Shapes of American Ballet

Teachers and Training before Balanchine

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Music, Pop & Rock, Dance, Music Styles, Theory & Criticism, History & Criticism
Cover of the book Shapes of American Ballet by Jessica Zeller, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jessica Zeller ISBN: 9780190296711
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: June 1, 2016
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Jessica Zeller
ISBN: 9780190296711
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: June 1, 2016
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

In Shapes of American Ballet: Teachers and Training before Balanchine, Jessica Zeller introduces the first few decades of the twentieth century as an often overlooked, yet critical period for ballet's growth in America. While George Balanchine is often considered the sole creator of American ballet, numerous European and Russian émigrés had been working for decades to build a national ballet with an American identity. These pedagogues and others like them played critical yet largely unacknowledged roles in American ballet's development. Despite their prestigious ballet pedigrees, the dance field's exhaustive focus on Balanchine has led to the neglect of their work during the first few decades of the century, and in this light, this book offers a new perspective on American ballet during the period immediately prior to Balanchine's arrival. Zeller uses hundreds of rare archival documents to illuminate the pedagogies of several significant European and Russian teachers who worked in New York City. Bringing these contributions into the broader history of American ballet recasts American ballet's identity as diverse-comprised of numerous Euro-Russian and American elements, as opposed to the work of one individual. This new account of early twentieth century American ballet is situated against a bustling New York City backdrop, where mass immigration through Ellis Island brought the ballet from European and Russian opera houses into contact with a variety of American forms and sensibilities. Ballet from celebrated Euro-Russian lineages was performed in vaudeville and blended with American popular dance styles, and it developed new characteristics as it responded to the American economy. Shapes of American Ballet delves into ballet's struggle to define itself during this rich early twentieth century period, and it sheds new light on ballet's development of an American identity before Balanchine.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In Shapes of American Ballet: Teachers and Training before Balanchine, Jessica Zeller introduces the first few decades of the twentieth century as an often overlooked, yet critical period for ballet's growth in America. While George Balanchine is often considered the sole creator of American ballet, numerous European and Russian émigrés had been working for decades to build a national ballet with an American identity. These pedagogues and others like them played critical yet largely unacknowledged roles in American ballet's development. Despite their prestigious ballet pedigrees, the dance field's exhaustive focus on Balanchine has led to the neglect of their work during the first few decades of the century, and in this light, this book offers a new perspective on American ballet during the period immediately prior to Balanchine's arrival. Zeller uses hundreds of rare archival documents to illuminate the pedagogies of several significant European and Russian teachers who worked in New York City. Bringing these contributions into the broader history of American ballet recasts American ballet's identity as diverse-comprised of numerous Euro-Russian and American elements, as opposed to the work of one individual. This new account of early twentieth century American ballet is situated against a bustling New York City backdrop, where mass immigration through Ellis Island brought the ballet from European and Russian opera houses into contact with a variety of American forms and sensibilities. Ballet from celebrated Euro-Russian lineages was performed in vaudeville and blended with American popular dance styles, and it developed new characteristics as it responded to the American economy. Shapes of American Ballet delves into ballet's struggle to define itself during this rich early twentieth century period, and it sheds new light on ballet's development of an American identity before Balanchine.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book The Middle East by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theology, 1600-1800 by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book Thomas Aquinas's Summa Contra Gentiles by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book After Prostate Cancer by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book Rainbow's End : The Crash of 1929 by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book The Breast Test Book by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book Man's Emerging Mind by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book Necessity in International Law by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book Youth at Risk: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book The Necessity of Theater by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book The Design and Conduct of Meaningful Experiments Involving Human Participants by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book America's Joan of Arc by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book Rebels in a Rotten State by Jessica Zeller
Cover of the book Holy Jumpers by Jessica Zeller
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy