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Biographies

See also: Dance Biographies Backlist

Unfold: A Portrait of Peggy Baker Unfold: A Portrait of Peggy Baker
Carol Anderson
Peggy Baker is recognized internationally as one of the most outstanding dance artists of her generation. She has captivated audiences and influenced dancers across North America and around the world with her creativity in both modern dance and ballet.
Carol Anderson's intimate knowledge of the art form is revealed through her eloquent text alowing us to see inside the life of this extraordinary performer, creator and teacher. With over 100 photographs, this is a stunning tribute to a great dance artist.
Due June 2008. Publication price: $39.95. Order now for the special pre-publication price of $31.95 Offer valid till June 27 only.


Masters of MovementMasters of Movement: Portraits of America's Great Choreographers

Rose Eichenbaum
A collection of photographic portraits and vignettes based on intimate conversations, Masters of Movement takes on a rare journey into the world of dance. Whether through her lens or through the revelations emanating from her masterful interviews, Rose Eichenbaum has succeeded in capturing the essential character of her subjects, who confide experiences and emotions that have driven their creativity and defined their styles. Masters of Movement will inform, empower, and inspire anyone on the creative path - and delight lovers of dance everywhere. Softcover, 264 pp. $32.95.

The Man Next Door Dances: The Art of Peter BinghamThe Man Next Door Dances: The Art of Peter Bingham
Kaija Pepper
Vancouver-based Peter Bingham has been a driving force in Canada's contact improvisation scene for 30 years. Influenced by is early training with dancer/choreographer Linda Rubin, he later studied with American proponents of contact, Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith. Meticulously researched by author Kaija Pepper, Bingham's contact improvisation and choreographic works are brought to life once again on the printed page with detailed and thoughtful representation. Softcover, 196 pp. $39.95.


NureyevNureyev The Life 

Julie Kavanagh
 Genius, charm, passion, beauty and sex appeal as well as an innate ability to excite an audience with his immense prowess as a classical dancer were all traits Rudolph Nureyev had in spades. Award-winning dance critic and arts writer Julie Kavanagh draws on previously unseen letters and diaries as well as interviews with Nureyev's inner circle to give us the most intimate, revealing and dramatic picture we have ever had of this legendary dance artist. Hardcover. $47.00. Coming in October.


Anna Halprin: Experience as DanceAnna Halprin: Experience as Dance

Janice Ross
Anna Halprin pioneered what became known as "post-modern dance," creating work that was key to unlocking the door to experimentation in theater, music, Happenings and performance art. This comprehensive biography examines Halprin's fascinating life in the context of American culture. Janice Ross chronicles Halprin's long, remarkable career, beginning with the dancer's grandparents and ending with the present day, when Halprin continues to defy boundaries between artistic genres as well as between participants and observers. As she follows Halprin's development from youth into old age, Ross describes in engrossing detail the artist's roles as dancer, choreographer, performance theorist, community leader, cancer survivor, healer, wife and mother. Hardcover, 445 pp. $46.95.

Somewhere: The Life of Jerome RobbinsSomewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins
Amanda Vaill
In the pages of this definitive biography, Amanda Vaill takes full measure of the complicated, contradictory genius who was Jerome Robbins. Drawing on thousands of pages from Robbins's personal and professional papers, to which she was granted unfettered access, as well as on other archives and hundreds of interviews, Somewhere is a riveting narrative of a life lived onstage, offstage, and backstage. It is also an accomplished work of criticism and social history that chronicles one man's phenomenal career and places it squarely in the cultural ferment of a time when New York City was truly "a helluva town." Hardcover, 675 pp. $50.00.


Ecstasy and the Demon: The Dances of Mary WigmanEcstasy and the Demon: The Dances of Mary Wigman

Susan Manning
In Ecstasy and the Demon, Susan Manning advances a sociological explanation for the collaboration between German modern dancers and National Socialism. She models methods for dance studies that contextualize choreography in relation to changing sociopolitical conditions, bringing dance scholarship into conversation with intellectual trends across the humanities. The introduction to this second edition brings Manning's groundbreaking work to bear on dance studies today and reconsiders Wigman's career from the perspective of queer theory and globalization, further illuminating the interplay of dance and politics in the twentieth century. Softcover, 353 pp. $32.95.


The Real NureyevThe Real Nureyev: An Intimate Memoir of Ballet's Greatest Hero

Carolyn Soutar
This is an intensely personal, under-the-skin depiction of ballet's greatest hero. Carolyn Soutar worked with Nureyev at the London Coliseum during the 1980s, and her biography focuses on a six-year period of his life when the career of this once phenomenal dancer, who began to call himself "Old Galoshes" in recognition of his fading powers, was drawing to a close. Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, yet always deeply human, The Real Nureyev is a must-read for ballet fans. Hardcover, 192 pp. $31.95.

