Too often glossed as a junior partner to his literary comrade Ralph Ellison, Murray’s works of fiction, poetry, biography, social and cultural criticism, and aesthetic theory amount to a formidable body of writing that has staked out new discursive territory in the theorization of African American culture and identity, and, as the contributors to this volume amply testify, has won a devoted following. As Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Bringing together all of the major modern dance techniques, this engaging account is the first of its kind. The discussion starts with the contributions of the pre-moderns, Delsarte, Dalcroze, Duncan, and Denishawn, and concludes with training in the present era. It provides a comparative approach that will enable students to try each technique with sample lessons and to contrast the different philosophies. The author pairs Martha Graham with Doris Humphrey, Katherine Dunham with Lester Horton, José Limón with Erick Hawkins, Alwin Nikolais/Murray Louis with Merce Cunningham. Paul Taylor has his own chapter, leading to the book’s conclusion on how modern dance training is currently approached.
Designed as a tour of the body from head to toe, it includes advice specific to dancers’ well-being, such as body awareness and self-image, diet and eating disorders, whiplash, stress fractures, turn-out, and painful and damaged knees, feet, and toes; and the excellent five critical things to know and five great exercises for each part of the body at the end of each chapter. With a nearly 100% chance of sustaining injury in a lifetime of dance, this book shows how dancers can keep on dancing by knowing how the body functions and recognizing conditions that require a medical professional.
Introduction
1. The Expressionists: François Delsarte, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Isadora Duncan, Denishawn
2. The Originators: Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey
3. The Mavericks: Katherine Dunham, Lester Horton
4. The Next Generation: José Limón, Erick Hawkins
5. The Avant-Garde: Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis, Merce Cunningham
6. Postmodernism: Paul Taylor
7. Post-Judson Training Practices
A major comprehensive account of the philosophical aesthetics of dance—by a philosopher who has devoted much of his professional career to the consideration of dance. Its fundamental consideration is of dance works that are artworks. References to many dances, both ballet and modern, are given throughout, especially as they are represented in dance criticism. The text explores (a) the making of dance, in particular, locating the conceptual role of the author of dances (discussion begins from whether or not two different performances of a dance are of the same dancework); (b) the distinctive role of the dancer; and (c) the understanding and appreciation of dances.
Giddins' writings on music, books, and movies have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, The Atlantic, Grand Street, The Nation, and many other publications. He presently writes columns about music for Jazz Times and about film for the New York Sun. His first book, Riding on a Blue Note, appeared in 1981, and was followed by Rhythm-a-Ning, Faces in the Crowd, and critical biographies of Charlie Parker and Louis Armstrong that he adapted into documentary films for PBS; he won a Peabody award for writing the PBS documentary, John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen. He has been nominated three times for Grammy Awards, and won in 1987 for his liner notes to Sinatra: The Voice.
Fanny Elssler (1810-1884) was one of the most brilliant stars of the Romantic ballet. The rival of equally famous Marie Taglioni, she represented the passionate expression of the dance. Théophile Gautier (poet, dramatist, novelist, art and literary critic) distinguished the two ballerinas by describing Elssler as a pagan dancer and Taglioni as a Christian dancer. Her style found its true expression in her famous Spanish character dance Cachucha. Even more, it was her dramatic genius that conquered the audiences before whom she appeared.