Functional Awareness: Anatomy in Action for Dancers is where anatomy meets artistry. Each chapter provides explorations in embodied anatomy in an engaging manner with the use of images, storytelling, and experiential exercises. It is an accessible introduction to the relationship between daily movement habits, dance training and anatomy. The information is founded on over 30,000 hours of experience teaching and training dancers to generate efficient exertion and appropriate recuperation. Functional Awareness: Anatomy in Action for Dancers employs somatic practices along with explorations in experiential anatomy to awaken the body-mind connection and improve movement function. The book applies the Functional Awareness (R) approach to improve dance technique and provide skills to enable the dancer to move with balance and grace in the classroom, on stage, and in daily life.

*The accompanying CD / downloadable album can also be purchased from the Mike Ruff Music website and from The Endless Bookcase website. This book looks at the practicalities of maypole dancing. Designed for teachers with little or no experience of teaching dance, the traditional dances are laid out in a clear and easy to use format with photos, diagrams and a Dance at a Glance feature. Maypole dancing is constantly changing and growing, and so a number of modern dances are also included, graded from simple to challenging. Issues of inclusivity, creativity and cross-curricular work are addressed in detail, along with non-ribbon dances from the Victorian and Tudor periods which are great for bringing history to life. A website and lively CD complete the package. "Easy to use manual, even for a novice" - Folkestone Primary Academy "This is an excellent, clearly presented maypole teaching resource which is attractively and thoughtfully presented, user-friendly and modern in its outlook. I am very happy to recommend this for anyone wanting the essential information on how to lead maypole dancing with young people and adults alike." - Rachel Elliott, Education Director, English Folk Dance and Song Society "This is the answer to our prayers! A really well written book and entertaining music CD to get people of all ages maypole dancing" - Paul James, Formally Halsway Manor, National Centre for the Folk Arts *The accompanying Maypole Manual Music album can be purchased as a CD or as a download, or as single track downloads.

A novel that will be read and loved for the next one hundred years, and essential reading for right now. I could not have loved it more.' Coco Mellors, author of Blue Sisters

'This story left me thinking about the ways we overcome setbacks and redefine what truly matters.' Reese Witherspoon

A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK FOR DECEMBER 2024 * A HARPER'S BAZAAR BEST BOOK OF 2024

Slowly recovering from a terrible accident, Natalia is faced with a devastating choice – to return to the cutthroat world of Russian ballet that nearly broke her, or to walk away forever – in this sweeping novel of love and redemption

Prima ballerina Natalia Leonova was once celebrated across the world, her signature bravura in demand on stages from St. Petersburg to Paris to New York. But at the top of her career, an accident forces her into sudden retirement. Injured and alone, she turns to pills and alcohol to numb the pain of her past, still haunted by her relationships with two gifted dancers, Dmitri and Alexander. These men were responsible for her soaring highs, her darkest hours and, ultimately, both played their part in her downfall.

So when Dmitri resurfaces with a tantalising offer for Natalia, she must decide what she is willing to sacrifice in order to dance again – and for the chance to return to the great love of her life. Painting a vivid portrait of a world in which ruthless ambition, desire and sublime artistry collide, City of Night Birds unveils the making of a dancer with profound intimacy and breathtaking scope.

The Moving Body in the Aural Skills Classroom-influenced by Dalcroze-eurhythmics-is a practical guide for college-level teachers and students interested in integrating the moving body into the traditional aural skills classroom. What distinguishes this book from other texts is its central concern with movement-to-music as a tool for developing musical perception and the kinesthetic aspects humans experience as performers. Moving to music and watching others move cultivates an active, multi-sensory learning experience, in which students learn by discovery and from each other. Improvisatory and expressive elements are built into exercises to encourage a dynamic link between musical training and artistic performance. Designed for a three- to four-semester undergraduate curriculum, the book contains a wealth of exercises that teach rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and formal concepts. Exercises not only develop the ear, but also awaken the muscular and nervous system, foster mind-body connections, strengthen the powers of concentration (being in the "musical now "), develop inner-hearing, short- and long-term memory, multi-tasking skills, limb autonomy, and expressive freedom. Exercises are presented in a graded, though flexible order allowing you to select individual exercises in any sequence. Activities involve movement through space (traveling movement) as well as movement in place (stationary movement) for those teaching in small classrooms. The text can be used as a teacher's manual, a supplementary aural-skills textbook, or as a stand-alone reference in a course dedicated to eurhythmics. Movement exercises are designed to enhance and work in conjunction with musical examples presented in other texts. Many exercises also provide an effective aural/sensory tool in the music theory classroom to complement verbal explanations. The approach integrates easily into any traditional college or conservatory classroom and is compatible with the following systems: fixed do, moveable do, and scale degrees. A companion website accompanies the text featuring undergraduate students performing select exercises.

