A pathbreaking social history that takes seriously the experiences of the countless everyday people who pursued recreational ballet, Ballet Class: An American History explores the growth of this now quintessential extracurricular activity as it became an integral part of American childhood across borders of gender, class, race, and sexuality.
The Nutcracker is the most popular ballet in the world, adopted and adapted by hundreds of communities across the United States and Canada every Christmas season. In this entertainingly informative book, Jennifer Fisher offers new insights into the Nutcracker phenomenon, examining it as a dance scholar and critic, a former participant, an observer of popular culture, and an interviewer of those who dance, present, and watch the beloved ballet. Fisher traces The Nutcracker’s history from its St. Petersburg premiere in 1892 through its emigration to North America in the mid-twentieth century to the many productions of recent years. She notes that after it was choreographed by another Russian immigrant to the New World, George Balanchine, the ballet began to thrive and variegate: Hawaiians added hula, Canadians added hockey, Mark Morris set it in the swinging sixties, and Donald Byrd placed it in Harlem. The dance world underestimates The Nutcracker at its peril, Fisher suggests, because the ballet is one of its most powerfully resonant traditions. After starting life as a Russian ballet based on a German tale about a little girl’s imagination, The Nutcracker has become a way for Americans to tell a story about their communal values and themselves.
'I was fascinated, moved and entertained by every page. This is the kind of book the world needs right now' DONAL RYAN _______________ 'My dictionary's first two definitions of 'comrade' are: A close companion. An intimate associate or friend. The third one is: A fellow soldier. My friends have been all those things to me.' In this stunning essay collection, award-winning journalist Rosita Boland explores the many friendships that have shaped her life. Surprising and beautiful, she writes about the imaginary friends of early childhood, books that have provided companionship and joy, kindred spirits met while travelling, the friend she hoped might become something more, and also the friendships that become lost over time. Life-affirming, affecting and wise, Comrades is a powerful exploration of what it is to live, to connect, and to be human in this world. _______________ 'An absorbing journey along life's tracks and trails.' THE SUNDAY TIMES IRELAND 'A moving, beautiful and deeply felt meditation on friendship, loyalty and connectedness in a disconnected world' HILARY FANNIN
This exciting new and original collection locates dance within the spectrum of urban life in late modernity, through a range of theoretical perspectives. It highlights a diversity of dance forms and styles that can be witnessed in and around contemporary urban spaces: from dance halls to raves and the club striptease; from set dancing to ballroom dancing, to hip hop and swing, and to ice dance shows; from the ballet class, to fitness aerobics; and 'art' dance which situates itself in a dynamic relation to the city.
Family secrets are locked away at the intimidating Virginia estate of a prima ballerina in this suspenseful tale from a New York Times–bestselling author. Susan Prentice is a young nurse at a crossroads. She’s broken off an engagement, the father who raised her has just died, and now she’s leaving the western shores behind for a trip to her family’s home on Virginia’s Northern Neck—where she saw her mother fall to her death twenty-five years ago. There, Susan’s grandmother, former ballet diva Alexandrina “Alex” Vargas Montoro, proves a formidable sentinel for the family’s mysterious history. At first welcomed by her long-estranged relatives, spied on by suspicious neighbors, and drawn to Peter, Alex’s handsome young doctor, Susan has nothing but questions. And for every answer, there’s a warning—and the fear that she has only Peter to trust in. But even the doctor’s past is shaded with murder. Soon Susan will discover that she alone holds the key to her mother’s suspicious death, hidden away in her shattered memories. And someone intimately close to her is prepared to bury the truth forever. The Ebony Swan is a “carefully crafted novel of psychological suspense by . . . [a] Mystery Writers of America Grand Master” (Publishers Weekly). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Phyllis A. Whitney including rare images from the author’s estate.