Barbara Walczak and Una Kai
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813032528
- eISBN:
- 9780813046310
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032528.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Widely regarded as the foremost choreographer of contemporary ballet, George Balanchine was, and continues to be, an institution and major inspiration in the world of dance. This book provides a ...
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Widely regarded as the foremost choreographer of contemporary ballet, George Balanchine was, and continues to be, an institution and major inspiration in the world of dance. This book provides a technical explanation of the stylistic approaches that he taught in New York City between 1940 and 1960, as recorded by two prominent dancers who studied with him at that time. It replicates moments in the studio with the influential teacher, describing his instructions and corrections for twenty-four classes. These lessons not only introduce Balanchine's methods for executing steps, but also discuss the organization and development of his classes, shedding light on the aesthetics of his unique and celebrated style of movement.Less
Widely regarded as the foremost choreographer of contemporary ballet, George Balanchine was, and continues to be, an institution and major inspiration in the world of dance. This book provides a technical explanation of the stylistic approaches that he taught in New York City between 1940 and 1960, as recorded by two prominent dancers who studied with him at that time. It replicates moments in the studio with the influential teacher, describing his instructions and corrections for twenty-four classes. These lessons not only introduce Balanchine's methods for executing steps, but also discuss the organization and development of his classes, shedding light on the aesthetics of his unique and celebrated style of movement.
Dean Speer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813034386
- eISBN:
- 9780813046280
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034386.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This book provides a look into the careers and teaching philosophies of eighteen of the world's most respected ballet masters, principals, and artistic directors. The author sat down with prominent ...
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This book provides a look into the careers and teaching philosophies of eighteen of the world's most respected ballet masters, principals, and artistic directors. The author sat down with prominent ballet pedagogues and asked each a standard set of questions, including “What do we mean when we say someone has beautiful technique?” and “How did you become a dancer?” Featuring such artists as Peter Boal (Artistic Director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet) and Bene Arnold (first Ballet Mistress of the San Francisco Ballet), this volume offers insights into the nature of both performance and artistic instruction. The author's approach reveals convergences among these world-class talents, despite their varying pedagogical backgrounds and divisions.Less
This book provides a look into the careers and teaching philosophies of eighteen of the world's most respected ballet masters, principals, and artistic directors. The author sat down with prominent ballet pedagogues and asked each a standard set of questions, including “What do we mean when we say someone has beautiful technique?” and “How did you become a dancer?” Featuring such artists as Peter Boal (Artistic Director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet) and Bene Arnold (first Ballet Mistress of the San Francisco Ballet), this volume offers insights into the nature of both performance and artistic instruction. The author's approach reveals convergences among these world-class talents, despite their varying pedagogical backgrounds and divisions.
Mushirul Hasan
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198063117
- eISBN:
- 9780199080199
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198063117.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
The author witnesses various forms of entertainment while in London, including the theatre and circus. The manner in which plays are acted, and balls and musical parties conducted, in Europe is ...
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The author witnesses various forms of entertainment while in London, including the theatre and circus. The manner in which plays are acted, and balls and musical parties conducted, in Europe is (entirely) different from that of Hindoostan. In India, people send for the singers to their own houses, where they view the entertainments, and spend a large sum of money for one night's amusement. In Europe, a few individuals usually enter into partnership, (or) as it is called in English, a company. In one night, dancers and musicians collect five or six thousand rupees in exchange for entertaining the audience. The author also saw an exhibition near the bazar of the Haymarket of a tall and corpulent female standing more than five cubits.Less
The author witnesses various forms of entertainment while in London, including the theatre and circus. The manner in which plays are acted, and balls and musical parties conducted, in Europe is (entirely) different from that of Hindoostan. In India, people send for the singers to their own houses, where they view the entertainments, and spend a large sum of money for one night's amusement. In Europe, a few individuals usually enter into partnership, (or) as it is called in English, a company. In one night, dancers and musicians collect five or six thousand rupees in exchange for entertaining the audience. The author also saw an exhibition near the bazar of the Haymarket of a tall and corpulent female standing more than five cubits.
