Helps to preserve Martha's legacy
What an incredible life she lived! Honored on almost every continent, described by some Japanese artists as having developed a dance technique perfectly suited for the Asian body, received the French Legion of Honor medal, a grove of trees was recently planted in her memory in Israel's national forest, and Martha is the only dancer in US history to receive the highest national honor for civilians - the Medal of Freedom, and compared by many to Picasso. And yet she never let any of the fame and praise distract her from her one true love: dance. Such a varied life and long life (she lived to 96) is hard to describe in the setting of a linear autobiography, which thankfully this is not. This book is not broken into chapters, but simply divided with inventive border use and beautiful pictures. Being mostly a collection of memories, musing, and anecdotes, this book perfectly illustrates what Agnes De Mill wrote in "Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham", that Martha wanted to leave behind a legend rather than an accurate biography. But it is an interesting legend that she leaves, and the stories, musings, and anecdotes are beautifully written and often illustrated with accompanying pictures. Martha most likely had no concept of linear, but being an artist she probably lived in a circular world where beginnings were endings and endings were middles. "Life happens in spirals," Martha had said to a dance student in reference to her floor exercise of the same name. And this was years before spiral shape of the DNA structure was discovered.

My favorite story is about the time Martha and her sister Gertie, both of whom were members of the legendary Denishawn dance school and company, were thrown off of a train. Unbeknownst to the train conductor, the Denishawn company was famous for their exotic dances. Still in costume, they had been mistaken for gypsies (this was early in the 20th century). They tried to explain to the conductor that they were dancers, but he did not listen. Before they left the train, Martha writes, "Gertie gave a savory Irish insult, 'I spit on you.'"

This book was a bible of my teen years and even inspired me to attend classes at the Martha Graham school in New York (thanks to the generous scholarship of Diane Gray), as well as considering becoming a Martha Graham dancer. I chose not to become a professional dancer, but this book still retains great memories for me. Martha's memoir initiated many other interests of mine, such as the poetry of Emily Dickinson and the curious subject of intuition - Martha wrote that often her dances came from a type of intuition, or "Blood Memory." And she quoted Emily Dickinson, "Intuition picks up the key that memory dropped."

Important memoir of an important dancer
When asked whether she wanted to be remembered as a dancer or choreographer, Martha replied, "As a dancer, of course!" And so I will refer to this as the memoir of a dancer who, by her own description, did not "choreograph," but simply made up dances. She did not set out to be the great innovator she became, but wanted to express things inexpressible with then-available techniques, so she had to make her own technique. "Choreography," Martha writes in this book, "is a big word that can hide a lot of sins."

What an incredible life she lived! Honored on almost every continent, described by some Japanese artists as having developed a dance technique perfectly suited for the Asian body, received the French Legion of Honor medal, a grove of trees was recently planted in her memory in Israel's national forest, and Martha is the only dancer in US history to receive the highest national honor for civilians - the Medal of Freedom, and compared by many to Picasso. And yet she never let any of the fame and praise distract her from her one true love: dance. Such a varied life and long life (she lived to 96) is hard to describe in the setting of a linear autobiography, which thankfully this is not. This book is not broken into chapters, but simply divided with inventive border use and beautiful pictures. Being mostly a collection of memories, musing, and anecdotes, this book perfectly illustrates what Agnes De Mill wrote in "Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham", that Martha wanted to leave behind a legend rather than an accurate biography. But it is an interesting legend that she leaves, and the stories, musings, and anecdotes are beautifully written and often illustrated with accompanying pictures. Martha most likely had no concept of linear, but being an artist she probably lived in a circular world where beginnings were endings and endings were middles. "Life happens in spirals," Martha had said to a dance student in reference to her floor exercise of the same name. And this was years before spiral shape of the DNA structure was discovered.

My favorite story is about the time Martha and her sister Gertie, both of whom were members of the legendary Denishawn dance school and company, were thrown off of a train. Unbeknownst to the train conductor, the Denishawn company was famous for their exotic dances. Still in costume, they had been mistaken for gypsies (this was early in the 20th century). They tried to explain to the conductor that they were dancers, but he did not listen. Before they left the train, Martha writes, "Gertie gave a savory Irish insult, 'I spit on you.'"

One of the interesting things is the revelation that Catholicism had a deep impact on Martha Graham's work. As a young girl, Martha had a Catholic governess who took her to a few masses. Joseph Campbell, author of "The Power of Myth," says that rituals are the enactment of myth, and some of Martha's signature dances are the re-enactment of classical myth, mostly Greek. But I can't help but think the pageantry of Catholic ritual had an impact on Graham's mind. Interestingly, Joseph Campbell was Catholic and his wife Jean was once a Martha Graham dancer.

