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The reader is introduced to and guided through the basic steps and techniques of ballet. The beautiful history, development, and famous artists of ballet are also discussed.
Introduces ballet and the training of a dancer, and follows a typical professional dancer from a morning class through rehearsals and preparations for going on stage to an evening performance.
What becomes of ballet dancers when they finally leave the stage, when their last curtain falls? Maja Langsdorff, journalist, writer and a former ballet dancer, interviewed 27 former dancers and recorded their life stories from their first ballet steps to their lives after dance. At the time of their interviews they were between 21 and 62 years old, their careers had ended from three months to 34 years ago. Dancers give a lot, if not everything, in the performances. They live their lives in the limelight. In ballet, profession and calling are united: passion and suffering are often close to each other. For most dancers, their time is up at thirty, thirty-five. They disappear from view. One doesn't hear anything about them anymore; as if they were swallowed up by the earth. This book investigates their fates. These short biographies show what formed them, what moved them, what influenced them. And the portraits leave no doubt, that dancers are special people; even if they no longer dance.
A professional dancer's career, like a professional athlete's, lasts an average of 10 to 15 years. Once the prime years of physical prowess have passed, retirement is inevitable, but dancers still have many years of adult life ahead. The challenge for many is making the transition into a new career. Motivated by her own career transition, author Nancy Upper interviewed former ballet dancers who made successful transitions into new careers after they stopped performing. Part 1 of the book features dancers who remained in ballet-related careers. Part 2 features four individuals who chose careers outside the field of dance. Part 3 focuses on dancers who pursued non-dance careers that help dancers and other performing artists. Appendices include the marketable qualities dancers develop as a result of their training, career transition tips, transition resources, and a graph mapping the transition process.
A professional dancer's career, like a professional athlete's, lasts an average of 10 to 15 years. Once the prime years of physical prowess have passed, retirement is inevitable, but dancers still have many years of adult life ahead. The challenge for many is making the transition into a new career. Motivated by her own career transition, author Nancy Upper interviewed former ballet dancers who made successful transitions into new careers after they stopped performing. Part 1 of the book features dancers who remained in ballet-related careers. Part 2 features four individuals who chose careers outside the field of dance. Part 3 focuses on dancers who pursued non-dance careers that help dancers and other performing artists. Appendices include the marketable qualities dancers develop as a result of their training, career transition tips, transition resources, and a graph mapping the transition process.
This absorbing book is ballet's 'biography' -- a revealing examination of a closed world, its competition and camaraderie, sexual politics, intimacies, pressures and, not least of all, its magic. Ballet companies have endeavoured to hide what is going on backstage lest the reality of highly strung nerves, constant fatigue and pain from injuries tarnish the illusion of ethereal figures and seemingly weightless steps in polished performances. But the audience's perceptions of fairy-tale worlds onstage are far removed from the experiences of the dancers themselves. The author, who trained to be a dancer, has been given an entrée to this private world that few outsiders ever see.Books on ballet...
Suitable for dance teachers and students, as well as for dance professionals, this text covers the basic anatomical and biomechanical principles that apply to optimal performance in dance. Focusing on skeletal and muscular systems, it provides the understanding needed to improve movement and reduce injuries.
Throughout her history, the ballerina has been perceived as the embodiment of beauty and perfection--the feminine ideal. But the reality is another story. From the earliest ballerinas in the 17th century--who often led double lives as concubines--through the poverty of the corps de ballet dancers in the 1800's and the anorexic and bulimic ballerinas of George Balanchine, starvation and exploitation have plagued ballerinas throughout history. Using the stories of great dancers such as Anna Pavlova, Isadora Duncan, Suzanne Farrell, Gelsey Kirkland, Evelyn Hart, Marie Camargo, and Misty Copeland, Deirdre Kelly exposes the true rigors for women in ballet. She rounds her critique with examples of how the world of ballet is slowly evolving for the better. But to ensure that this most graceful of dance forms survives into the future, she says that the time has come to rethink ballet, to position the ballerina at its center and accord her the respect she deserves.
The Everyday Dancer is a new and honest account of the business of dancing from a writer with first hand experience of the profession. Structured around the daily schedule, The Everyday Dancer goes behind the velvet curtain, the gilt and the glamour to uncover the everyday realities of a career in dance. Starting out with the obligatory daily 'class', the book progresses through the repetition of rehearsals, the excitement of creating new work, the nervous tension of the half hour call, the pressures of performance and the anti-climax of curtain down. Through this vivid portrait of a dancer's every day, Deborah Bull reveals the arc of a dancer's life: from the seven-year-old's very first ballet class, through training, to company life, up through the ranks from corps de ballet to principal and then, not thirty years after it all began, to retirement and the inevitable sense of loss that comes with saying goodbye to your childhood dreams.
Why was posture important to the early French dancers? Who developed the five ballet positions? How many pairs of ballet shoes can a dancer wear out in a single performance? Ballet provides a detailed look at the development of ballet dancing from the earliest court dances to the political ballets of choreographers such as Paul Taylor and David Bintley today. The book looks at how the choreography and improvisation differ from other styles of dance, highlighting techniques specific to ballet. It also explores the part played by costumes, make-up and lighting, and offers advice on how to become a ballet dancer.