Product Description

Whether as performers or spectators, more people enjoy dance today than ever before. Its extraordinary range extends from classical ballet and baroque court spectacles to avant-garde modern dance, tap and world dance. Everyone with an interest in dance will have felt the need for a guide to the art's rich history and complex present state. Susan Au's lucid text covers the whole subject, vividly describing the great performers and performances of the past as well as exploring in detail the dance world of today. A generous selection of illustrations completes the picture, taking the reader from the palaces of the Medici to the lofts of Manhattan, from the dancing of Louis XIV to the experimental choreography of Twyla Tharp and Pina Bausch. A new final chapter documents the work of the chief dancers and choreographers from the 1980s to the present, covering offshoots of modern dance such as Tanztheater and Butoh, and recent developments in performance art and sitespecific choreography. The author discusses the upsurge in the popularity of dances of the past, among them ballroom dancing and the Argentine tango, and notes the revival of tap dancing as well as the successful transition of Irish step dancing to the theatre. In addition, she records the uses dance and dancers have made of recent technological advances, including cinedance and videodance, CD-ROMs, and the Internet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30497 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Susan Au is a cataloguer of films and videotapes in the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library. She was senior researcher for Choreography by George Balanchine: A Catalogue of Works and is a contributor to the International Encyclopaedia of Dance and the New Grove Dictionary of Music in the United States.

Customer Reviews

Practical and Useful
This has to be one of the most necessary books about dance history for all readers. It's great for the layperson who enjoys watching dance, or occasional participation. For students it is an excellent place to start background research.

Aside from anything else it is interesting to see how many different styles the word "ballet" has covered over the years.

Besides looking back to the birth of ballet at the French court, it explains in a straightforward way the proliferation of dance styles in the West over the past century and a half. Historically, of course, there is not that much documentary evidence about alternatives to ballet, or of ballet variations prior to that.

I think perhaps a greater use and explanation of technical terms might have added more value. It presents the linear development of style in a clear way and introduces the reader to the significant dancers and choreographers without too much incidental detail.

The final chapter, added in the latest edition (2002), is a bit of a game of catch-up. It doesn't evaluate or really trace development so much as number and name the unfolding variety of Modern Dance and significant choreographers. A little more historical perspective is necessary to look at the past fifteen years with a critical aspect.

It is a book to be recommended for anyone with a burgeoning interest in dance.