Nureyev. - book reviews

Dance Magazine, Jan, 1994 by Harris Green

Phaidon Press has done a great service for Rudolf Nureyev, as well as for his admirers, by publishing Nureyv (distributed by Chronicle Books, 240 pp., $39.95). He danced so long after he had passed his peak that he caused a generation gap to open between those balletgores who had seen him at his best, and considered themselves privileged, and those who had seen him only during the later, willfully distened stage of his career and were underwhelmed. Both groups will profit from studying the over 200 photos (all made before 1988) that editor-designer Howard Brown has lovingly selcted for this handsomely produced volume. Nlureyev, offstage as well as on, has been captured in all his animal magnestism, justified arrogance, mercurial sweetness, and irreplaceable ardor.

An entire company is saluted in photographs in Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre (Andrews and McMeel, 140 pp., $29.95). Richard Philip's introduction deftly sketches in its history and Jack Mitchell's over 180 dazzling black-and-white studio portraits of a generation of Ailey dancers in action show what the company is all about.

Antony Tudor has been well served by two books. Tudor's Soiree Musicale (Gordon and Breach, 119 pp., l$44 cloth, $24 paper). another entry in the Language of Dance series edited by Ann Hutchinson Guest, calls up his 1938 work with Labanotation and photographs of performances by the London, Scottish Theatre, and Joffrey ballet companies. Judith Chazin-Bennahum in The Ballets of Anthony Tudor (Oxford University Press, 320 pp., $29.95) combines a biography of the man with detailed discussions of works he made for major companies and the Juilliard School.

Pauline Koner has transferred mush of the course she taught at the Juilliard School to Elements of Performance: A Guide for Performers in Dance, Theatre and Opera (Harwood Academic Publishers, 120 pp., $38 cloth, $18 paper). For orders, call: (800) 545-8398.

There's a little something for almost everyone in Mark Franko's Dance as Text: Ideologies of the Baroque Body (Cambridge University Press, 257 pp., $65). After analyzing the development of French court ballet from 1573 to 1670 and the satiric subtexts of dance in Moliere's plays, dancer-choreographer Franko segues into such topics as reconstruction and postmodernism.

The term dance should never have been applied to the grueling craze that Frank M Calabria describes in Dance of the Sleepwalkers: The Dance Marathon Fad (Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 215 pp., $39.95 cloth, $19.95 paper). Calabria would appear to be the ideal person to explain why contestants began submitting to such staminasapping ordeals in 1923 and why spectators were paying to watch as late as 1953; he teaches ballroom dancing and practices psychotherapy.

Janice LaPointe-Crump and Kimberly Staley combine history and how-to books in Discovering Jazz Dance: America's Engery and Soul (Brown & Benchmark, 220 pp., $17.18). Irrepressible models demostrate steps and exercises. Sally Banes is content to concentrate her attention upon only one place and period in Greenwich Village 1963: Avant-Garde Performance and the Effervescent Body (Duke University Press, 317 pp., $49.95 cloth, $17.95 paper). Photos of Trisha Borwn, Steve Paxton, and Yvonne Rainer reveal their bodies to have been in excellent shape that year.

Thought his title suggests a haunting line from a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland movie, Peter Filichia is not writing just for teenagers in Let's Put On a Musicial! How to Choose the Right Show for Your School, Community or Professional Theater (Avon, 375 pp., $10 paper). He breaks shows down into categories (e.g., musicals that feature choreography), provides plot summaries, lists essential props and sets, and reports who owns the rights.

Speaking of OUr Judy, David Shipman may tell her more tenderhearted fans more than they wanted to know about her in Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend (Hyperion, 554 pp., $24.95). Less sentimental readers will be grateful to Shipman for providing as much detail about sex partners and drug intake as he does about Hollywood, show business, and shelf-destruction.

First Steps in Teaching Creative Dance to Children, by Mary Joyce (Mayfield Publishing, 229 pp., $19.95), has gone into a third edition. Changes in the curricula of many schools have necessitated revisions, as well as a new chapter in this popular book.

Budding dancers ages eight to twelve might enjoy keeping a record of their progress in My Ballet Book: A lWrite-In-Me Book for Young Dancers (HarperFestival, 44 pp., $10.95). Thier parents, seeking a book about abllet for them to read, should not be alarmed by Gelsey Kirkland and Greg Lawrence's names on The Little Ballerina and Her Dancing Horse (Doubleday, 128 pp., $14.95). The horse is the only character that does any snorting in this chatty juvenile novella.