Dance: Books

This title in the American Dance Floor series provides an overview of the origins, development, and current status of Latin social dancing in the United States.Latin dance and music have had a widespread influence upon the development of other social dance and music styles in the United States. As a result, Latin dance styles are among the most important dance forms in America.Latin Dance addresses every major style of Latin dance, describing the basic steps that characterize it as well as its rhythmic pace and time signature, and examining its development from European, African, and Amerindian influences. The author explains the range of styles and expression to be found in Latin dances primarily within the context of couples social dancing, the popularity of salsa today, and the broader social meanings and implications of their multicultural origins from the 1600s to the present. The historic connection between exhibition Latin dance and American modern dance through vaudeville is explained as well.

The various cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean have produced their own unique forms of dance. Latin and Caribbean Dance highlights dances indigenous to Cuba (mambo and cha-cha-cha), the Dominican Republic (merengue and bachata), Haiti (compas and Vodou ritual dances), Argentina (tango), and Brazil (samba and capoeira). Explore how each dance has developed and been adapted through European and African influences, as well as how they continue to develop in the modern world.

The function of dance in Latin/o American culture is the focus of the essays collected in Everynight Life. The contributors interpret how Latin/o culture expresses itself through dance, approaching the material from the varying perspectives of literary, cultural, dance, performance, queer, and feminist studies. Viewing dance as privileged sites of identity formation and cultural resistance in Latin/o America, Everynight Life translates the motion of bodies into speech, and the gestures of dance into a provocative socio-political grammar. This anthology looks at many modes of dance--including salsa, merengue, cumbia, rumba, mambo, tango, samba, and norteño--as models for the interplay of cultural memory and regional conflict. Barbara Browning's essay on capoeira, for instance, demonstrates how dance has been used as a literal form of resistance, while José Piedra explores the meanings conveyed by women of color dancing the rumba. Pieces such as Gustavo Perez Fírmat's "I Came, I Saw, I Conga'd" and Jorge Salessi's "Medics, Crooks, and Tango Queens" illustrate the lively scope of this volume's subject matter. Contributors. Barbara Browning, Celeste Fraser Delgado, Jane C. Desmond, Mayra Santos Febres, Juan Carlos Quintero Herencia, Josh Kun, Ana M. López, José Esteban Muñoz, José Piedra, Gustavo Perez Fírmat, Augusto C. Puleo, David Román, Jorge Salessi, Alberto Sandoval

Music, Dance, Affect, and Emotions in Latin America is a collection of essays that analyze different manifestations of Argentine music and dance taking advantage of the exciting new theoretical developments advanced by the current affective turn. Contributors deal with the relationship between music, dance, affects, feelings, and emotions in different scenarios and show how the embodiment of music shape the experiential in ways that may impact upon but nevertheless many times evade conscious knowing. This book is one of the first academic attempts (regardless of region or country of scope) to try to solve some of the most important problems the affective turn has identified regarding how music and dance have been researched so far, such as the tendency, in representational accounts of music, to ignore the sensory and sonic registers to the detriment of the embodied and lived registers of experience and feeling that unfold in the process of making or listening to music.

This dynamic collection documents the rich and varied history of social dance and the multiple styles it has generated, while drawing on some of the most current forms of critical and theoretical inquiry. The essays cover different historical periods and styles; encompass regional influences from North and South America, Britain, Europe, and Africa; and emphasize a variety of methodological approaches, including ethnography, anthropology, gender studies, and critical race theory. While social dance is defined primarily as dance performed by the public in ballrooms, clubs, dance halls, and other meeting spots, contributors also examine social dance's symbiotic relationship with popular, theatrical stage dance forms. Contributors are Elizabeth Aldrich, Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Yvonne Daniel, Sherril Dodds, Lisa Doolittle, David F. García, Nadine George-Graves, Jurretta Jordan Heckscher, Constance Valis Hill, Karen W. Hubbard, Tim Lawrence, Julie Malnig, Carol Martin, Juliet McMains, Terry Monaghan, Halifu Osumare, Sally R. Sommer, May Gwin Waggoner, Tim Wall, and Christina Zanfagna.

Elements of Classical Ballet Technique as Practiced in the School for the Dance Theatre of Harlem champions the rich heritage of American dance from Fanny Elssler's triumphs to the square dances of the pioneers and on to the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Originally published in 1977, the text serves as a theoretical and practical outline of Shook's teaching philosophies. The book is divided into three parts: The Antecedents; The Theory; The Practice. In The Antecedents, Shook respectively discusses the tradition of a dance teacher, the American attitude, classical ballet and the development of Dance Theatre of Harlem. The Theory and The Practice are divulgences into Shook's philosophies on teaching, supplemented by a syllabus for the elementary grades of ballet. Elements of Classical Ballet Technique is ideal for the dance teacher who strives to nourish mental flexibility and dexterity of character in their students, as well as to provide and hone technical training.

This title in the American Dance Floor series provides an overview of the origins, development, and current status of Latin social dancing in the United States.Latin dance and music have had a widespread influence upon the development of other social dance and music styles in the United States. As a result, Latin dance styles are among the most important dance forms in America.Latin Dance addresses every major style of Latin dance, describing the basic steps that characterize it as well as its rhythmic pace and time signature, and examining its development from European, African, and Amerindian influences. The author explains the range of styles and expression to be found in Latin dances primarily within the context of couples social dancing, the popularity of salsa today, and the broader social meanings and implications of their multicultural origins from the 1600s to the present. The historic connection between exhibition Latin dance and American modern dance through vaudeville is explained as well.

The various cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean have produced their own unique forms of dance. Latin and Caribbean Dance highlights dances indigenous to Cuba (mambo and cha-cha-cha), the Dominican Republic (merengue and bachata), Haiti (compas and Vodou ritual dances), Argentina (tango), and Brazil (samba and capoeira). Explore how each dance has developed and been adapted through European and African influences, as well as how they continue to develop in the modern world.