This book was a bible of my teen years and even inspired me to attend classes at the Martha Graham school in New York (thanks to the generous scholarship of Diane Gray), as well as considering becoming a Martha Graham dancer. I chose not to become a professional dancer, but this book still retains great memories for me. Martha's memoir initiated many other interests of mine, such as the poetry of Emily Dickinson and the curious subject of intuition - Martha wrote that often her dances came from a type of intuition, or "Blood Memory." And she quoted Emily Dickinson, "Intuition picks up the key that memory dropped."

interesting autobio of a true pioneer
This is an interesting book if you are into modern dance. Graham was, of course, one of the great innovators of an entirely new genre of artistic expression, modern dance, and she is very open about her constant struggles and triumphs. She is a true American original.

In this book, you meet St-Denis, Eric Hawkins, and Merce Cunningham, and manz others, all of whom were influences on her and whom she influenced. They are fascinatingly placed in both personal and historical context.

While the content of this book is exceptional and extremely valuable, it is oddly structured, kind of a series of vignettes that are not even broken down into chapters. This was disconcerting to me and it made the thread of her narrative hard to follow at times. It was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, opne of her last books.

I recommend it to those already interested, but not to those who are not deeply hooked on dance. This work is full of love, some pride, and the obscure tragedies of her life.

An Athlete of God
This is my favorite book ever. Martha Graham claims that she is simply a dancer but she is an excellent writer. And, from what I read from Blood Memory a formidable woman. An "artiste" whose thoughts, both deep and candid, are very profound. In all aspects she is truly an "Athlete of God."

a great woman's state of mind
Reading this book, I found myself eagerly copying down quote after quote of Martha Graham's philosophy. Although I'm not a dancer, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Martha Graham's perspective on modern dance, art, and life in general. Moreover, I have great admiration for a woman who has been said to encourage *vagina* envy. You go, girl! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Tango dancing is enjoying a rediscovery with concert performances such as Forever Tango and Tango Argentino, but this book by French author Evelyne Pieiller and Spanish photographer Isabel Muñoz makes no attempt to tell the Argentinian dance's history. Rather, it approaches its subject obliquely, with a long piece of fiction and a series of tango song lyrics, translated into English, and accompanying the book's centerpiece, a series of remarkable, glowing, mildly erotic photographs. All freeze the tango dancers in action: tangles of entwined limb tightly clad in stretched satin and fishnet, sweating, and not always just with exertion. The lyrics, presented here as poems of passion and betrayal, capture both the essence of the dance, and the sharp tang of the lifestyle that produced it. Rarely does a book capture pure mood so well--to exclusion of virtually everything else. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The Tango in Words and Photographs
"Tango" is a stylish and sexy coffee table book for fans of the tango. It features 80 duotone (black and white) photographs by Isabel Munoz of dancers in various stages of tango. On the facing pages there are lyrics of popular tango songs, displayed like poetry, in both Spanish and English. A short story by French author Evelyne Pieiller prefaces and introduces us to the photographs and lyrics. Many of the photographs are erotic, and some are semi-nude, so this book may not be to everyone's taste. But "Tango" beautifully captures the drama and eroticism of this dance that was born of competition in the bordellos of Buenos Aires and has achieved -just enough, but not too much- respectability as it continues to capture the imagination of couples around the world.

Isaballa Munoz's "Tango" is red hot!!
This steamy book captures the intimacy of the tango. It is a great gift to buy for any tango afficionado and even your lover.

Not only does the book have photographs, but also lyrics to Spanish songs along with the English translations. The lyrics tell stories of love,betrayal and recollection of a lost lover.

A tango for two book, be careful who you are giving it to...
I bought this book in Buenos Aires, I was looking for a tango book as a present for my tango teacher when I saw Isabel's book: it stood among all the others.. but it wasn't the right one for my teacher, it was instead the right one for my lifetime partner, my wife! So I bought two tango books that night in Buenos Aires... ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Great for Rythm Tapping
I was trained in traditional and flash tap dancing, so I knew very little about rhythm tap. This book goes over the basics of tap and many traditional tap steps. What makes it so great, though, are the in-depth explanations of rhythm, dynamics, syncopation, accents, and new forms of tap, including rhythm tap and orchestrated tap. The explanations are clear and easy and the practice exercises are excellent. This is a must-have book for anyone wishing to expand their tap knowledge and artistry.

