choreographers

"This book gives young readers a backstage pass to Alvin Ailey's . . . career as a dancer and choreographer. Director of a . . . dance theater, Ailey used dance to explore stories of race and sexuality, and proved that there are no limits when you dare to dream--and dance. A timeline, post-reading questions, and an interactive activity to develop reading comprehension skills are also included"--OCLC.

Profiles choreographers in genres from ballet to postmodern, providing a critical essay, short biography, list of works, and detailed bibliography for each person, including Matthew Bourne, William Forsythe, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, and others.

Describes the life, dancing, and choreography of Alvin Ailey, who created his own modern dance company to explore the black experience.

Examines the life of American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, discussing her youth in Pennsylvania, her training at the Denishawn School of Dance in Los Angeles, her decision to form her own company, and her pioneering development of modern dance.

Before Mark Morris became 'the most successful and influential choreographer alive' (The New York Times), he was a six year-old in Seattle cramming his feet into Tupperware glasses so that he could practice walking on pointe. Moving to New York at nineteen, he arrived to one of the great booms of dance in America. Morris was flat broke but found a group of like-minded artists that danced together, travelled together, slept together. This collective, led by Morris's fiercely original vision, became the famed Mark Morris Dance Group. Suddenly, Morris was making a fast ascent. Celebrated by The New Yorker's critic as one of the great young talents, an androgynous beauty in the vein of Michelangelo's David, he and his company had arrived. Collaborations with the likes of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Yo-Yo Ma, Lou Harrison, and Howard Hodgkin followed. And so did controversy: from the circus of his tenure at La Monnaie in Belgium to his work on the biggest flop in Broadway history. But through the Reagan-Bush era, the worst of the AIDS epidemic, through rehearsal squabbles and backstage intrigues, Morris emerged as one of the great visionaries of modern dance, a force of nature with a dedication to beauty and a love of the body, an artist as joyful as he is provocative. Out Loud is the bighearted and outspoken story of a man as formidable on the page as he is on the boards. With unusual candour and disarming wit, Morris's memoir captures the life of a performer who broke the mould, a brilliant misfit who found his home in the collective and liberating world of music and dance.

Introduces readers to some of the most influential women in the dance industry.

Dance prodigy, sex symbol, gay pioneer, cultural icon---Vaslav Nijinsky rose to fame as the star of the Ballets Russes in Paris before mental illness stole his career and the last thirty years of his life. A tragic story of a great genius gone mad, this compelling work of narrative nonfiction chronicles a life of obsessive artistry, celebrity, and notoriety. With one grand leap off the stage at the 1909 premiere of the Ballets Russes's inaugural season, Nijinsky became an overnight sensation and the century's first superstar, in the days before moving pictures brought popular culture to the masses. Perhaps the greatest dancer of the twentieth century, Nijinsky captured audiences with his sheer animal magnetism and incredible skill.

Looks at the lives of the greatest ballet performers, composers, and choreographers across the centuries, and analyzes the story and staging of more than seventy famous ballets.

Introduces the history and basic concepts of tap dance. Easy-to-read text, vibrant photos, and dance tips will make readers want to get up and dance.

Most people know Derek Hough from his numerous wins on Dancing with the Stars. But this talented performer also acts, choreographs, and sings. It seems there is nothing he cannot do! After starting dance classes as a child in Utah, Derek moved to England with ballroom dance champions Corky and Shirley Ballas to study dance, music, and theater. After becoming a world champion himself, he performed the lead role in Footloose: The Musical in London before joining the cast of the popular American television show. He holds the record for the most wins--six--of any professional dancer on the series.