However difficult the Soviet era was for the peoples of Russia, its seventy-four years represented a true golden age for classical ballet. It was characterised by a wholescale repurposing of the art form from being the 'golden rattle' of the tsars to the most potent cultural weapon in the Communist regime's armoury in its struggles with the West. The Golden Age presents a detailed overview of the development of ballet in Soviet Russia, from its fight for survival in the early years after the 1917 revolutions through the political demands of Stalin's rule, the shock of armed conflict with Germany and the onset of the Cold War. As the century progressed, Soviet ballet was not immune to outside influences hastened by the onset of cultural visits and exchanges; it also suffered the defection of dancers and ultimately opened up further with perestroika in the 1980s and the fall of Communist rule in 1991. Gerald Dowler sets the complex, shifting world of Russian ballet in its political and social contexts and explores the contributions of major choreographers, dancers and teachers in creating the phenomenon of what is celebrated around the world as 'Russian ballet'. Their achievements in creating the Soviet Golden Age were truly remarkable.

Welcome to the glam and fab world of Sam Faiers - star of the hit TV programme The Only Way is Essex. Read on to find out what it takes to be a REAL Essex Girl. The Oxford Dictionary definition of an 'Essex Girl': A brash, materialistic young woman of a type supposedly found in Essex or surrounding areas in the south-east of England. The Sam Faiers definition of an 'Essex Girl': A stylish, hard-working, big-hearted and family-minded young woman found in Brentwood or nearby areas (and Marbs). At the start of 2010 Sam Faiers was a normal 19-year-old girl from Brentwood: she was working in a local bank, plotting a glamour modelling career and planning what outfit to wear to Sugar Hut. Then the first episode of TOWIEaired, and suddenly Sam was catapulted into a world of champagne cocktails, TV studios, nightclubs and paparazzi. In Living Life the Essex Way, Sam lifts the lid on her childhood, her rise to fame and her beauty regime, as well as her dating rules, dealing with instant fame, the men in her life and what really goes on behind the scenes on the hit ITV2 show.

Beginning with her critically acclaimed independent feature film Eve's Bayou (1997), writer-director Kasi Lemmons's mission has been to push the boundaries that exist in Hollywood. With Eve's Bayou, her first feature film, Lemmons (b. 1961) accomplished the rare feat of creating a film that was critically successful and one of the highest-grossing independent films of the year. Moreover, the cultural impact of Eve's Bayou endures, and in 2018 the film was added to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry as a culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant film. Lemmons's directing credits also include The Caveman's Valentine, Talk to Me, Black Nativity, and, most recently, Harriet, making Lemmons one of the most prolific and long-standing women directors in Hollywood. As a black woman filmmaker and a self-proclaimed black feminist, Lemmons breaks the mold of what is expected of a filmmaker in Hollywood. She began her career in Hollywood as an actor, with roles in numerous television series and high-profile films, including Spike Lee's School Daze and Jonathan Demme's Academy Award-winning The Silence of the Lambs. This volume collects fifteen interviews that illuminate Lemmons's distinctive ability to challenge social expectations through film and actualize stories that broaden expectations of cinematic black femaleness and maleness. The interviews reveal Lemmons's passion to create art through film, intimately linked to her mission to protest culturally and structurally imposed limitations and push the boundaries imposed by Hollywood.