Excellent how to book, but it's no dictionary
I'm an advanced tapper who just recently began teaching an intermediate tap class. I decided to find a dictionary of tap in case one of my students asked me about a step I may not know. I ordered this book and realized that it was no dictionary. So if you're looking for a dictionary I suggest looking somewhere else. It is a wonderful how to book though! For instance it talks about syncopating the beat, has pictures of proper placement of your your foot on shuffles, tons of combinations, etc. I suggest this book to tap teachers of all levels and students interested in bettering themselves!

A must-have for tap teachers and students
This book has been a wealth of ideas and information. I use many of the drills and combinations in my classes. They are clearly notated and easy to understand (which is unusual for a "book" on tap dance). I would recommend this book for anyone at an intermediate level or higher. Well worth the money! ... Read more

Book Description

The first major study of the Spanish choreographer who invented the modernist Flamenco ballet form. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A pretty and necessary work, but flawed
This is a pretty book, filled with lots of wonderful historic photos and other memorabilia. It is heartening to see a full work about a creator within that larger genre of "Spanish Dance," and it is a work filled with lots of information. It brings to life, at times in great detail, the character of Antonia Mercé and the era in which she lived. This is a work that should appeal to dance enthusiasts, dance historians, and lovers of Spanish dance, and for the majority of such individuals it should fill what has mostly been a large blank.

I should leave my review there, and if this were a work of love by a lay-person enthusiast, I would. What nags, however, is that (a) the author is a university professor and (b) it is published by a major university press. One therefore has a right to expect that the manuscript was properly reviewed and edited. Perhaps it is a result of the relative obscurity of the subject, perhaps also the author's lack of command of the subject's principal language, Spanish, but the book nevertheless contains a great many annoying errors that can be misleading to other serious researchers who might rely upon this work. Not only that, the author often interjects equally annoying opinions and characterizations, some anachronistic, some irritatingly "PC".

Room allows but one example of historical error. At p. 17, the author places total blame upon Franco and his style of fascism for the destruction of "the essence of Spanish life and culture," and that during his reign "Spain would return to the repressive fascist state it had been during the Inquisition (1478 - 1834)." Granted, Franco's regime was no picnic, but this is "over the top" PC speak: By the time Franco entered Spain from North Africa as a rebel, the country's only alternative to the Nationalists of which Franco by default became the leader (after the deaths of three other generals) was a Stalinist puppet government that was busy exterminating any opposition to its own brutal policies. England, the U.S., and the rest of Europe other than Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy turned a blind eye and offered no support of any kind. And it was Mussolini who first came up with "Fascism" after the end of World War I, so how was Spain a "fascist state" four centuries before? And Franco's repressive government provided asylum from the Nazis to any Jews who could show they were Sephardic - something the U.S. never did; and it was Franco's government which in 1968 officially repealed the order of expulsion signed by Fernando and Isabela in 1492- something which the so-called Republican Government never did.

On the same page the author has Ernest Hemmingway fighting in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade alongside George Orwell! Did anyone check this manuscript? The Abraham Lincoln Brigade was composed of North American volunteers. Orwell was British, a devoted Socialist, and after a brief stint as a journalist covering the Spanish Civil War he joined the Lenin Brigade in Barcelona, not the Lincoln. His experiences there lead him to write several exposé's of Soviet style brutality, betrayal, lying and corruption, and later his classic work, Animal Farm. Hemingway only appeared as a journalist and never joined any brigade. (That was why he was able to visit Spain multiple times during the Franco years, something he never would have been allowed to do if he had fought for the Republic.)

Then there is the pseudo-academic clap trap: p. 31 "Further, one must ask whether Flamenco performers' prejudice against the Spanish castanet was a Franco-era hold-over or a postmodern reaction to a light-sounding, aristocratic instrument that viewed the castanet as a conflation of eighteenth- and twentieth-century socioeconomic and political values." Oh, please. (And the Flamencos do use castanets, but they also know when their use is appropriate and when it is not.)

