The Golden Age of the Spanish Dance


Book Description

This printed material is a chronological history of dance, bringing together many different dancers and styles, a unification of Spanish art-forms. We have seen a handful of dance biographies always declaring the career of their subject as the most important. Let's place into perspective that we had many dancers during the same time frame and each one contributed, some more than others. Noting the artistic contributions made by these performers made it easier to review the period of Spanish dance as an 'era'. We took these performers and placed them into one account, foretelling how this style of dance contributed to the overall American style of the Spanish dance. Americans Ted Shawn, Ruth St. Denis, La Meri, Carmelita Maracci and Ballet Russes Anna Pavlova, Adoph Bolm and Leonide Massine were all in some way affected by the Spanish dance. Even Hollywood and Broadway were instrumental in the birth of Hispanic culture in the country. In this first book I have highlighted the careers of two artists, La Argentina and Vicente Escudero, both worked together forming a part-time partnership important in this early era. Later Spaniards who exemplified the art-form in America were La Argentinita, Pilar Lopez, Rosario & Antonio, Jose Greco, and Nana Lorca whos reflections are mirrored within these pages and later editions.







Daily Life in Spain in the Golden Age


Book Description

A book about life in Spain from the succession of Philip II (1556) to the death of Philip IV (1665). The author relies primarily upon careful use of literary works and travel accounts written during this 'golden age'. In addition to delightful descriptions and anecdotes, he has woven into his text important political and economic developments. He provides a general view of Spain, stressing the importance of the Catholic faith and the emphasis upon personal honour, before surveying life and society in urban and rural areas. He then examines in some detail life in the Church, university, military and home; public entertainment; and the picaresque life.




The Currency of Cultural Patrimony: The Spanish Golden Age


Book Description

The Spanish Golden Age, a cultural narrative that has developed and over four centuries, remains a key element of how Spaniards articulate cultural identities, both within Spain and to the outside world. The Currency of Cultural Patrimony examines the development of this narrative by artists, intellectuals, historians, academics, and institutions. By defining the Spanish Golden Age as a diachronic problem, it examines several of Spain’s most canonical golden-age literary narratives (including Don Quixote, Fuenteovejuna, and Las mocedades del Cid) as texts whose institutionalization, mediation, and commercialization over the course of four hundred years inform their meaning both for contemporary Spaniards and for the field of Hispanic Studies around the world. Spain’s persistent deployment of this cultural patrimony as the canonical epicentre of a national literary tradition has stimulated diverse and often contradictory interpretations, the cumulative effect of which informs their reception by each new generation of Spaniards. This book’s analysis of how this patrimony is interpreted according to both tradition and current circumstances illuminates new angles from which scholars can approach some of Hispanism’s most persistent and vexing questions, including the growing divide between popular and academic understandings of the Spanish nation’s “classics.”




Spanish Drama of the Golden Age


Book Description

Spanish Drama of the Golden Age describes this little-known field of European drama. This book describes and analyzes Spanish plays and drama. It reviews the Spanish plays from the 1580s to the death of Pedro Calderon de la Barca in 1681. This text also discusses the controversy to which direction the Spanish theater would take: whether it is for entertainment or a representation of the intellect and emotions. This book describes Miguel de Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and the rise of the Spanish comedia. The text describes how Lope wrote his plays and how he sold them outright to the manager of an acting company, which became its property. The text also describes the life of Tirso de Molina who was often criticized for his cavalier treatment of a historical fact. This book also discusses the works of Ruiz de Alarcon, Guillen de Castro, Velez de Guevara, and Mira de Amescua. This book also assess this period of Spanish drama in terms of the influence of other countries in Europe such as Britain and France. This book can prove valuable for university students of Spanish, Spanish literature teachers to students of sixth forms, and Spanish historians.




Spanish Dramatists of the Golden Age


Book Description

The Golden Age of Spanish drama extends from the close of the 15th century to the death of Calderón in 1681. During that time, the humanists, as dramatists, followed Italy's artistic awakening direction, and imitated Classical drama. With originality and dreams of greatness, they subverted the nature of tragedy; modified the approach of Comedy and invented the New Play, the Comedia Nueva. In it the poet-dramatists introduced important modificaitons of realism, included imagined reality, Christian symbolism and theatricality, as artistic truth. They elaborate all kinds of syntheses. For this reason, the Spanish Golden Age theater can be viewed as part of a tradition that includes the Greco-Roman comedy and tragedy, Christian tragedy, and the authentic national literary and dramatic tendencies. The entries in this reference book explore the fascinating history of the Golden Age of Spanish drama. The volume begins with an introductory overview of the literary, cultural, and historical contexts that shaped dramatic writing of the period. The book then presents alphabetically arranged essays for nineteen significant Spanish dramatists of the Golden Age. Each essay is written by an expert contributor and includes biographical information, an analysis and evaluation of major works, a discussion of critical response to the plays, and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The volume closes with a selected general bibliography of central critical studies of Golden Age Spanish drama.




The Dance: Its Place in Art and Life


Book Description

"The Dance" by Margaret West Kinney is a book about dance as a form of art. The writing includes a chapter of explanation of the salient steps of the ballet. These steps, with superficial variations and additions, form the basis also of all-natural or "character" dances that can lay claim to any consideration as interpretative art. Direct practical instruction is furnished on the subject of present-day ballroom dancing, to the extent of clear and exact directions for the performance of steps now fashionable in Europe and America. Some notable titles are: The "Schuhplatteltanz" Classic Ballet Positions Fundamental Positions of the Feet The "Tango" Development of an Arch "À La Pirouette", etc.







Flamenco


Book Description

This analytical history traces representations of flamenco dance in Spain and abroad from the twentieth century to the present, using histories, film, accounts of live performances, and practitioner interviews. Beginning with an analysis of flamenco historiography, the text examines images of the female dancer in films by Luis Bunuel, Carlos Saura, and Antonio Gades; stereotypes of flamenco bodies and Andalusian culture in Prosper Merimee's Carmen; and the ways in which contemporary flamenco dancers like Belen Maya and Rocio Molina negotiate the stereotype of Carmen and an idealized Spanish feminine that pervades "traditional" flamenco. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.




Performance Reconstruction and Spanish Golden Age Drama


Book Description

Spanish Golden Age drama has resurfaced in recent years, however scholarly analysis has not kept pace with its popularity. This book problematizes and analyzes the approaches to staging reconstruction taken over the past few decades, including historical, semiotic, anthropological, cultural, structural, cognitive and phenomenological methods.