This book tells the story of Vicky and Anthony and life in the glamorous world of ballroom dancing. All proceeds from sales will go to a homeless charity.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This book contains sets of exercises developed and refined over many years that will prove valuable for every dancer, teacher and coach. There is a description of each stage of an exercise along with illustrative photographs to make it easier to understand and achieve precise movement. A deep knowledge of the basic principles of poise and actions used in Latin dance helps bring out the unique features and characteristics of Rumba, Cha cha cha, Samba, Jive and Paso Doble. In addition there are sets of exercises covering five essential aspects common to several dances, including rotation, partner connection and the use of arms.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

For those just starting to take an interest in Rueda de Casino, this guide provides information on the dance, where it came from, how it works, how it varies, and a 'survival kit' of things to think about when you are learning, including teamwork, timing, and making sense of all those calls. For those learning to call, the guide covers the skills involved in being a Rueda caller, and provides pointers to help you think about choreography, sequencing moves, adding variety and fun, improvisation, switching between dance positions, keeping everything under control, and using hand signals in noisy environments. For experienced dancers and callers looking to extend their repertoire, well over 700 calls and variations are noted, relating to around 650 individual moves. Detailed descriptions and notes for each of these moves are included as an aide memoire, organised by dance position and similarity. All of the moves in the 'Norwegian Rueda Standard 2011' are included. Several less well known variations are described; Rueda dos parejas for 2 couples, Rueda linea dancing in a line, Rueda cruzada two interleaved Ruedas, Rueda llanta sets of 2 couples making one big circle and the challenging Rueda espejo mirror Rueda. If this still isn't enough variety the guide includes descriptions of some Rueda games you can have fun with at party time.

Technical books on ballroom dancing tell you what to do...But not how to do it. They will tell you where to go...But not how to get there. This book does! This book will not teach you to dance any more than CDs or DVDs will, but it will improve your knowledge, your skills and your enjoyment of dancing as it takes you through the basic steps and syllabus figures of the five Latin American dances, and advice on many ballroom figures. It tells you how to, so you can dance more comfortably with your partner.

This guide provides an overview of the history of hip hop culture and an exploration of its dance style, appropriate both for student research projects and general interest reading. Rapping. Breakdancing. MCing. DJing. Beatboxing. Graffiti art. These are just some of the most well-known artistic expressions spawned from hip hop culture, which has grown from being an isolated inner-city subculture in the 1970s to being a truly international and mainstream culture that has taken root in countries as diverse as Japan, France, Israel, Poland, Brazil, South Korea, and England. This insightful book provides not only an overview of hip hop's distinctive dance style and steps, but also a historic overview of hip hop's roots as an urban expression of being left out of the mainstream pop culture, clarifying the social context of hip hop culture before it became a widespread suburban phenomenon. Hip Hop Dance documents all the forms of street music that led to one of the most groundbreaking, expressive, and influential dance styles ever created. A chronology of the development of hip hop from the 1970s to the present Black and white photographs of the various dance movements Bibliography of significant materials for further reading Detailed explanations of dance terms Helpful indexes with convenient access to various topics of interest throughout the book

In the early twentieth century, female performers regularly appeared on the stages and screens of American cities. Though advertised as dancers, mimics, singers, or actresses, they often exceeded these categories. Instead, their performances adopted an aesthetic of intermediality, weaving together techniques and elements drawn from a wide variety of genres and media, including ballet, art music, photography, early modern dance, vaudeville traditions, film, and more. Onstage and onscreen, performers borrowed from existing musical scores and narratives, referred to contemporary shows, films, and events, and mimicked fellow performers, skating neatly across various media, art forms, and traditions. Behind the scenes, they experimented with cross-promotion, new advertising techniques, and various technologies to broadcast images and tales of their performances and lives well beyond the walls of American theaters, cabarets, and halls. The performances and conceptions of art that emerged were innovative, compelling, and deeply meaningful. Body Knowledge: Performance, Intermediality, and American Entertainment at the Turn of the Twentieth Century examines these performances and the performers behind them, highlighting the Ziegfeld Follies and The Passing Show revues, Salome dancers, Isadora Duncan's Wagner dances, Adeline Genee and Bessie Clayton's "photographic" danced histories, Hazel Mackaye and Ruth St. Denis's pageants, and Anna Pavlova's opera and film projects. By destabilizing the boundaries between various media, genres, and performance spaces, each of these women was able to create performances that negotiated turn-of-the-century American social and cultural issues: contemporary technological developments and the rise of mass reproduction, new modes of perception, the commodification of art and entertainment, the evolution of fan culture and stardom, changing understandings of the body and the self, and above all, shifting conceptions of gender, race, and sexual identity. Tracing the various modes of intermediality at work on- and offstage, Body Knowledge re-imagines early twentieth-century art and entertainment as both fluid and convergent.

What is the legacy of Martha Graham and why does it endure? How and why did the philosophy and subsequent canon of Martha Graham flood out into an artistic diaspora that is still a wellspring of inspiration for contemporary artists? How do dancers that have never studied with, or worked under, Martha Graham maintain her vision? All of these questions, and many more, are considered in this fascinating book, authored by one of the Martha Graham Company's ex-principal dancers, which illuminates the ongoing significance of the Martha Graham Dance Company almost 100 years after it was founded. Through doing so, we are offered a study of the history of the Martha Graham Dance Company - the longest-standing modern dance company in America, its international diaspora and the current generation of dancers taking up the mantel. Drawing on extensive interviews conducted for the book, the company's story is told through the experiences, inspirations, motivations and words of performers from Graham's iconic artistic lineage.