The author also commits the sin of falling so in love with her subject that at times the book becomes more panegyric or hagiography than a biography. Reading this book alone, one would think that Antonia Mercé single handedly invented the theatrical version of Spanish dance and was the first to include flamenco. In fact, she was one of many - a significant one, no doubt, but not the only one. An example is the author's approving quote from her subject: (p. 71) "At the beginning... dance maestros rejected my 'revolution of classical dance.' Now all dancers are not only trying to imitate my way of dance, but my gestures, and the way I comb my hair. In all academies, my dancing alone is being taught." The author only stated that here Ms. Mercé was "neither modest nor unsure of herself" but was "absolutely aware of what she had accomplished." Sure, according to Ms. Mercé, but this is more an example of her at times insufferable arrogance, a trait she shared with her most famous male dance partner, Vicente Escudero (whom the author states point blank was "a Gypsy" from Valladolid - but that was information from the lips of Escudero himself, always a dubious source of information). And there is no balance. For example, the author neither noted nor quoted Mercé's admissions that there were dancers who could teach her a thing or two. For example, after seeing the then aging Gypsy, María Gracia Cortés Campos, "la Golondrina," dance at a private party, in awe she had to ask her host, "Do I dance well?... If only I could produce in public half the emotion I feel now! Look how I am!" whereupon she placed her cold and trembling hand in that of her host. (Quoted in "El baile flamenco," Ángel Álvarez Caballero, p. 165)

Antonia Mercé was indeed a dance great, but, contrary to what is implied in both the title and in the body of this book, she was never a flamenco great - was, in many ways, the opposite of a flamenco. Her contributions lay in choreography and theatrical presentation, which the author properly notes. ... Read more

Book Description

Collects the far-reaching and influential work of an eminent dance critic and scholar. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Martha Graham (1894-1991) referred to her dancers as "acrobats of God," but in truth it was she who seemed divinely inspired. Graham was a dancer, choreographer, and teacher for more than 70 years, and during that time she changed the landscape of dance forever. An unlikely candidate for a dance diva, she was shorter and more muscular than the principal ballet dancers of her time and she didn't start dancing until age 22--a flower long past her bloom in the eyes of most choreographers. Nonetheless, Graham managed to turn the dance world on its tutu with her innovative approach to movement and teaching and her clear understanding that feelings are not always graceful, but always intense.

Russell Freedman, who won the Newbery Medal in 1988 for Lincoln: A Photobiography and Newbery Honors for The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane (1992) and Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery (1994), has once again crafted a beautiful, intriguing biography. He traces Graham's remarkable life from a childhood filled with imaginative play, to her decision to attend dance school instead of college, through her departure from the Broadway Follies to pursue her own dance style, and onward through her late life, when she continued teaching and creating distinctive performance pieces. The fascinating biography is complemented by exquisite black-and-white photographs that reveal Graham's sense of beauty and her remarkable ability to translate pure, raw emotions into expressive movement. Freedman's lovely tribute makes us fully believe Graham when she says, "I did not choose to be a dancer, I was chosen." (Young Adult/Adult) --Brangien Davis ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Elegant Trio of Words, Pictures and Feelings
This book is a beautiful, concise study of her life. Studying Martha Graham's life is an awakening experience. Reading Graham's memoir "Blood Memory" simultaneously provides a beautiful counterpoint, knowing the subject will not observe herself in the same way as her biographer.

I dance away from this book with a definite appreciation for Graham's brilliance in creativity and willingness to navigate the many rough patches she encountered AND give such a gift to humanity at the same time.

The numbers of influential people she touched is amazing and enlightening.

I suggest this book for any creative thinker: there are applications for all of us.

The Life of a Dancer
Martha Graham: A Dancers Life by Russell Freedman, the full-length biography of Martha Graham, takes a deep look into Martha and the peole around her. She was a dancer, teacher, and choreographer who changed the world. Her life began in Pittsburg where she was born in 1894. The book also tells about the lives of her dancers, students, close friends, and lovers. The biography goes into great detail up until the day she died in 1991.
I liked this book because of all the details it gives about her life and the way it tells about all the heroic things she did. I would recommend this book to dancers and people who enjoy the things Martha did in her 97 years of life.

Gorgeous pictures; no depth
I bought this book after reading an interesting article about Martha Graham in the New Yorker about a year ago. I was attracted to the book by the beautiful photography, in evidence on the cover (and throughout the book, as I soon learned). However, I was interested in reading about Martha's "demons" and character flaws, as well as her relationships and focus on archetypal figures in dance. Unfortunately, this book is a pretty happy-go-lucky, bland account of her life. In fact, it's so bland that I would have given it three stars if the pictures in it were not so beautiful and well-suited to the descriptions given in the text.

EXCELLENT!
This is a wonderful book and story. Being a dancer myself, I am very inspired. You'll enjoy Martha's "positive" attitude and wit throughout this story of the growth of a piece of history. Please, read this book, I recommend it!