John H. Starks
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199232536
- eISBN:
- 9780191716003
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232536.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
A discussion of the evidence that, even before the Byzantine period, there were also female pantomime dancers on the Roman scene. Despite the terminological confusion created by the variety of terms ...
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A discussion of the evidence that, even before the Byzantine period, there were also female pantomime dancers on the Roman scene. Despite the terminological confusion created by the variety of terms used to describe dancers in the ancient sources, certain unarguable instances of references to female pantomime performers may not be explained away. The chapter reviews the evidence from inscriptions, especially at Pompeii, and argues that a crucial piece of epigraphic evidence from Gaul has been overlooked. This gravestone celebrates a teenage girl named Hellas, who had worked as a pantomime dancer in the Julio‐Claudian or slightly later period, and was memorialised as such by her proud father Sotericus. The conclusion that women were also celebrated performers of pantomime has important implications for our understanding of Roman culture.Less
A discussion of the evidence that, even before the Byzantine period, there were also female pantomime dancers on the Roman scene. Despite the terminological confusion created by the variety of terms used to describe dancers in the ancient sources, certain unarguable instances of references to female pantomime performers may not be explained away. The chapter reviews the evidence from inscriptions, especially at Pompeii, and argues that a crucial piece of epigraphic evidence from Gaul has been overlooked. This gravestone celebrates a teenage girl named Hellas, who had worked as a pantomime dancer in the Julio‐Claudian or slightly later period, and was memorialised as such by her proud father Sotericus. The conclusion that women were also celebrated performers of pantomime has important implications for our understanding of Roman culture.
Dean Speer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813034386
- eISBN:
- 9780813046280
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034386.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Roni Mahler, who has been a principal with the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., and a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre. She is ...
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This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Roni Mahler, who has been a principal with the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., and a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre. She is on the faculty of the Juilliard School, and defines technique as the vehicle which moves you around the stage so that you can communicate with the audience. Mahler also says that a true teacher knows how to guide every different body—to stand up, not fall down—and to make people care about what you are doing onstage.Less
This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Roni Mahler, who has been a principal with the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., and a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre. She is on the faculty of the Juilliard School, and defines technique as the vehicle which moves you around the stage so that you can communicate with the audience. Mahler also says that a true teacher knows how to guide every different body—to stand up, not fall down—and to make people care about what you are doing onstage.
Barbara Walczak and Una Kai
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813032528
- eISBN:
- 9780813046310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032528.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter presents some suggestions for ballet teachers. Teachers who depend on students attending their classes for their livelihood, or who have a following of less than totally dedicated ...
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This chapter presents some suggestions for ballet teachers. Teachers who depend on students attending their classes for their livelihood, or who have a following of less than totally dedicated serious advanced dancers, should not give classes as Balanchine gave them. They are more for professionals who want to discover the basic purity of each movement and step. They are hard on the body. One must approach them as explorations of the numerous forms of a given theme. What Balanchine's steps give the dancer is an awareness of exactly how a movement should be done musically and physically. Consequently, these combinations are of great value to teachers and to dancers who may be performing Balanchine's ballets.Less
This chapter presents some suggestions for ballet teachers. Teachers who depend on students attending their classes for their livelihood, or who have a following of less than totally dedicated serious advanced dancers, should not give classes as Balanchine gave them. They are more for professionals who want to discover the basic purity of each movement and step. They are hard on the body. One must approach them as explorations of the numerous forms of a given theme. What Balanchine's steps give the dancer is an awareness of exactly how a movement should be done musically and physically. Consequently, these combinations are of great value to teachers and to dancers who may be performing Balanchine's ballets.
Barbara Walczak and Una Kai
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813032528
- eISBN:
- 9780813046310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032528.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter describes the experiences of the author as a dancer in the early 1950s. Specifically, she gives an account of an average workday by describing a day on her company's first tour in Europe ...
