Dance Advantage just posted a guest article with some lesser-known dance/culture books. I will definitely have to read some of these! 13 Books on Dance and Culture
Great -- thanks for posting! I'm fairly certainly that that International Encyclopedia of Dance is in my library's reference section. I've passed it a few times and always meant to take a peek -- perhaps next time! (/OT -- I hope your book club on that musicality book was wonderful...I wasn't able to follow along at the time, but I've noted the book (took a quick peek at it and it definitely seems like my cup of tea!), and will read it, along with your blog comments, probably some time this year -- I'll let you know in the thread you started here when I do! Just wanted to say thanks for that as well! BOT)
I just finished this book and I really enjoyed it! It's very passionate and very real. Great and quick read.
Hey, Yana, thanks so much for sharing!! Glad to hear you enjoyed it! It feels as though it has been forever since I've read a ballroom dance related book -- please do continue to share your thoughts on any others!
Another book for our list! The Six Questions: Acting Technique for Dance Performance by Daniel Nagrin. I learned about this book from samina. I've only read a bit of it and it is a true workbook, however, the first section, "Work on the Self", has enough gems that for that section alone it is worth getting the book from the library. I will be interested, when I have time, to delve into the exercises and to continue reading the remaining sections of the book. However, I think the first section speaks to many themes covered on DF, so I didn't want to delay in adding the book to this thread!
I think I've got all or nearly all of Nagrin's books...he's a delight to read. That book was my first exposure to him, CANI. I found him truly inspired and a...vanguard...in his day. Interesting fella.
How to Dance Forever: Surviving Against the Odds by Daniel Nagrin I haven't read the whole thing, but just read a few chapters I enjoyed -- "The Heart-Mind of the Dancer" and "The Survivors Speak" (great info for the "What's Possible" thread -- it is all comments from professional dancers who continued their professional dance careers, with continued success, into their 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s.) Just wanted to add this book to this thread. The other chapters I haven't read are The Dancer's Day, Diet, Danger, Healers and Treatments, Tricks, etc.
Dance with Me: Ballroom Dancing and the Promise of Instant Intimacy by Julia A. Ericksen. Anyone read this one? Appears to be a new book from November 2011. Amazon says Julia is a competitive ballroom dancer and it is about her experiences. Doesn't appear to be available yet in my library system (not my local library and not through inter-library loan). Please let us know if you read it!
I did the photos for this book (with two historical exceptions) and wrote an introduction about photographing ballroom and the images used in the book. Would love to know what anyone thinks if they read it.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing this! Very exciting for you...will definitely make sure I read this one eventually.
The World of Phyllis Haylor and Ballroom Dancing edited by Bryan Allen. I believe I learned of this book in the Ballroom Icons book. I think those interested in ballroom dancing history might find this of interest. I've only read bits and pieces, but really liked the descriptions of many of the dancers and the development of ballroom dancing. A large part of the book is reprints of articles written by Phyllis Haylor for The Dancing Times. piimapoika, if you are reading this, I thought of you because the book does contain a number of references to how dance steps came to be. For example, in the section, "Development of the Left Whisk" she writes "It was Charles Thiebault, that brilliant architect of so many lines in modern Ballroom Dancing - who was teaching with me at the time - who came up with an alternative and I can well remember his suggesting that, taken without rise and fall and with a turn to the left instead of the right, a leftward Whisk action following a basic Whisk "felt rather nice." I too was impressed by the idea and we presented this form of Double Whisk at an Imperial Congress." I love it. It reminds me of other books I've read from this timeperiod...listening to the dancers describe their experimentation of what felt good and natural and fun...creating the dance movements that we dance today...just brings such a nice picture to mind of what I most love about ballroom dance. "felt rather nice" Indeed.
