DANCE - An Illustrated History
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Introduction
Many people have thought that dance, for early man, was a form of communication. Stéphane Mallarmé, a French 19th century poet, felt that the dancer, writing with the body, conveyed things that the written work could articulate only by using many paragraphs of dialogue or descriptive text. Dance was a universal language that could often relate emotion more directly and effectively than words because the gestures were very closely connected to those of ordinary life and could be understood both visually and kinesthetically. Of course, the culture of the particular persons interpreting the movement affected their interpretation of it.
Explorations in dance history have revealed much more concerning our world than just dance steps. An important aspect of dance history is to show how the essence of the times has shaped the dancing. As you read on about the art of dance you will be exposed to fascinating bits of information pertaining to people’s interests, styles, music, art, relationships, ideals, education, beliefs, and culture. These are uncovered or mirrored in their dances. Dance has been and still is an important part of all cultures.
Each chapter in this book deals with a special type of dance or a different period in its development. Examine the Table of Contents at the beginning of the book; gaze at the images for each chapter; then decide how to continue with the book – the usual way from beginning to end, or starting with whatever interests you most. However, you may prefer to just flip through the book and read something that catches your eye at that moment – a very good way to enjoy a book such as this. Each time you look at the book you’ll discover something else that will arouse your curiosity.
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Book Details
About the Book
This book highlights both verbally and visually the development of dance through the ages. The influence of peoples' beliefs, cultures, and lifestyles, as well as the functions of dance in various societies are discussed. This book explores the background of today's dances: tap, ballet, modern, and jazz, while also looking into the early dances of many countries. Dance has inspired many creators of cave paintings, woodprints, paintings, sculptures, murals, music, literature, and other artistic media, as shown in the many illustrations that embellish this book and that emphasize not only dance but also the costumes and the artists of the various periods and locations.
DANCE – An Illustrated History by Helene Andreu is:
Midwest Book Review had this to say about the book:
"A stunning overview of the history of dance from prehistoric roots to modern times, Dance: An Illustrated History presents 320 pages of exciting trends in dance history, embellished with colored prints of paintings, posters, photos of dancers in action and more. Written by an experienced professional dancer and dance teacher, Dance: An Illustrated History contains information about exotic dance traditions including Native Americans, Alaskans, Hawaiians, Japanese, Indians, Indonesians, Turkish, Cambodians, Mexicans and Chinese as well as current dance traditions such as tap, modern, ballet, and jazz in performance. Chapters unfold about Early Dance to Middle Ages, Dance in the Middle Ages, Early American Dance, Ballet and Other Dances, Modern Dance, Tap Dance, Jazz Dance and Minstrelsy, and more chapters on Modern Dance, Tap Dance and Jazz Dance and Musicals. A final chapter is devoted to Ballet from the 1960's to the 21st Century. Frequent black and white and colored photograph prints feature famous dancers and choreographers past and present in this stunning survey of many styles of dance. Important figures' names are typed in bold to stand out on pages of text. Ideal as an educational text for serious students of dance and theater, Dance: An Illustrated History carves out a new niche in dance arts history."
About the Author
Helene Andreu has had a very enjoyable life in dance. An accomplished dancer, dance teacher and choreographer, she studied at numerous excellent schools in New York, including the School of American Ballet, and performed and choreographed for summer stock and Off-Broadway musicals, operas and operettas. She received her M.A. in Dance Education from Columbia University, and various Dance Education licenses. She taught many forms of dance – ballet, folk, jazz, modern, social, and tap – to all ages, in private studios, colleges, after-school community, adult education centers, as well as 20 years at the New York City College of Technology. She has fond memories from her childhood of the yearly Spring Festivals held in Prospect Park, with a maypole for each of the participating elementary schools, whose students all learned folk and square dances in their Physical Education classes. She and her sister share their home with three cats.