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This chapter describes the experiences of the author as a dancer in the early 1950s. Specifically, she gives an account of an average workday by describing a day on her company's first tour in Europe in 1952, as well as an idea of what the logistics of their lives were like, as members of a poor company.Less
This chapter describes the experiences of the author as a dancer in the early 1950s. Specifically, she gives an account of an average workday by describing a day on her company's first tour in Europe in 1952, as well as an idea of what the logistics of their lives were like, as members of a poor company.
Rory Foster
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813034591
- eISBN:
- 9780813046297
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034591.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. He says that there are intrinsic characteristics or qualities in his training, both in technique and performance, which go far beyond ...
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This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. He says that there are intrinsic characteristics or qualities in his training, both in technique and performance, which go far beyond merely training the body and mind to dance. Training in ballet prepares dancers for performing careers, albeit relatively short ones, and also prepares them for life. It offers them what entrepreneurs possess, and what corporate, educational, research, and nonprofit enterprises seek in future associates and executives.Less
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. He says that there are intrinsic characteristics or qualities in his training, both in technique and performance, which go far beyond merely training the body and mind to dance. Training in ballet prepares dancers for performing careers, albeit relatively short ones, and also prepares them for life. It offers them what entrepreneurs possess, and what corporate, educational, research, and nonprofit enterprises seek in future associates and executives.
Barbara Walczak and Una Kai
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813032528
- eISBN:
- 9780813046310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032528.003.0015
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter describes the author's experiences as a student at the School of American Ballet when Balanchine needed dancers to form his company. In order to shape his dancers to perform his ...
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This chapter describes the author's experiences as a student at the School of American Ballet when Balanchine needed dancers to form his company. In order to shape his dancers to perform his choreography in the way he desired, Balanchine started to train them in his style. He gave two-hour classes that were designed to help his dancers achieve “perfection,” as the advanced classes at the Kirov school were called. Balanchine's intention was to speed up our development because he needed an instant company.Less
This chapter describes the author's experiences as a student at the School of American Ballet when Balanchine needed dancers to form his company. In order to shape his dancers to perform his choreography in the way he desired, Balanchine started to train them in his style. He gave two-hour classes that were designed to help his dancers achieve “perfection,” as the advanced classes at the Kirov school were called. Balanchine's intention was to speed up our development because he needed an instant company.
Barbara Walczak and Una Kai
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813032528
- eISBN:
- 9780813046310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032528.003.0029
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the authors. A thread runs through Balanchine's teaching that pertains not only to the innovations he made in technique, but also to musicality and ...
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This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the authors. A thread runs through Balanchine's teaching that pertains not only to the innovations he made in technique, but also to musicality and timing. The dancer was another musician. But instead of creating sound, the dancer became visible sound. Each and every dancer is just as important as each and every musician in creating the magic of sound and movement. What we take for granted as part of our technique did not exist before the 1950s. Before Balanchine's time, the glissade did not end with both feet simultaneously. The jeté and assemblé with legs held together out to the side, the preparations for steps, and the speed and breadth of movement were what Balanchine added to classical ballet. The intricate partnering in pas de deux and the use of the vibrato that underlies the melody are part of Balanchine's legacy to us.Less
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the authors. A thread runs through Balanchine's teaching that pertains not only to the innovations he made in technique, but also to musicality and timing. The dancer was another musician. But instead of creating sound, the dancer became visible sound. Each and every dancer is just as important as each and every musician in creating the magic of sound and movement. What we take for granted as part of our technique did not exist before the 1950s. Before Balanchine's time, the glissade did not end with both feet simultaneously. The jeté and assemblé with legs held together out to the side, the preparations for steps, and the speed and breadth of movement were what Balanchine added to classical ballet. The intricate partnering in pas de deux and the use of the vibrato that underlies the melody are part of Balanchine's legacy to us.
Rory Foster
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813034591
- eISBN:
- 9780813046297
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034591.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the author's teaching career. It then identifies several flaws that he has observed in the training progression of dancers and the manner ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the author's teaching career. It then identifies several flaws that he has observed in the training progression of dancers and the manner in which teachers instruct. The pedagogical skills covered in this book are the tools used to help teachers plan and deliver an effective ballet class. The book does not delve deeply into the “correct way” to teach technique, as this will certainly cause disagreement among those who come from different training backgrounds. In this area concerning technique, it touches upon only those points that are considered universally acknowledged by well-trained teachers from all methods.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the author's teaching career. It then identifies several flaws that he has observed in the training progression of dancers and the manner in which teachers instruct. The pedagogical skills covered in this book are the tools used to help teachers plan and deliver an effective ballet class. The book does not delve deeply into the “correct way” to teach technique, as this will certainly cause disagreement among those who come from different training backgrounds. In this area concerning technique, it touches upon only those points that are considered universally acknowledged by well-trained teachers from all methods.
Dean Speer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813034386
- eISBN:
- 9780813046280
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034386.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Damara Bennett, Director of the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. Bennett, who was formerly with San Francisco Ballet, defines technique as ...
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This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Damara Bennett, Director of the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. Bennett, who was formerly with San Francisco Ballet, defines technique as what you need in order to express the art form, whether for an abstract or a story ballet. It is also how the steps relate to other steps—what steps are connector steps. Technique is also support; it is your partner.Less
This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Damara Bennett, Director of the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. Bennett, who was formerly with San Francisco Ballet, defines technique as what you need in order to express the art form, whether for an abstract or a story ballet. It is also how the steps relate to other steps—what steps are connector steps. Technique is also support; it is your partner.
Alessandra Zanobi
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199232536
- eISBN:
- 9780191716003
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232536.003.0012
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
In the development of the study of the affinity between parts of Senecan tragedy and what we know about the texts (libretti) danced in pantomime, the author of this chapter (a trained dancer herself) ...
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In the development of the study of the affinity between parts of Senecan tragedy and what we know about the texts (libretti) danced in pantomime, the author of this chapter (a trained dancer herself) looks at three features in the dramas that have often been criticised: their loose dramatic structure, running commentaries on another participant's actions, and lengthy narrative set‐pieces. In close readings of key texts from several plays, including Troades, Agamemnon and Hercules Furens, the chapter shows how apparently intractable problems related to the possibility of staging the plays disappear entirely if pantomimic performances formed part of the entertainment; moreover, the very verse construction, rhythm, and style display features that would offer great potential for choreographic realization by a dancer. This has important implications for our understanding of Seneca's dramaturgy.Less
In the development of the study of the affinity between parts of Senecan tragedy and what we know about the texts (libretti) danced in pantomime, the author of this chapter (a trained dancer herself) looks at three features in the dramas that have often been criticised: their loose dramatic structure, running commentaries on another participant's actions, and lengthy narrative set‐pieces. In close readings of key texts from several plays, including Troades, Agamemnon and Hercules Furens, the chapter shows how apparently intractable problems related to the possibility of staging the plays disappear entirely if pantomimic performances formed part of the entertainment; moreover, the very verse construction, rhythm, and style display features that would offer great potential for choreographic realization by a dancer. This has important implications for our understanding of Seneca's dramaturgy.
Constance Valis Hill
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195390827
- eISBN:
- 9780199863563
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390827.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Dance
This chapter begins with the tap challenge between the Nicholas Brothers in the 1940 musical Down Argentine Way. This three-and-a-half minute jazz-tap routine captured the spirit, tempo, and wildly ...
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This chapter begins with the tap challenge between the Nicholas Brothers in the 1940 musical Down Argentine Way. This three-and-a-half minute jazz-tap routine captured the spirit, tempo, and wildly infectious energy of swing. As dance music, swing had a flowing, streamlined 4/4 beat, which made for a smooth sound. For jazz tap dancers, the steady beat was the base on which one could multiply time and syncopate smooth propulsions, which gave the impression of the beat speeding ahead. The chapter looks at the inflections of swing in the tap dancing of, among others, the Condos Brothers, Ann Miller, Mable Lee, and Eleanor Powell; and at its varying degrees of influence on such Irish American tap dancers as James Cagney, Ray Bolger, George Murphy, Donald O’Connor, and Gene Kelly, whose heritage in Irish-stepping styles had been integrated into a modern American style of jazz dancing.Less
This chapter begins with the tap challenge between the Nicholas Brothers in the 1940 musical Down Argentine Way. This three-and-a-half minute jazz-tap routine captured the spirit, tempo, and wildly infectious energy of swing. As dance music, swing had a flowing, streamlined 4/4 beat, which made for a smooth sound. For jazz tap dancers, the steady beat was the base on which one could multiply time and syncopate smooth propulsions, which gave the impression of the beat speeding ahead. The chapter looks at the inflections of swing in the tap dancing of, among others, the Condos Brothers, Ann Miller, Mable Lee, and Eleanor Powell; and at its varying degrees of influence on such Irish American tap dancers as James Cagney, Ray Bolger, George Murphy, Donald O’Connor, and Gene Kelly, whose heritage in Irish-stepping styles had been integrated into a modern American style of jazz dancing.
Stavros Stavrou Karayanni
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195386691
- eISBN:
- 9780199863600
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386691.003.011
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Stavros Stavrou Karayanni challenges the Orientalist notion that belly dance was historically a female performance genre through an investigation of the 19th‐century male dancers of Cairo. Analysis ...
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Stavros Stavrou Karayanni challenges the Orientalist notion that belly dance was historically a female performance genre through an investigation of the 19th‐century male dancers of Cairo. Analysis reveals the breathless hypocrisy of travelers who had an “imperial gaze” (Gustave Flaubert, Vivant Denon, Gerard de Nerval) and who lingered over the performances of highly popular male belly dance performances in 19th‐century Egypt, at the same time pronouncing them obscene and indecent. Karayanni recuperates the art of these dancing bodies, which had been erased from history by scandalized colonial writers and postcolonial subalterns. Also considered are historical male dancers, as well as their contemporary counterparts whose choreographies continue to negotiate gender, sexuality, and imperial standards of masculinity.Less
Stavros Stavrou Karayanni challenges the Orientalist notion that belly dance was historically a female performance genre through an investigation of the 19th‐century male dancers of Cairo. Analysis reveals the breathless hypocrisy of travelers who had an “imperial gaze” (Gustave Flaubert, Vivant Denon, Gerard de Nerval) and who lingered over the performances of highly popular male belly dance performances in 19th‐century Egypt, at the same time pronouncing them obscene and indecent. Karayanni recuperates the art of these dancing bodies, which had been erased from history by scandalized colonial writers and postcolonial subalterns. Also considered are historical male dancers, as well as their contemporary counterparts whose choreographies continue to negotiate gender, sexuality, and imperial standards of masculinity.
Robert Wyatt and John Andrew Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195327113
- eISBN:
- 9780199851249
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327113.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter presents Frances Gershwin Godowski's opinion about her brother George Gershwin. It states that Gershwin had a reputation as a ladies' man, however, he was always somewhat guarded about ...
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This chapter presents Frances Gershwin Godowski's opinion about her brother George Gershwin. It states that Gershwin had a reputation as a ladies' man, however, he was always somewhat guarded about more personal details. Despite his great success and peer pressure, Gershwin never married and was to some degree self-conscious or defensive about most aspects of his life and work. It adds that Gershwin was a good painter and dancer.Less
This chapter presents Frances Gershwin Godowski's opinion about her brother George Gershwin. It states that Gershwin had a reputation as a ladies' man, however, he was always somewhat guarded about more personal details. Despite his great success and peer pressure, Gershwin never married and was to some degree self-conscious or defensive about most aspects of his life and work. It adds that Gershwin was a good painter and dancer.
Julia A. Ericksen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814722664
- eISBN:
- 9780814722855
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814722664.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
Rumba music starts and a floor full of dancers alternate clinging to one another and turning away. Rumba is an erotic dance, and the mood is hot and heavy; the women bend and hyperextend their legs ...
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Rumba music starts and a floor full of dancers alternate clinging to one another and turning away. Rumba is an erotic dance, and the mood is hot and heavy; the women bend and hyperextend their legs as they twist and turn around their partners. Amateur and professional ballroom dancers alike compete in a highly gendered display of intimacy, romance and sexual passion. This book takes the reader onto the competition floor of ballroom dancing and into the lights and the glamour of a world of tanned bodies and glittering attire, exploring the allure of this hyper-competitive, difficult, and often expensive activity. In a vivid ethnography accompanied by beautiful photographs of all levels of dancers, from the world's top competitors to social dancers, the book examines the ways emotional labor is used to create intimacy between professional partners and between professionals and their students, illustrating how dancers purchase intimacy. It shows that, while at first glance, ballroom presents a highly gendered face with men leading and women following, dancing also transgresses gender.Less
Rumba music starts and a floor full of dancers alternate clinging to one another and turning away. Rumba is an erotic dance, and the mood is hot and heavy; the women bend and hyperextend their legs as they twist and turn around their partners. Amateur and professional ballroom dancers alike compete in a highly gendered display of intimacy, romance and sexual passion. This book takes the reader onto the competition floor of ballroom dancing and into the lights and the glamour of a world of tanned bodies and glittering attire, exploring the allure of this hyper-competitive, difficult, and often expensive activity. In a vivid ethnography accompanied by beautiful photographs of all levels of dancers, from the world's top competitors to social dancers, the book examines the ways emotional labor is used to create intimacy between professional partners and between professionals and their students, illustrating how dancers purchase intimacy. It shows that, while at first glance, ballroom presents a highly gendered face with men leading and women following, dancing also transgresses gender.
SanSan Kwan
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199921515
- eISBN:
- 9780199980390
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199921515.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Kinesthetic City takes as its premise the idea that moving bodies, place, history, and identity are mutually productive. Analyzing both everyday movement and contemporary concert dance ...
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Kinesthetic City takes as its premise the idea that moving bodies, place, history, and identity are mutually productive. Analyzing both everyday movement and contemporary concert dance in five Chinese urban sites – Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, New York's Chinatown, and the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles – this book explores transnational formations of Chineseness. Not definable by national boundaries, biological essences, central political systems, or even shared cultural norms, Chineseness is a mobile yet abiding idea. This book examines the ways that Chineseness is, at key historical moments, highly contested in each of these cities while paradoxically sustained as a collective consciousness across all of them. It argues that global communities can be studied through an investigation of dance and everyday movement practices as they are situated in particular places and times. This project claims choreography not only as an object of study, however. That is, it relies not merely upon movement analyses of concert dance in these Chinese cities, but also upon kinesthesia — one dancer-scholar's somatic sensation of movement — as a way to analyze these urban spaces. Choreography serves as both subject and method in this book. Kinesthetic City expands the fields of dance studies and Asian/Asian American studies by placing personal kinesthetic experience of city space in dialogue with a study of aesthetic movement practices in order to theorize the ways in which choreography, broadly conceived, is productively intertwined with processes of space, time, and community formation in a globalized era.Less
Kinesthetic City takes as its premise the idea that moving bodies, place, history, and identity are mutually productive. Analyzing both everyday movement and contemporary concert dance in five Chinese urban sites – Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, New York's Chinatown, and the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles – this book explores transnational formations of Chineseness. Not definable by national boundaries, biological essences, central political systems, or even shared cultural norms, Chineseness is a mobile yet abiding idea. This book examines the ways that Chineseness is, at key historical moments, highly contested in each of these cities while paradoxically sustained as a collective consciousness across all of them. It argues that global communities can be studied through an investigation of dance and everyday movement practices as they are situated in particular places and times. This project claims choreography not only as an object of study, however. That is, it relies not merely upon movement analyses of concert dance in these Chinese cities, but also upon kinesthesia — one dancer-scholar's somatic sensation of movement — as a way to analyze these urban spaces. Choreography serves as both subject and method in this book. Kinesthetic City expands the fields of dance studies and Asian/Asian American studies by placing personal kinesthetic experience of city space in dialogue with a study of aesthetic movement practices in order to theorize the ways in which choreography, broadly conceived, is productively intertwined with processes of space, time, and community formation in a globalized era.