Simple, and clear...
I am a former Graham Dancer, and when I saw this book, I had some very intense emotions, it shows Martha in her best years, the pictures are beautiful, some of them are very rare to see, and if you want to see the beauty, or the drama, of that Incredible American Woman, this is the book you need to own. As a Graham Based Dance Teacher, I use this book to show some intentions in the movement, or I simply quote her, I wish you a wonderful Journey in the world of Martha Graham... ... Read more

Book Description

This accessible, easy-to-read text designed for beginning and intermediate modern dance courses provides students with concrete, practical information on both the technical and creative aspects of modern dance. ... Read more

Book Description

The Routledge Dance Studies Reader represents the range and diversity of writings on dance from the 1980s and 1990s, providing contemporary perspectives on ballet, modern dance, postmodern 'movement performance' jazz, South Asian dance and Black dance.

In an enlightening introduction, Alexandra Carter traces the development of dance studies internationally and surveys current debates about the methods and methodologies appropriate to the study of dance. Each section begins with an editorial preface, and features contributions by choreographers, performers, critics and scholars of dance and related disciplinary fields. The sections cover choreography, performance, writing criticism, the place of dance in history and society and analysis of specific dance works. An invaluable introduction to the key dance texts, The Routledge Dance Studies Reader is for anyone interested in enhancing their experience of dance. ... Read more

Book Description

American modern dance artist Erick Hawkins was a profound thinker, mover, and educator. In addition to creating powerful dance works, Hawkins developed a comprehensive and universal system of dance training that continues to influence dancers worldwide. The Erick Hawkins Modern Dance Technique offers a detailed explanation of typical Hawkins technique principles through an abundant variety of illustrations, photographs, and labanotations. Author Renata Celichowska provides a broad understanding of the technique including its history; philosophy; basic principles; a complete class; discussion of the integration of body, mind, and soul; works choreographed by Erick Hawkins, glossary of labanotation terms, books recommended by Hawkins, bibliography, videography, and index.

Accompanying and illustrating is a two-volume video set by the same title which includes film and video clips of Hawkins and his dancers in class, rehearsals, performance, and interviews. ... Read more

Book Description

The third in the Quickstart dance series deals with the most popular dance in the world from America's most popular author of books on the topic of dance.

100 Swing Variations with Applications in the following 4 Rhythms:

1. Single - Street or Club
2. Double - Jitterbug
3. Double - Kick
4. Triple - East Coast Swing

This text is presented in a logical, easy to understand, cumulative format that includes all the basic and advanced skills necessary for the successful learning, partnering, and teaching of Swing dancing.

Quickstart to Swing is written with Jeff Allen's noted kinesiological approach along with the mental and physical attitudes and philosophies that will make any level dancer successful. ... Read more

Reviews (33)

AWESOME !
Wow! Jeff Allen has produced a book Quickstart To Swing that teaches the basics to a beginner AND gives additional technique to the experienced dancer. The movements required to produce good Swing dancing are broken down and explained in detail. The details include the technique that "makes it work". Mr. Allen also includes common errors and specifically addresses how to fix them. I have been dancing for about 4 years now, both competitively and socially, and I found this book to be filled with information that has helped to improve my dancing in general, and more specifically my Swing dancing. I gave this book to a fellow dancer and by following the excellent technique given in the Swing Rock description, he no longer pulls my arm out of the socket when we dance Swing! He also learned to stay closer to his partner, keep his steps smaller and can lead an underarm turn! The technique used to correct these problems was never even spoken of by his "instructor". The resurgence of Swing's popularity has also dramatically increased the population of "Swing Teachers". Unfortunately the US does not require any credentials to be a "teacher" of dance so anyone who thinks they know a few "moves" can - VOILA - be a dance teacher. For those out there who fit this description, do yourself a very big favor - Buy Quickstart To Swing , read it and learn it ! Thank you Mr. Allen for finally providing an easy to read, 'how-to' book on Swing dancing that all dancers can learn from no matter what their experience or level!

I Read and Continue to Learn
Owning this book since 2000 when it first came out has indeed been a rewarding experience, it's like having a terrific teacher at your side whenever you have a question. The best way to use this book is to tackle it a piece at a time, one or two figures, working out the choreography and following the details for the lead or follow with your partner as described on each step. Then begin the detailed work of how elements of rotation, the rock step, key moments of emphasis, etc. is described in the technique section of the book. The book has an absolutely fabulous index making topical exploration and cross referencing very easy.