Howling Near HeavenHowling Near Heaven
Twyla Tharp and the Reinvention of Modern Dance

Marcia B. Siegel
Twyla Tharp has worked in the idoms of minimalism, pedestrianism, and Dada. She has merged jazz, ballet, and modern dance. Her nearly 100 dance works rank her as the most significant American choreographer of the twentieth century. Howling Near Heaven is the first in-depth study of Twyla Tharp's unique restless creativity, the story of a choreographer who refuses to be pigeon-holed and the dancers who accompanied her as she sped across the frontiers of dance. Hardcover, 326 pp. $34.95.

David Earle: A Choreographic BiographyDavid Earle: A Choreographic Biography
by Michele Green
The inimitable artistry of David Earle, co-founder of Toronto Dance Theatre is chronicled in this beautiful record of four decades of creativity. Each of David's 130 choreographies is annotated with complete programme information, often accompanied by summary notes, programme notes, choreographer's notes and interview excerpts. Beautifully illustrated with B&W photographs throughout, the book includes an extensive essay from dance writer Graham Jackson and random musings from Earle's personal journals. Large format. $52.95.


May O'Donnell: Modern Dance Pioneer	May O'Donnell: Modern Dance Pioneer
Marian Horosko
Based on extensive interviews with O'Donnell herself, Marian Horosko brings the story of this extraordinary yet unheralded sixty-year career to light for the first time. O'Donnell's personal memories -- from her early training in California, to tours with Jose Limon, to the creation of her signature work, Suspension, to her collaborations with composer-husband Ray Green -- and unpublished photographs from her personal archives provide a first-hand account of American modern dance coming into its own during the crucial period of the 1920s through the 1980s. Horosko has also included the first available intermediate-class syllabus of O'Donnell's technique. Softcover, 136 pp. $29.95.

Maria Tallchief: America's Prima BallerinaMaria Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina
Maria Tallchief
Maria Tallchief, born to Native American and Scoth-Irish parents, was the queen of American ballet in its glory years. Studying under (and eventually marrying) George Balanchine, Tallchief was a seminal figure in the ascent of the New York City Ballet. In this warm autobiography, she reminisces about her eventful life and dazzling career. Softcover, 351 pp. $28.95.

Dance was her ReligionDance was her Religion
Janet Lynn Roseman
The power of dance is so pure and strong that it often stays with the body long after physical movement has ceased. This "spiritual" movement is one of the transcendental powers of dance. For Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis and Martha Graham, dance was not simply their religion, but it was also their personal connection between the physical and spiritual worlds. This fascinating book profiles these three remarkable women and their equally remarkable artistic output. Softcover, 201 pp. $19.95.

All In The DancesAll In The Dances: A Brief Life of George Balanchine
Terry Teachout
Twenty years after his death, Balanchine, the ruthless, enigmatic founder of New York City Ballet still dominates the world of dance. In clear, elegant prose, Teachout tells both the dramatic story of one of the greatest choreographers of the twentieth century and why his ballets will be even more significant in the century to come. Hardcover, 185 pp. $31.00.

Margot Fonteyn: Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Royal Ballet Margot Fonteyn: Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Royal Ballet
Christina Franchi
This beautiful book brings together for the first time over 120 images which chart the whole of Fonteyn's career with The Royal Ballet from 1934 until her last appearances in galas in the 1980s. Softcover, 134 pp. $50.00.


Margot FonteynMargot Fonteyn: A Life
Meredith Daneman
The legend of Margot Fonteyn has touched all those who have danced before her. Anyone who saw her perform remembers her genius. Yet, until now, the complete story of Margot's life has remained untold. Based on more than 10 years of research, novelist and former dancer Meredith Daneman, has crafted a vivid and insightful work which reveals the true woman behind the myth. Softcover, 654 pp. $25.00.


Anna HalprinAnna Halprin
Libby Worth & Helen Poyner
This entry into the Routledge Performance Practitioners series offers an overview of Halprin's life and the evolution of her work over the past 60 years, including an investigation of her methodology, an analysis of her community performance rituals, and an experiential approach to Halprin's work through movement explorations and scores. Softcover, 187 pp. $29.95.

eorge Balanchine: The Ballet MakerGeorge Balanchine: The Ballet Maker
Robert Gottlieb
Balachine's life story is a fascinating journey -- from his near-accidental enrollment, at the age of nine, in St. Peterburg's Imperial School of Ballet, through the deprivation of hunger of Bolshevik Russia, to Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, and finally, 1933, to the United States and eventually to the New York City Ballet, to which his reputation is forever tied. In this spellbinding biography, Robert Gottlieb narrates Balachine's life story, showing that his personal life was as highly charged as his professional life. Hardcover, 216 pp. $11.99.

Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theatre, His DanceJerome Robbins: His Life, His Theatre, His Dance
Deborah Jowitt
The life, works, and creative processes of the complex genius Jerome Robbins are elucidated in this stunning biography. Scrupulously researched and eloquently told Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theatre, His Dance is illuminated by photographs, enlivened by anecdotes, and grounded in insights into ballet and musical comedies. Hardcover, 619 pp. $58.00.

Winter SeasonWinter Season: A Dancer's Journal
Toni Bentley
An irresistible look at one of the world's great dance companies, Winter Season is also Toni Bentley's sensitive, intimate, and painfully honest account of her emotional and intellectual development in one of the most demanding of all the arts. The result is perhaps the closest that most of us will ever come to knowing what it feels like to be a dancer, both on and off the stage. Softcover, 150 pp. $31.95.