Christopher B. Balme
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184447
- eISBN:
- 9780191674266
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184447.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama
This chapter deals primarily with dance and movement. It focuses on the different aspects of the kinetic body, the body in motion, particularly the textual aspects of dance. The kinetic art of ...
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This chapter deals primarily with dance and movement. It focuses on the different aspects of the kinetic body, the body in motion, particularly the textual aspects of dance. The kinetic art of syncretic theatre is by no means exclusively danced art. There are numerous other forms of body language and kinetic expression which are culturally coded and incorporated into theatrical texts. This chapter analyses other forms of kinetic communication such as gesture and sign language and discusses the crucial importance of non-verbal performance devices. Examples are drawn from South African township theatre, from Aboriginal drama, from a play by Asif Currimbhoy, The Dumb Dancer, and from Wole Soyinka's play Death and the King's Horseman.Less
This chapter deals primarily with dance and movement. It focuses on the different aspects of the kinetic body, the body in motion, particularly the textual aspects of dance. The kinetic art of syncretic theatre is by no means exclusively danced art. There are numerous other forms of body language and kinetic expression which are culturally coded and incorporated into theatrical texts. This chapter analyses other forms of kinetic communication such as gesture and sign language and discusses the crucial importance of non-verbal performance devices. Examples are drawn from South African township theatre, from Aboriginal drama, from a play by Asif Currimbhoy, The Dumb Dancer, and from Wole Soyinka's play Death and the King's Horseman.
Sara E. Lampert
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780252043352
- eISBN:
- 9780252052231
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043352.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
Star actresses and dancers were among the most publicly visible, celebrated, and often polarizing female public figures in the early United States. This book examines the careers and celebrity of the ...
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Star actresses and dancers were among the most publicly visible, celebrated, and often polarizing female public figures in the early United States. This book examines the careers and celebrity of the women and girls from Europe and America whose fame drove the growth and transformation of theater between 1790 and 1850 from the Atlantic seaboard to the trans-Appalachian West. Starring women introduced new repertoire—melodramas, breeches roles, dance pantomime and ballet—that catalyzed debates about social ownership of American culture, regional and national identity, and women’s place in public life. This book transforms existing understandings of early U.S. theater and culture by examining a broad cohort of understudied figures and argues that women stars were vital to the development of transatlantic and U.S. entertainment, celebrity culture, and gender ideology. Most significantly, starring women lived and performed the tensions and contradictions of changing nineteenth-century gender roles. As this book demonstrates, even while they achieved unprecedented levels of wealth and prominence through the “starring system,” the patriarchal family structures that governed women’s lives and careers conditioned their participation in the industry. The celebrity culture that expanded from the 1820s demanded that starring women conform to new standards of sentimental domestic femininity, even as the structural realities of their lives defied such standards. Starring women were exceptional figures who mapped the margins of a narrowing white middle-class domestic ideal.Less
Star actresses and dancers were among the most publicly visible, celebrated, and often polarizing female public figures in the early United States. This book examines the careers and celebrity of the women and girls from Europe and America whose fame drove the growth and transformation of theater between 1790 and 1850 from the Atlantic seaboard to the trans-Appalachian West. Starring women introduced new repertoire—melodramas, breeches roles, dance pantomime and ballet—that catalyzed debates about social ownership of American culture, regional and national identity, and women’s place in public life. This book transforms existing understandings of early U.S. theater and culture by examining a broad cohort of understudied figures and argues that women stars were vital to the development of transatlantic and U.S. entertainment, celebrity culture, and gender ideology. Most significantly, starring women lived and performed the tensions and contradictions of changing nineteenth-century gender roles. As this book demonstrates, even while they achieved unprecedented levels of wealth and prominence through the “starring system,” the patriarchal family structures that governed women’s lives and careers conditioned their participation in the industry. The celebrity culture that expanded from the 1820s demanded that starring women conform to new standards of sentimental domestic femininity, even as the structural realities of their lives defied such standards. Starring women were exceptional figures who mapped the margins of a narrowing white middle-class domestic ideal.