I noticed that few of the reviewers do not mention (personally I do not believe that many of the "so-called," reviewers at this page actually read or spent time with this book) the 4 rhythms that are covered in the book giving the dancer tremendous versatility while dancing Swing to many different rhythms or just adding variety to the figures themselves.

Another exciting aspect of this book is that you are able to contact and discuss dancing with the author. I emailed a congratulatory message to him for writing this book along with a couple of questions and they were answered. Now that's valued added!

I Have Found Immeasurable Help with This Book!
I have found immeasurable help with this book!

I absolutely love this book. It is the best dance resource that I have found in print!!!

Here's why:

Remember when you where a kid and you received your first set of encyclopedias - this book gives you that same trusted feeling when you have a question about Swing dancing or partner dancing in general. The better you get, the longer you study, and practice dancing the more you'll appreciate this book written by Jeff Allen. Many paragraphs in this book are so power packed that they alone are worth the price. The author continually challenges the quality of your dancing to make you better and better. Ideas for improvement and creativity begin to explode in your brain and you are able to take your dancing to the next level.

If you dance and don't own this book, you are really missing out!

Wow!! I Found A Wealth of Knowledge
It's unbelievable I have learned more about Swing dancing, and partner dancing in general than any six teachers I've studied with! I don't know why that is but I don't really care. Believe me I WILL be suggesting Allen's "Quickstart to Swing" to each of them.

The material in the book is everything you wanted to know about dancing but didn't know how to ask! I've read where some people have had trouble with this book - perhaps that's because their introduction to dancing was step orientated rather than body, balance, timing, rhythm, etc. One of the keenest insights found in this book that I learned is when you put your feet down on the floor your body STOPS by contrast it is how you take your feet OFF the floor that permits movement. From that premise, it was easy to understand that for a dancer the most important foot is the supporting foot or the place that you exit from. Because of that revelation, I was able to create ten times more body rhythm giving me a great natural and fluid look. And because of that understanding, this book is very easy to understand. I hope this helps some of you NOT to be swayed by negative reviews.

Many single pages in this book more than repay the reader if dancing is their desire! It's really a phenomenal reference book that you'll use over and over again. You'll find yourself, as I did, comparing what you've learned or heard about dancing to the contents of this book. And you know what? The more you understand the more you'll grow to love it.

I partner better in all my dances including the Latin ones. I hope Allen's next book has Salsa in it.

Brilliant for any Ballroom or Swing Student!
Here's a book that answers anything you wanted to know about Swing dancing but didn't know how to ask. We use this book to correct and improve our interpretation and understanding of concepts and the techniques of Swing & Rhythm dancing. Since we are interested in becoming teachers, we exchange the roles of either leader or follower. The book is written this way so it makes it easy to do. Allen says in the 'How to Use This Book' section that the descriptions of the steps are conversational and delivered as if he were there with the reader, so we read aloud for each other. He's right, when we do this it's a lot of FUN and it makes it seem if we are in a class with him. If there is anything or any term, we didn't understand there is an item by item technique section and glossary along with a fabulous index in the back section of the book. You can always tell the quality of a book by the content and thoroughness of its index.

The book challenges those who have learned Swing improperly or have tried to mimic it. On page, 2 and 3 Allen detailed the detrimental habits we ourselves had formed and with the help of this book have eradicated! Lastly, if you can read and understand this review you won't have any trouble with this book! There must a couple of hundred thousand words in this book so it is packed. So as not to be overwhelmed by the size of this book, we worked in small increments, using the wonderful lesson by lesson cumulative approach found chapter by chapter. We kept in mind that this is a 'How To' book so we worked on how to do it and not just how to read it. Most importantly, we'll continue to use this book for years to come, especially if we want to show others how to dance a great Swing. BRAVO and THANK YOU Jeff Allen!! ... Read more

Book Description

As the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth, a short-lived but extraordinary cultural phenomenon spread throughout Europe and the United States-"Salomania." The term was coined when biblical bad girl Salome was resurrected from the Old Testament and reborn on the modern stage in Oscar Wilde's 1893 play Salome and in Richard Strauss's 1905 opera based on it. Salome quickly came to embody the turn-of-the-century concept of the femme fatale. She and the striptease Wilde created for her, "The Dance of the Seven Veils," soon captivated the popular imagination in performances on stages high and low, from the Metropolitan Opera to the Ziegfeld Follies.This book details for the first time the Salomania craze and four remarkable women who personified Salome and performed her seductive dance: Maud Allan, a Canadian modern dancer; Mata Hari, a Dutch spy; Ida Rubinstein, a Russian heiress; and French novelist Colette. Toni Bentley masterfully weaves the stories of these women together, showing how each embraced the persona of the femme fatale and transformed the misogynist idea of a dangerously sexual woman into a form of personal liberation. Bentley explores how Salome became a pop icon in Europe and America, how the real women who played her influenced the beginnings of modern dance, and how her striptease became in the twentieth century an act of glamorous empowerment and unlikely feminism. Sisters of Salome is a dramatic account of an ancient myth played out onstage and in real life, at the fascinating edge where sex and art, desire and decency, merge. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

