Now For A Dance

The updated edition of the national bestseller, celebrating Tina Arena's extraordinary 40 years in the music business. Honest and intimate, funny and frank, Now I Can Dance is the long-awaited memoir from the very special, much-loved singer, songwriter and pop diva, Tina Arena. Over the course of her extensive career, starting as an eight-year-old star of Young Talent Time, Tina has amassed a cache of amazing stories. the artist who gave us 'Chains', 'Sorrento Moon' and 'Symphony of Life' has sold eight million albums, won a swag of awards, encountered extraordinary people, fallen in and out of love, and experienced incredible highs and lows. through it all, Tina has sung her heart out, and her songs have provided the soundtrack to our lives. Almost four decades in music has seen Tina on a journey - a journey of self-discovery and self-fulfilment. Hers is a truly joyful and inspiring story of a woman achieving success on her on terms, in her own way. And now she is sharing her life, for the very first time, with us. Now I Can Dance is an uplifting story of love, family, laughter, determination and - of course - song. Now, the national bestseller is fully updated, covering her recent move back to Melbourne, being inducted into the ARIA's Hall of Fame, new music, and much, much more ...

The day has finally come, the first day of dance class. With shoes packed snug in her bag, we watch as mom and daughter head to the studio for an afternoon filled with ballet, tap, and jazz. A classroom of new friends awaits as we watch our little girl's feet take center stage, moving to the rhythm of the music. Boasting with self-confidence and pride, a new star is beginning to discover her shine as she falls in love with the way her body seamlessly moves to the sound of the beat. Inspired by author Nia Sioux's own love for the dance floor, this beautifully enriched story is all about dance and discovery. Highlighting the diverse and accepting culture within the world of the arts, this book is a simple story centered around the all-important message of inclusion.

The Divine Dance has become a classic for fans of Richard Rohr and an important book on Christian mysticism, it provides a fresh perspective for anyone studying or teaching the trinity. The Trinity is the central doctrine of Christianity, but it is still widely considered a mystery we won't ever fully understand. Should we still try to understand it, even so? If we could, how would it transform our relationship with God? In this stimulating and thought-provoking book, internationally recognised teacher Richard Rohr explores the nature of God and the paradoxical idea of the Holy Trinity as both three and one. With clear, surefooted wisdom, he encourages us to build on the early Christian understanding of the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit as a flow and dance - a Divine Dance - that we are invited to join in. An engaging, accessible look at the nature of God, The Divine Dance will challenge the way you think about the Trinity and give you a much fuller understanding of the triune relationship that is at the heart of Christian doctrine. It will leave you with a faith that is renewed and strengthened, and show you how you can engage more deeply in your relationship with God and the world through the Trinity.

This poetic and uplifting picture book illustrated by the #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator of We Are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines follows a young girl born with cerebral palsy as she pursues her dream of becoming a dancer. Like many young girls, Eva longs to dance. But unlike many would-be dancers, Eva has cerebral palsy. She doesn’t know what dance looks like for someone who uses a wheelchair. Then Eva learns of a place that has created a class for dancers of all abilities. Her first movements in the studio are tentative, but with the encouragement of her instructor and fellow students, Eva becomes more confident. Eva knows she’s found a place where she belongs. At last her dream of dancing has come true.

“Peter Lovatt, author of The Dance Cure,… the ease with which his dancing can cheer me up is frightening.” — The Guardian “Peter Lovatt, author of The Dance Cure… the ease with which his dancing can cheer me up is frightening.” — The Guardian

I can vividly remember the last steps of the last ballet, walking off the stage led by a mother and knowing the decision I had to make. That was my last dance. Mary Li (nee McKendry) is an international ballet star and a mother like no other. She became a household name when her husband Li Cunxin published his bestselling memoir, Mao's Last Dancer - but that book told only half the story. Growing up in a rambunctious family in Rockhampton, Mary discovered an extraordinary early passion for ballet. It saw her move to London at age sixteen, to study at the Royal Ballet School and dance at the London Festival Ballet with the likes of Nureyev, and later to Houston Ballet, where as Principal Dancer she fell in love with the acclaimed Chinese ballet dancer Li Cunxin. The couple became the darlings of the dance world, and were happier than they could have imagined at the arrival of their firstborn daughter, Sophie. Then right at the height of her international career, Mary seemingly disappeared from view, leaving the fans aghast. What could have happened to cause a woman so committed, so talented, to give it all away in a heartbeat? Now, almost twenty years on, fans finally get their answer about what happened next to this inspiring family, and learn why it is Mary's turn to tell a truly remarkable tale. This is a powerful and uplifting memoir about chasing an impossible dream, and sacrificing one's own ambition for the love of a child. It is a moving and unforgettable story of passion, dedication and devotion - and the highly anticipated sequel to one of the world's most beloved books.

This book is the first scholarly study of Indian dance reality shows and the attendant celebrity culture. It presents an ethnographic and behind-the-scenes study of the lives of reality show dancers and choreographers in obscure and well-known corners of Mumbai and Kolkata. The dancers’ classes, rehearsals, aspirations, and voices—which are often hidden from public gaze—are explored in detail, along with the themes of subjectivity, media-embodiment, pedagogy, gender identity, and social mobility. These explorations are framed by new and original intersections of ideas from the fields of anthropology, dance studies, philosophy, media studies, gender studies, and postcolonial theory. The author offers fascinating, multi-layered analyses into cosmopolitan modernity and the changing visual culture of liberalizing India. Using the lens of dance and dancers, this book offers deep insights into some of the most profound changes taking place in Indian culture today.

Ukrainian dancer and choreographer Serge Lifar (1905-86) is recognized both as the modernizer of French ballet in the twentieth century and as the keeper of the flame of the classical tradition upon which the glory of French ballet was founded. Having migrated to France from Russia in 1923 to join Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Lifar was appointed star dancer and ballet director at the Paris Opéra in 1930. Despite being rather unpopular with the French press at the start of his appointment, Lifar came to dominate the Parisian dance scene-through his publications as well as his dancing and choreography-until the end of the Second World War, reaching the height of his fame under the German occupation of Paris (1940-44). Rumors of his collaborationism having remained inconclusive throughout the postwar era, Lifar retired in 1958. This book not only reassesses Lifar's career, both aesthetically and politically, but also provides a broader reevaluation of the situation of dance-specifically balletic neoclassicism-in the first half of the twentieth century. The Fascist Turn in the Dance of Serge Lifar is the first book not only to discuss the resistance to Lifar in the French press at the start of his much-mythologized career, but also the first to present substantial evidence of Lifar's collaborationism and relate it to his artistic profile during the preceding decade. In examining the political significance of the critical discussion of Lifar's body and technique, author Mark Franko provides the ground upon which to understand the narcissistic and heroic images of Lifar in the 1930s as prefiguring the role he would play in the occupation. Through extensive archival research into unpublished documents of the era, police reports, the transcript of his postwar trial and rarely cited newspaper columns Lifar wrote, Franko reconstructs the dancer's political activities, political convictions, and political ambitions during the Occupation.