The Shape Of The Dance

When Michael Donaghy died in 2004 at the age of fifty, he was one of the UK’s best-known and best-loved poets; he was also a literary critic of the first rank. Donaghy’s prose is notable for the same delightfully lucid style and lightly worn erudition so admired in his verse. His was also the most intellectually promiscuous of minds, and he was happy to allude to Irish music, neuroscience and Renaissance art in the same breath – and rarely resisted a good joke, if it served his argumentative purpose. This companion volume to the Collected Poems gathers together the best of his writing on poetry and the arts, as well as a number of fascinating and revealing interviews. It also reprints his classic primer in ars poetica, ‘Wallflowers’.

This volume gathers together the best of Michael Donaghy's writing on poetry and the arts, as well as a number of fascinating and revealing interviews.

"What is strikingly new about Miss Siegel's achievement is that she goes beyond the usual kind of historical reassessment. . . . She performs on behalf of this most evanescent of the arts an act of significant recovery. By tracking down--often in rare stage revivals, on film or on videotape--as many of the works by major creators of the last half century as survive, and by describing them . . . in a manner that combines accuracy and imagination, she has enriched our knowledge of the past and added immeasurably, to our resent stock of critical resources."--Dale Harris, New York Times Book Review "Siegel has a gut feeling for dance and a razor-sharp intelligence about it. It's an irresistible combination."--Margaret Pierpont, Dance Magazine "After you've seen and felt dance this deeply--even vicariously--your way of looking at dance will never be the same."--William Albright, Houston Post She sees, acutely, with her muscles as well as her eyes. She thinks about dance as much as she experiences it. . . . This is dance choreography reconstituted. Dances leap off the page. . . . The ability to do that is extraordinary."--Jean Bunke, Des Moines Sunday Register "The sections in which she describes the dances themselves make up the bulk of the book and they are profoundly illuminating. . . . These descriptions represent an amazing literary, as well as critical, accomplishment, for they are both accurate and resonant, both objective and enlightening, both formal and personal."--Laura Shapiro, The Real Paper "Siegel draws on her years of experience as a working dance critic, a profession she has helped to shape, and brings to a range of American dance a sense of honesty and a mind that wants to understand the antecedents of what is currently in vogue as the dance explosion."--Iris M. Fanger, The Christian Science Monitor

What elements define the shapes of dance? With over 50 poses to contemplate and/or recreate, readers develop an eye for detail and explore concepts such as pointed/flexed, tilted, weight, and straight/bent/curved. Dancers increase body awareness, spatial perception and balance, as well as practice ballet technique. Ballet vocabulary is highlighted, along with the value of practice and healthy choices. Spectacular photos of dancing shapes found in nature, creative fantasy, and ballet movements, positions, and forms offer a glimpse into one dancer's ballet journey. A wonderful resource and inspiration for young dance fans.

Creative Dance for All Ages, Second Edition, has had a long history of providing a dance curriculum to teachers and students preparing to teach creative dance. Author Anne Gilbert demystifies expectations when teaching creative dance and provides the theory, methods, and lesson ideas for success in a variety of settings and with students of all ages. This one-stop resource offers dance teachers everything they need, including a sequential curriculum, lesson plans, instructional strategies, assessment, and other forms. It’s like having a seasoned dance teacher at your side offering inspiration and guidance all year long. Internationally recognized master teacher and author Anne Gilbert Green presents creative dance for everyone and tips on meeting the challenges of teaching it. She offers a complete package for teaching creative dance that includes the theory, methodology, and lesson plans for various age groups that can be used in a variety of settings. Gilbert also offers an entire dance curriculum for sequential teaching and learning. The second edition of her classic text has been revised, reorganized, and updated to meet all the needs of dance teachers. The second edition of Creative Dance for All Ages includes these new features: • An easy-to-navigate format helps you quickly access the material and find lesson planning and assessment tools. • Content reflects changes in the field of dance education to put you on the cutting edge. • Forty age-appropriate and brain-compatible lesson plans are accessible through the web resource, which save prep time and help ensure compliance with the latest standards. • Five downloadable video clips demonstrate the lesson plans and teaching strategies and how to put them to work in the classroom. • Suggestions for modifying lessons help you include students of all abilities. • Eight assessment forms and curriculum planning templates are adaptable to your needs. If you’re a novice teacher, the book also contains these features to ensure effective instruction: • The same conceptual approach to teaching dance was used in the first edition. • A sequential dance curriculum helps you systematically cover a 10-week quarter or 16-week semester. • Class management tips put you in control from the first day. Creative Dance for All Ages, Second Edition, is an unparalleled resource for dance educators who are looking for a conceptual creative dance curriculum that will support teaching to learners of all ages. Whether in a studio, company, recreational, or educational setting, you will discover a comprehensive and well-rounded approach to teaching dance, emphasizing the how as much as the why.

A reckoning with one of our most beloved art forms, whose past and present are shaped by gender, racial, and class inequities—and a look inside the fight for its future Every day, in dance studios all across America, legions of little children line up at the barre to take ballet class. This time in the studio shapes their lives, instilling lessons about gender, power, bodies, and their place in the world both in and outside of dance. In Turning Pointe, journalist Chloe Angyal captures the intense love for ballet that so many dancers feel, while also grappling with its devastating shortcomings: the power imbalance of an art form performed mostly by women, but dominated by men; the impossible standards of beauty and thinness; and the racism that keeps so many people of color out of ballet. As the rigid traditions of ballet grow increasingly out of step with the modern world, a new generation of dancers is confronting these issues head on, in the studio and on stage. For ballet to survive the twenty-first century and forge a path into a more socially just future, this reckoning is essential.

This highly readable introduction to dance with older people combines key debates and issues in the field with practical guidance, as well as a resources section including numerous 'toolkit materials'. Diane Amans, leading practitioner in Community Dance, provides the ideal beginners' guide for students, practitioners and dance artists alike.

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.