Since its inception, French opera has embraced dance, yet all too often operatic dancing is treated as mere decoration. Dance and Drama in French Baroque Opera exposes the multiple and meaningful roles that dance has played, starting from Jean-Baptiste Lully's first opera in 1672. It counters prevailing notions in operatic historiography that dance was parenthetical and presents compelling evidence that the divertissement - present in every act of every opera - is essential to understanding the work. The book considers the operas of Lully - his lighter works as well as his tragedies - and the 46-year period between the death of Lully and the arrival of Rameau, when influences from the commedia dell'arte and other theatres began to inflect French operatic practices. It explores the intersections of musical, textual, choreographic and staging practices at a complex institution - the Academie Royale de Musique - which upheld as a fundamental aesthetic principle the integration of dance into opera.

A touching tale about a little bunny with a big heart, featuring sparkly silver foil on every page! Snow Bunny and her friends are putting on a Christmas show. Finally, the stage is set and Snow Bunny has helped Bear, Mouse and Fox with their acts, but - oh dear! - there's no time left for her to prepare her own perfomance. But as the performers take their final bows, it's time to shine the spotlight on the helpful friend whose hard work and brilliant ideas made it all possible: Snow Bunny - the true star of the show. The perfect book for sharing on cold winter's nights in the run-up to Christmas! There are more books in the Snow Bunny series to collect: Snow Bunny's Christmas Wish and Snow Bunny's Christmas Gift.

A touching tale about a little mouse with a big heart, featuring festive silver foil on every page! Mouse is very excited for Christmas, but first she needs to find a home to spend it in! On her way through Treetop Forest, she meets Fox, Bunny and Bear, all in need of a little help - which she gladly offers - but as the sun sets, it looks like she won't have anywhere cosy to spend Christmas. Luckily, her new friends are about to reward her generosity with a very big surprise . . . The perfect gift to share at Christmas, from the creator of the bestselling Snow Bunny books!

From the creator of the highly acclaimed Snow Bunny's Christmas Wish comes this brand-new tale about a little bunny with a big heart and the true gift of friendship. Little Snow Bunny loves nothing better than playing with her friends in the wintry forest. Every day holds the promise of adventure for Snow Bunny, Fox, Bear and Mouse. But one particularly cold day, no one wants to play and Snow Bunny is left all alone. Whatever will she do? With a little luck and a lot of imagination, she makes cosy winter gifts for all her friends, just in time for Christmas Eve.

A touching tale about a little mouse with a big heart, featuring festive silver foil on every page! Mouse is very excited for Christmas, but first she needs to find a home to spend it in! On her way through Treetop Forest, she meets Fox, Bunny and Bear, all in need of a little help - which she gladly offers - but as the sun sets, it looks like she won't have anywhere cosy to spend Christmas. Luckily, her new friends are about to reward her generosity with a very big surprise . . . The perfect picture book to share with children from 3+ at Christmas, from the creator of the bestselling Snow Bunny books! Every Nosy Crow paperback picture book comes with a free 'Stories Aloud' audio recording - just scan the QR code and listen along!

This heartwarming story is perfect for welcoming spring--and is now available in paperback
Ruby's brothers and sisters are always racing off in search of adventure. "This way, Ruby " they call, but Ruby, who is still the littlest, likes to take things slowly. She prefers to look at all the grassy banks, the willow trees, and the dragonflies, which is just as well, for when the ducklings get lost in a storm, it's up to Ruby to find the way back home

A touching tale about a little bunny with a big heart, featuring sparkly silver foil on every page! Snow Bunny and her friends are putting on a Christmas show. Finally, the stage is set and Snow Bunny has helped Bear, Mouse and Fox with their acts, but - oh dear! - there's no time left for her to prepare her own perfomance. But as the performers take their final bows, it's time to shine the spotlight on the helpful friend whose hard work and brilliant ideas made it all possible: Snow Bunny - the true star of the show. The perfect book for sharing on cold winter's nights in the run-up to Christmas! There are more books in the Snow Bunny series to collect: Snow Bunny's Christmas Wish and Snow Bunny's Christmas Gift.

