Showing titles in Dance

When Lauren Kessler was 12, her ballet instructor crushed not just her dreams of being a ballerina but also her youthful self-assurance. Now, many decades and three children later, Kessler embarks on a journey to join a professional company to perform in The Nutcracker. Raising the Barre is more than just one woman's story; it is a story about shaking things up, taking risks, and ignoring good sense and forgetting how old you are and how you're "supposed" to act.

Well-known personalities pick their favourite entertainers for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives One of the BBC's most acclaimed programmes, Great Lives has been a regular Radio 4 fixture for 20 years, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. Every week, a...

Arguably the greatest choreographer who ever lived, George Balanchine was one of the cultural titans of the twentieth century—the New York Times called him "the Shakespeare of dancing." His radical approach to choreography—and life—reinvented the art of ballet and made him a legend. Written with enormous style and artistry, and based on more than one hundred interviews and research in archives across Russia, Europe, and the Americas, Mr. B carries us through Balanchine's tumultuous and high-pitched life story and into the making of his extraordinary dances.

A prodigy from his youth in Russia, Vaslav Nijinsky came to international fame as a principal dancer in Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. In December 1917, Nijinsky—by then the most famous male dancer in the Western world—moved into a Swiss villa with his wife and three-year-old daughter and began to go mad. When psychosis struck, he imagined himself as married to God. Although he lived another 30 years, he never regained his sanity.

Renowned music historian Simon Morrison reveals the ballet as a crucible of art and politics, beginning with the disreputable inception of the theater in 1776 and proceeding through the era of imperial rule, the chaos of revolution, the oppressive Soviet years, and the recent $680 million renovation project. Drawing on exclusive archival research, Morrison creates a richly detailed tableau of the centuries-long war between world-class art and life-threatening politics that has defined this storied institution.

The inspiring true story of Loïe Fuller, a radical 19th-century art nouveau icon who turned artificial light into performance art and became the incandescent inventor of modern dance, is revealed in this transportive and hypnotic historical narrative.

'We come for the glitter, but instead we get the grit, in stories told with insight, tenderness and joy.' - Russell T Davies With a foreword by Steph McGovern 'I never thought I'd write a memoir. I never thought I'd do a lot of the things I have done in my thirty-four years, but life has a...

An empowerment manifesto for creatives, misfits, innovators, and disruptors from the star of So You Think You Can Dance and creator of Broadway's Finding Neverland A Unicorn in a World of Donkeys offers a playbook for living a creative and authentic life. Using her own story as a launching spot...

Cheryl Burke has been dancing since the age of four and competing since she was 13 years old. Over several exciting seasons, she has captivated Dancing with the Stars audiences with her incredible dance performances, Emmy-nominated choreography, high energy, and bright smile. In Dancing Lessons, she takes you from her childhood years into the world of competitive ballroom dancing and on to the hit TV show.

On an extravagant evening in May 100 years ago, the scandalous premiere of The Rite of Spring rocked the epicenter of culture and fashion - Paris - and sent aftershocks across the world. Not bad for a ballet! But this was no traditional scamper in tulle and pink toe-shoes, but a bold provocation by a trinity of avant-garde genius: composer Igor Stravinsky, choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky (the first male god of dance), and impresario Serge Diaghilev, founder of the Ballet Russes.

Toni Bentley, a dancer for George Balanchine, the greatest ballet maker of the 20th century, tells the story of Serenade, his iconic masterpiece, and what it was like to dance—and live—in his world at New York City Ballet during its legendary era. "Reading Bentley's Serenade made me feel...

Serge Diaghilev, the Russian impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, is often said to have invented modern ballet. An art critic and connoisseur, Diaghilev had no training in dance or choreography, but he had a dream of bringing Russian art, music, design, and expression to the West and a mission to drive a cultural and artistic revolution.

Performance-studies scholar and acclaimed burlesque artist Lynn Sally offers an inside look at the history, culture, and philosophy of New York’s neo-burlesque scene. Revealing how 21st-century neo-burlesque is in constant dialogue with the classic burlesque of the 19th and 20th centuries, she considers how today’s performers use camp to comment on preconceived notions of femininity. She also explores how the striptease performer directs the audience’s gaze, putting on layers of meaning while taking off layers of clothing.

If you want to learn how to dance, improve your choreography skills, and become a better performer, then check out HowExpert Guide to Dance and Choreography. This audiobook goes into detail about where to start as a beginner dancer, what you need to know going into dance, and step-by-step guides to help you become a better dancer. For those also interested in choreography, this audiobook shares some tips on how to choreograph for dance and create a great performance.

Learn how to become a professional burlesque dancer with clear, detailed steps illustrated by real-life examples of famous performers from the 20th century and current stars, and benefit from a former performer’s insight.

The Big Secret Book is an invaluable guide on the subject of creativity, no matter the preferred artistic discipline. Written by Denise Clarke, director of One Yellow Rabbit Summer Lab Intensive, the book outlines methods and methodologies of the Lab that have inspired writers, dancers, musicians, as well as performance theatre artists.

A 2023 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in Nonfiction An Electric Literature “Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Book of 2022” Selection A love letter to the legendary Black and Latinx LGBTQ underground subculture, uncovering its abundant legacy and influence in popular culture. What is Ballroom? Not a...

The story begins in 1970. The day after Jimi Hendrix's death...dairy farmer Michael Eavis invites revellers to his field in Somerset to attend a 'Pop, Folk & Blues' festival. Tickets are £1 each, enticing more than a thousand customers with the promise of music, dance, poetry, theatre, lights and spontaneous entertainment - as well as free milk from his own Worthy Farm cows. Fast forward through five tumultuous decades, and the Eavises' vision now encompasses a gigantic 'city in the fields', with a total annual population nearing a quarter of a million.

The Anatomy of Art reconnects you with the creative current already moving through you. A choose-your-own-adventure for performing artists, it offers 1000+ questions, frameworks, and field-tested scores that reveal options, deepen rigor, and help you trust yourself. Twelve elements—Time, Space, Relationship, Meaning, Environment, Process, Facts, Faith, Communication, Material, Context & Culture, and Priorities—create a working map for practice and performance.

Latin music fans, from lovers of Bad Bunny to devotees of old-school Bachata and Reggaeton, will love Muévelo, a compelling look at the impact of Latin music in our lives, culture, and history. Podcast hosts of Radio Menea, Miriam Zoila Pérez (Pérez) and Verónica Bayetti Flores (Vero)...