My kind of history
As a painter I've always loved the image of Salome, so emblematic of the fuzzy line between manipulation and exploitation (the line we walk so proficiently these days.)
I'd had a vague notion of these women who danced the part of Salome at the turn of the century (Maud Allen, Mata Hari, Ida Rubenstein and Colette) but I had no idea how fabulous and frankly whacked, they were. None of our Madonna's or Paris Hilton's has anything on these girls.
But the thing I loved most about this book is that though it is literate and historically informative, it still manages to be personal in a way unlikely for any historian. It's a story that pretty much had to be written by a woman not only with dance credentials (Toni Bentley danced for Balanchine for ten years and wrote what is considered to be the definitive book on what it's like to be a young dancer (Winter Season) but someone who understands the particular mix of art and exhibitionism that was called upon by these strange and remarkable women. A lovely book written with a light touch and a unique perspective. I look forward to Ms Bentley's next book.

If only I could give negative stars...
While I agree with the other one-star review here that this book is not worth reading, what astonishes me is that the reviewer considers Bentley's book "a very scholarly history" when there is nothing scholarly about it. Bentley's narcissistic introduction and glamour shot on the book jacket reveal this to be little more than a vanity project. While the book has some usefulness in terms of providing details that aren't often found in dance histories about these women's lives, Bentley's purple prose makes it difficult to discern which details are accurate and which fell victim to her embellishment. A pastiche of factual but sensational details and farfetched comparisons and conclusions regarding the psychological and cultural implications of Salome, this book bears little resemblance to real contemporary dance scholarship. If it did, she would have engaged in the ongoing discussion of gaze theory and its advantages and disadvantages when applied to dance. OR, she would have discussed more deftly the role of exotic imagery in the age of late imperialism by way of Said's concept of orientalism and other subsequent postcolonial theory. OR, she would have utilized poststructuralist theory and considered how such acts of exhibitionism as striptease actually maintained dominant power structures. Instead, she falls victim to free associations that to some readers may appear like a kind of truth, but really are not. In one passage, Bentley ruminates on the significance of the veil, jumping from one culture and religion to another as if the symbolic and social meanings of "the veil" are universal: "In Eastern harems, women are veiled like nuns, while their bodies are receptacles for male desire. Veils conceal but are penetrable. Opaque, translucent, and diaphanous, they allow light to be filtered through the threads, building illusion while implying truth. They allow for fantasy and mystery and suggest the ultimate veiling-a naked woman still conceals the darkness where life begins. The hymen veils the womb, the womb veils the origin of life itself." The conflation of the veil and the woman below it with the hymen and the womb deploys the same kind of rhetoric 1970s feminist theory was guilty of, which essentialized "woman" as an archetype of fertility and sensuality. And sure, why not jump from Salome to nun to harem girl? Yeah, that's all the same thing. By the way, I thought we all learned in fifth grade science class that materials were either opaque, transparent, OR translucent. Something cannot be both opaque AND translucent. There's either light filtering through, or there's not, Ms. Bentley. So, yes, as you can see, Bentley's book has put me in a very cranky mood, precisely because on both a scholarly AND a writerly level, IT'S JUST PLAIN BAD.

By the way, one of the reviewers seemed impressed that Bentley's book was published by such a prestigious press as Yale U P. Look, if you want to read good and cutting edge dance scholarship, Yale is not the way to go. Check out the presses at Indiana U, Wesleyan, Routledge, or the University of California.

Also, a good general hint for discerning whether a text is "scholarly" or not--if the author continually refers to her subjects by their first names (i.e. "Maud" instead of "Allen"), chances are, it's not all that scholarly.

