Modern Ballroom Dancing, first published in 1944 and here reprinted for the first time, is the most detailed analysis of ballroom technique ever. In nearly 600 pages of text and 310 foot-pattern diagrams, Henry Jacques codifies the major ballroom dance steps of the 1930s and 40s - the Waltz, Quickstep, Foxtrot and Tango - with levels from the absolute beginner to the professional teacher, and covering both basic steps and standardised variations. Jacques was one of the most famous and accomplished ballroom dancers of the 1930s: three times undefeated British Professional Ballroom Champion, and Fellow, Examiner, and Member of the Executive Council of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.

Modern Ballroom Dancing

Arts & Photography

Jacques, Henry

Performing Arts

The Noverre Press

When this book was first published, in 1936, Tap Dancing as an art form was in its infancy, particularly in the British Isles. Several years earlier the author, Zelia Raye, had visited the USA to acquire at first hand the very latest steps and to keep her pupils acquainted with the general trends of the dance. Back in the UK, she put her newly acquired knowledge to use in forming a basic Tap teaching method, which was soon to be adopted by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. Her book thus forms a valuable and authentic record of Anglo-American Tap technique as it was widely taught in the 1930s.

American Tap Dancing

Humor & Entertainment

Raye, Zelia

Humor

A facsimile of August Bournonville's original printed Danish libretto of his most famous ballet, preceded by a full English translation with an introduction by Bent Schonberg.

La Sylphide - A Ballet Libretto of 1836

BOURNONVILLE, August

The New Opera Glass, or Opera as She Is Wrote

Charley, Fr

Music

Thoinot Arbeau, Canon of Langres, was born at Dijon in 1519. He belonged to that honourable line of scholarly churchmen in the Roman tradition who combined spiritual with wordly wisdom to the advantage of both. His family was an old and distinguished one in the region, and the name by which he is best known is an anagram of Jehan Tabourot, his baptismal and family names. Orchesography, first published in Langres in 1588, is the most detailed and authentic record of fifteenth and sixteenth century dances that has come down to us. It deals with what we should call today the ballroom dances of the period, considered by both Arbeau and his pupil, Capriol, to be an essential part of the education of every well-bred young man. But Arbeau was no ordinary dancing master, compiling a, manual for his fashionable patrons, and his interest in the art went far beyond the confines of its aspect as a passport to social success. Ancient legend and contemporary geography alike are gleaned in the exposition of his topic and Arbeau has the true Frenchman's attachment to the soil, which colours his perception of the rustic disporting himself in country dances with his wench. He continually stresses the valuable function of dancing in the life of the community, ranging, so he says, from a spur to action in battle to a precautionary measure prior to the selection of a husband or wife. Arbeau's Orchesography is without literary pretensions. Had he foreseen its publication he would almost certainly have given it a final polish. But, for all its simplicity, it is far from being a work hastily conceived, and it has the cardinal virtue that it achieves precisely what it sets out to do. No pains were spared to make the directions detailed and practical and it abounds in touches which show the author's genuine affection for his subject. The music examples are reproduced in the original 16th century notation.

Orchesography

Arbeau, Thoinot

Part of the legacy left by the great Danish dancer, choreographer, and teacher August Bournonville ( 1805 - 1879) was a series of six complete classes, one for every day of the dancer's working week. These classes, which form the basis of the Bournonville style, and which are still part of the training programme of the Royal Danish Ballet, are here published for the first time, edited and with a detailed commentary by the Bournonville expert Kirsten Ralov. The Bournonville School was the first work to compile and preserve Bournonville's complete classroom teachings. As such, it is of great value not only to teachers and students wishing to make use of this valuable heritage, but to all those with an interest in the history and development of classical ballet technique.

The Bournonville School

Ralov, Kirsten

After a distinguished career as a dancer, Nicolai Serrebrenikov became one of the leading teachers at the Vaganova Choreographic School in St. Petersburg. In this major work on pas de deux, the students and teachers are taken step by step through the fundamentals of double work to the most complex enchainements of the classical repertoire. The translator and editor, Joan Lawson, studied dance with Margaret Morris and Serafina Astafieva, and later became of of the first English ballet dancers to study in Soviet Russia, subsequently becoming a distinguished and much-loved teacher at the Royal Ballet School in London.

The Art of Pas de Deux

Serrebrenikov, Nicolai

In this book Valerie Adams describes her early days at the Wessex School of Dancing in Bournemouth and joining the Sadler's Wells Upper School in London. After she became a member of the Sadler's Wells Company at the Royal Opera House, she went with the Company on their 3rd tour of the USA and Canada and went again the following year, with Moira Shearer and Robert Helpmann in the Old Vic production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Dame Ninette de Valois trained Valerie Adams to teach and she went on to teach at the Sadler's Wells School. She was invited by the Dutch Government to form a Ballet School at the Koninklijk Conservatorium voor Muziek at The Hague, in order to produce dancers for the three Dutch Ballet Companies. After five and a half years, she returned to teach at The Royal Ballet School, as it is now known. And two years later, Dame Ninette invited her to be at her side when she formed a Teachers' Course. She became Course Director in 1971, and finally retired in 2000. This book is her story, and the story of the Course.

My Life with the Royal Ballet as a Dancer and Teacher

Biographies & Memoirs

Adams, Valerie

Arts & Literature

Does a dance communicate ? What ? How ? Are all dances meaningful ? Do spectators see what a choreographer sees ? "The strands of the dance medium like locks of hair plait into one meaningful whole. The interlock is all." The interlock is what this book explores from the choreographer and performers' perspective with every genre in contemporary dance theatre in mind. Written for practical people in dance, the text is organised in 32 short chapters each addressing a question on the way in which choreographers might or might not engage with their audiences in dance theatre works. The topics include an introduction to communication theory and the way in which the interlocking network between performers, movement material, sound, and performance can carry meaning. The book is written from choreographers' and performers' perspectives, with 46 dance works cited from a wide range of genres. The text is unusually presented - as closely as possible to how we speak to each other - with key words in bold type for ease of reference. Valerie Preston-Dunlop is an internationally recognised lecturer, teacher, and author on dance. She is currently Adviser for Postgraduate Studies and Research at the Trinity Laban Centre in London.

Looking at Dances: A Choreological Perspective on Choreography.

Preston-Dunlop, Valerie

Anna Pavlova in Art & Life

Dandré, Victor

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