BILLIE FOSTER is a seventeen-year-old with a bit of an attitude problem. It wasn't long ago that she had it all: booming social life, loving boyfriend, anything and everything a beautiful, popular teenage girl could want. That is until her life is taken by a violent and mysterious school fire, leaving her forever trapped in limbo, alone and jaded in the afterlife. Upon reaching the afterlife, Billie is put to work, assigned to the organization known only as THE GUARDIANS, a group of spirits charged with the task of keeping the living alive. But Billie is no "employee of the month." Why should she protect the living when no one did the same for her? Fed up with her cynicism and total disregard for authority, her boss, THE CAPTAIN, gives her an ultimatum: work with a partner or face the consequences of her carelessness. TUCKER REID is a charming and hardworking member of the Self-Sacrifice organization, and much to Billie's dismay, exactly what The Captain orders. Right off the bat, Tucker proves he isn't afraid to keep her in line, refusing to back down from what he knows is right. Little does Billie suspect, however, that Tucker carries with him secrets of his own. BENEDICT FORD is a teenager who is still alive, but someone is trying to kill him. He becomes Billie and Tucker's first assignment, but all three of them soon learn that that things are neither as they seem nor as they should be. Something in the afterlife is askew, threatening to destroy them all. Can Billie, Tucker and Benedict work together? Or will their differences be their ultimate downfall?

J. Percy Priest and His Amazing Race is a gift from Rebecca Harris Stubbs to anyone interested in Tennessee history, American political history, and the heroes who made this country great. With previously unpublished letters, personal commentaries from Priest's friends and associates, and academic analysis extracted from local, state, and federal records, the author treats us to a light, often delightful, and distinctly tender narrative. She delves into the life of a former schoolteacher and journalist who entered Congress with an upset win after a mere eight-week campaign, and became a powerful committee chairman, an influential Congressional leader, and close friend of Billy Graham. Priest left a pronounced mark on Tennessee and American history, and his name is still associated with integrity, commitment, and honor more than fifty years after his untimely death at the age of fifty-six. For anyone in need of a reminder of what American hero means, this is a book that must be read.

Irvine (Trainspotting) Welsh makes his directorial debut with this 2009 made-for-TV comedy mockumentary for ITV4. Andy 'The Arrows' Sampson (Jonathan Lewis Owen) is a Welsh darts superstar, whose career takes a sudden tumble after he suffers a heart attack. With his confidence at rock bottom, he just cannot hit the doubles and he sinks into a deep pit of depression. How can he drag himself back to the top? Andy thinks that the answer lies in a very strange, aromatic and disgusting cure.

Dance played a fundamental role in French Baroque theatrical entertainments. Le Mariage de la Grosse Cathos, a comic mascarade composed by Andre Danican Philidor in 1688, is of major importance, because it is the only theatrical work from the court of Louis XIV to have survived complete in all its components - choreography, music, and text, both spoken and sung. It provides a concrete model not only of how dance was integrated into the musical theatre, but of how ballets - or even operaswere staged. Moreover, it uses a previously unknown dance notation system developed around the same time as Feuillet notation by choreographer Jean Favier l'aine. This book reproduces the entire manuscript of the mascarade and provides a comprehensive study of the work itself and of the circumstances in which it was created and performed. Chapters devoted to the music, the dance, and the performers provide a framework for understanding the performance context not only of this work, but of other court entertainments of the period. A study and evaluation of the notation system in which the dances are recorded, together with detailed analyses of the dances and of the movement indications for the musicians, complete the monograph.

Since its inception, French opera has embraced dance, yet all too often operatic dancing is treated as mere decoration. Dance and Drama in French Baroque Opera exposes the multiple and meaningful roles that dance has played, starting from Jean-Baptiste Lully's first opera in 1672. It counters prevailing notions in operatic historiography that dance was parenthetical and presents compelling evidence that the divertissement - present in every act of every opera - is essential to understanding the work. The book considers the operas of Lully - his lighter works as well as his tragedies - and the 46-year period between the death of Lully and the arrival of Rameau, when influences from the commedia dell'arte and other theatres began to inflect French operatic practices. It explores the intersections of musical, textual, choreographic and staging practices at a complex institution - the Academie Royale de Musique - which upheld as a fundamental aesthetic principle the integration of dance into opera.