Trollops and Harlots
Sorry to dissent, but Toni Bentley's ode to undressing leaves me, well, chilly. Her opening chapter is risque, but don't be misled. All you will read in the following chapters is a very scholarly history of a particular type of dancer, the striptease artiste. The only nudity you will see is one undraped mammelle. The book is dull, the opening chapter a tasteless come on. Ms. Bentley's investigation into nudity, both first hand and vicarious, is by her own admission an attempt to overcome a lifetime's inhibitions and her own innate modesty. It is a mistaken attempt. Ms. Bentley has gone downhill since her days as a Balanchine dancer, and has lowered her artistic standards considerably.

The Strange Origins of Striptease
Oscar Wilde is responsible for striptease. Well, not directly, perhaps, but there is a surprising connection drawn in _Sisters of Salome_ (Yale University Press) by Toni Bentley, an examination of four women who interpreted Salome around the turn of the last century. Wilde took his story from legend (not the Bible story), and invented the famous "Dance of the Seven Veils" for his French play _Salome_. It initiated the craze for "Salomania" and there was even a school for Salomes that churned out dancers to go into the variety halls. Bentley's introduction inserts herself into the history of striptease, and she gives a good account of ending her career as a ballerina and going onto the stage (just once?) as a stripper. She felt power; "... there was no victimization on either side of these footlights." It was a revelatory experience: "I was unmasked and, for a miraculous minute, thrilled in my body, unafraid of my life. I was in - for me - Paradise."

Her research into how striptease originated centered on four women who had initially interpreted to the theatrical Salome. Maudie Durant was the sister of a serial killer, and escaped to Europe and to the stage as Maud Allan as a way to free herself from disgrace. She became "the least dressed dancer of our time," and she then portrayed Salome in 1906. She became involved in a ridiculous trial which she lost in large part because it was shown that she knew what a clitoris was. Ida Rubenstein was the child of Russian aristocrats, and the only Salome here who had few worries about money. She liked expensive, self-aggrandizing shows and ended up derided for her vanity. She did, however, sponsor artists of real ability; Ravel composed _Bolero_ for her. Everyone knows the name of the spy Mata Hari, but everyone knows wrong. She performed all over Europe, and took lovers; she had a special weakness for those in uniform. As a result, she did take money for spying, but didn't do any. She was framed and executed in France in 1917. With Colette, perhaps Bentley is guilty of over-application of her theme, because Colette never played Salome, although she did once perform on the same billing as Mata Hari. Unlike the other three women profiled here, Colette had a genuinely happy and long life. She graduated from virgin bride to lesbian, to happily married housewife, although she did seduce a former husband's son. She used her success in scandals, including her stage nakedness, to become an author whose fiction and memoirs have inspired far more readers than just Bentley.

This is a book of a peculiar history, not only of four dancers, but of one period of the dance itself. None of them were very good dancers, but nakedness and scandal made up for that. All four reinvented themselves and used the Salome role for gains in power and money, although such gains were mostly temporary. None had a conventional life or marriage, and perhaps there is some sort of lesson in the sad ends most of them experienced. Bentley has not forced any didacticism from the four stories and her own. Her research and bibliography are good, and she has a light and amused way of telling the stories, full of detail. "Why did these women dance naked?" she asks, and the answers she gives, far from simple, but satisfying while undoubtedly incomplete, are wise and fun to read.

Toni Bentley triumphs again
With an intimate knowledge of dance, keen eye for historical detail, enticing premise, and droll prose (many turns of phrase made me grin), Toni Bentley has taken what could have been a bone-dry, pedantic topic and infused it with wit, humor, and rigorous scholarship. The result: one smart, sexy book about four sexual rebels. Here's hoping the success of "Sisters of Salome" brings "Winter Season," Ms. Bentley's haunting memoir of her Balanchine dancer days, back in print. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

trivia, not how-to
Want to know what the "buck and wing" looks like? The "black bottom," "shorty george," "eagle rock" or "Jersey bounce"? Well, if you can read Labanotation, you can find out from the last pages of this book. Otherwise, you'll just have to settle for a bunch of dance history and anecdotes strung together by the Stearns, who interviewed as many American jazz dancers as they could still find alive.

It's fascinating stuff, though. The text does give some limited descriptions, and opening the book to a random page reveals both " . . .Crawley danced while he played clarinet, juggling the pieces as he dismantled it" and "As performed by Little Egypt at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, where it first received national attention as the Hootchy-Kootchy, the Shake dance was not particularly rhythmic."

As an actual history of American dance, for me this book lacks coherence. But I did learn about ways in which African dance influenced American, see the names of quite a lot of performers, steps, and performance venues, and learn to play the "Buck Dancer's Lament" on the piano. If you want something you can read a page of and then put down until later, this will fill the bill. ... Read more