Grace Under PressureGrace Under Pressure: Passing Dance Through Time
Barbara Newman
This wonderful collection of interviews addresses the almost ineffable issues at the very heart of dance: style, standards, creativity, artistry, and taste. Discussions with Mark Morris, Jean-Pierre Frohlich, Jerome Robbins, Richard Thomas, and several others reveal what has happened internationally over time and how dance has been passed on from one generation to another. Softcover, 480 pp. $32.95.

Merce CunninghamMerce Cunningham: The Modernizing of Modern Dance
Roger Copeland
Merce Cunningham: The Modernizing of Modern Dance
is the first complete critical overview of Cunningham's entire body of work, extending from his earliest solos through his most recent experiments with digital technology. This iconoclastic, yet highly readable study will delight anyone interested in the development of the American arts in the 20th century. Softcover, 304 pp. $41.95.

NureyevNureyev
Valeria Crippa & Ralph Fassey
As publicized and as chronicled as Nureyev's career and life were, the photographs selected for this volume offer a more personal glimpse of the dancer. Taken on and off stage, these images represent the most successful years crowning a glorious career and show Nureyev in his prime. Not only a visual record of one sublime dancer's career, this book is an important contribution to ballet history. Hardcover, 155 pp. $70.00.

From Automatism to Modern Dance
Francoise Sullivan with Franziska Boas in New YorkFrom Automatism to Modern Dance:
Francoise Sullivan with Franziska Boas in New York
Allana Lindgren
A Canadian cultural icon, Francoise Sullivan is often celebrated as one of the Automatists, a group of artists in Montreal who used their art to incite aesthetic and social change during the 1940's and 50's. In this book, Allana Lindgren vividly documents the 2 years in New York when Sullivan studied under Franziska Boas: a period which would prove to be vital to her artistic growth. Softcover 157 pp. $28.95.


Martha Graham: The Evolution of Her Dance Theory and TrainingMartha Graham:
The Evolution of Her Dance Theory and Training
Marian Horosko
This biographical account by Marian Horosko brings together new and previously unpublished interviews with Martha Graham's "family" of dancers, teachers, choreographers, and actors and interweaves them with provocative biographical material about the life and influence of the creator of classic modern dance. Softcover, 274 pp. $31.95.


Josò LimonJosé Limon
June Dunbar
A brilliant account of the life and career of one the 20th century's finest performer/choreographers. Edited by a former pupil of Limon's, this biography is formated as a series of chapters each written by a personal or professional associate of the talented dancer. An intimate and revealing portrait. Softcover, 166 pp. $33.95.



A Young Dancer's Apprenticeship: 
On Tour with the Moscow City BalletA Young Dancer's Apprenticeship:
On Tour with the Moscow City Ballet

Olympia Dowd
At the tender age of fourteen, Olympia Dowd was plucked from obscurity and offered a job as a soloist with the Moscow City Ballet. Herein is the story of this once-in-a-lifetime adventure seen through the eyes, emotions and words of an ordinary adolescent with an extraordinary talent. Hardcover, 127 pp. $29.95.

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Done Into Dance: Isadora Duncan In AmericaDone Into Dance:
Isadora Duncan In America

Ann Daly
An exploration of Isadora Duncan's place in the socio-cultural context of her time, with relation to her association with feminism and her racial notion of "Americanness". Softcover, 267 pp. $33.95.


 

Isadora - A Sensational LifeIsadora: A Sensational Life
Peter Kurth
One of the most influencial women of her era, Isadora Duncan was a true visionary of modern dance. In this universally acclaimed biography, Peter Kurth gives us, at last, a work that does justice to this unforgettable woman. Here is Isadora Duncan: her many sensational loves, her passion for her art, her mesmerizing performances, and her personal tragedies, all set against the sweeping backdrop of Europe, and the United States in the early twentieth century. Softcover, 652 pp. $26.95.

An Instinct for SuccessAn Instinct for Success:
Arnold Spohr & the Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Michael Crabb
The author is one of the keenest observers/chroniclers of dance in this country who has applied his acumen with a passion for the subject of this book. Mr. Spohr molded the RWB into one of the world's best and most unique dance companies, some would say against all odds. This well-illustrated book is a fitting tribute to the company and the man who led them to world acclaim. $34.95.


Transcending Boundaries: My Dancing Life

Donald McKayle
An autobiography tracing the multifaceted and wide ranging career of choreographer, director, performer and professor of dance Donald McKayle. He learned at the feet of the masters, trained and developed some of the profession's top practitioners, and worked in theatres and studios around the world. Readers will find his autobiography a revelation in an ongoing story. Softcover, $47.95.


Grant Strate: A MemoirGrant Strate: A Memoir
Grant Strate
Dancer, choreographer, and a pioneer in Dance Education, Grant Strate recounts a lifetime devoted to dance and dancers in Canada in this highly engaging memoir. Signed copies available Softcover, $24.95.

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Last modified May 15, 2008 .
Please note that all prices are in Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to change without notice.