Synopses & Reviews
The definitive history of twentieth-century theatrical dance, enhanced with more than 200 exceptional photographs.
This book chronicles one hundred years of dramatic developments in ballet, modern, and experimental dance for stage and screen in Europe and North America. The volume is magisterial in scope, encompassing the history of theatrical dance from 1900 through 2000. Beginning with turn-of-the-century dancer-choreographers like Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Michel Fokine, and a bit later Vaslav Nijinsky, and proceeding through the profusion of dance styles performed today, the book provides an unparalleled view of dance in performance as it changed and grew in the twentieth century.
Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick set dance in broader cultural and historical contexts, examine specific dance works, and explore the contributions of outstanding choreographers, performers, visual artists, impresarios, composers, critics, and other figures. They discuss the breakaway barefoot dance of the early 1900s and demonstrate its links with later forms and styles. With unusual detail, fascinating illustrations and wide-ranging insights, this book is an indispensable guide to the transformations in the dance scene of the twentieth century.
Review
"[N]ever tedious, always enlightening....Rare is the volume that's both essential reference and page-turner; No Fixed Points is one." Village Voice
Review
"There is simply no other history of twentieth-century dance that is as detailed, comprehensive, and readable as No Fixed Points. Much thought has gone into it, along with prodigious research." Lynn Garafola, co-editor of The Ballets Russes and Its World
Review
"Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick focus an enormous spectrum of information into a clear and elegant narrative. At the same time they make us feel the passion that produced contemporary dance and that continues to drive its revolution." Christine Dakin, Artistic Director, Martha Graham Dance Company
Synopsis
This book chronicles one hundred years of dramatic developments in ballet, modern, and experimental dance for stage and screen in Europe and North America. The volume is magisterial in scope, encompassing the history of theatrical dance from 1900 through 2000. Beginning with turn-of-the-century dancer-choreographers like Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Michel Fokine, and a bit later Vaslav Nijinsky, and proceeding through the profusion of dance styles performed today, the book provides an unparalleled view of dance in performance as it changed and grew in the twentieth century.
Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick set dance in broader cultural and historical contexts, examine specific dance works, and explore the contributions of outstanding choreographers, performers, visual artists, impresarios, composers, critics, and other figures. They discuss the breakaway barefoot dance of the early 1900s and demonstrate its links with later forms and styles. With unusual detail, fascinating illustrations, and wide-ranging insights, this book is an indispensable guide to the transformations in the dance scene of the twentieth century.
Synopsis
The definitive history of twentieth-century theatrical dance, enhanced with more than 200 exceptional photographs
Winner of the 2005 Congress on Research in Dance Award for Outstanding Publication in Dance Research
"This work is not just reader friendly, it's downright compelling in its chronicle of the most explosively revolutionary century the art form of dance has ever experienced."--Karen Campbell, Christian Science Monitor
This book chronicles one hundred years of dramatic developments in ballet, modern, and experimental dance for stage and screen in Europe and North America. The volume is magisterial in scope, encompassing the history of theatrical dance from 1900 through 2000. Beginning with turn-of-the-century dancer-choreographers like Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Michel Fokine, and a bit later Vaslav Nijinsky, and proceeding through the profusion of dance styles performed today, the book provides an unparalleled view of dance in performance as it changed and grew in the twentieth century. Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick set dance in broader cultural and historical contexts, examine specific dance works, and explore the contributions of outstanding choreographers, performers, visual artists, impresarios, composers, critics, and other figures. They discuss the breakaway barefoot dance of the early 1900s and demonstrate its links with later forms and styles. With unusual detail, fascinating illustrations, and wide-ranging insights, this book is an indispensable guide to the transformations in the dance scene of the twentieth century.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 745-849) and index.
About the Author
Nancy Reynolds is director of research for the George Balanchine Foundation and a former member of the New York City Ballet. She has written widely about ballet and modern dance and is the author of Repertory in Review, among other books.
Malcolm McCormick is a former professional dancer and costume designer who was a member of the dance faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles, and guest lecturer at other universities for many years.
Table of Contents
New dance : America's pioneers, 1900-1940 -- Experimentalism in ballet : Diaghilev, Fokine, and the Russian legacy, 1900-1930s -- Modernism revealed : Ausdruckstanz, the dance of expression, 1910-1945 -- Ballet comes to America, 1900-1940s -- America after Denishawn : the heroic age of modern dance, 1920-1940s -- Ballet in Western Europe : the rise of national traditions, 1900-1960s -- A world apart : dance in Russia and the Soviet Union, 1900-1960s -- Ballet in America comes of age, 1935-1965 -- Modern dance : the second generation, 1935-1980s -- Schism and transition : reinterpreting modern dance, 1940s-2000 -- Beyond the boundaries : postmodernism, 1960-1980 -- Internationalism : the merging of the disciplines, 1950-2000 -- Ballet rising, 1960-1990 -- Ballet's high tide, 1960s-2000 -- Late modernism : pluralism and the ascendancy of style, 1960s-2000 -- Musical theater in America, 1900-2000 -- Dance in the movies, 1900-2000.