Dancer


Book Description

The National Book Award–winning author’s biographical novel of Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev: “Exuberant and exhilarating . . . a brilliant leap of imagination” (San Francisco Chronicle). In Dancer, Colum McCann tells the ballet icon’s story through the myriad voices of those who knew him. There is Anna Vasileva, Rudi’s first ballet teacher, who rescues her protégé from the stunted life of his provincial town; Yulia, whose sexual and artistic ambitions are thwarted by her Soviet-sanctioned marriage; and Victor, the Venezuelan street hustler, who reveals the lurid underside of the gay celebrity set. Spanning four decades and many worlds, from the horrors of the Second World War to the wild abandon of New York in the ‘80s, Dancer is peopled by a large cast of characters, obscure and famous: doormen and shoemakers, nurses and translators, Margot Fonteyn, Eric Bruhn, and John Lennon. And at the heart of the spectacle stands the artist himself, willful, lustful, and driven by a never-to-be-met need for perfection.




The Dancer and the Devil


Book Description

Communism must kill what it cannot control. So for a century, it has killed artists, writers, musicians, and even dancers. It kills them secretly, using bioweapons and poison to escape accountability. Among its victims was Anna Pavlova, history’s greatest dancer, who was said to have God-given wings and feet that never touched the ground. But she defied Stalin, and for that she had to die. Her sudden death in Paris in 1931 was a mystery until now. The Dancer and the Devil traces Marxism’s century-long fascination with bioweapons, from the Soviets’ leak of pneumonic plague in 1939 that nearly killed Stalin to leaks of anthrax at Kiev in 1972 and Yekaterinburg in 1979; from the leak of a flu in northeast China in 1977 that killed millions to the catastrophic COVID-19 leak from biolabs in Wuhan, China. Marxism’s dark past must not be a parent to the world’s dark future. COMMUNIST CHINA PLAYED WITH FIRE AND THE WORLD IS BURNING Nearly ten million people have died so far from the mysterious Covid-19 virus. These dead follow a long line of thousands of other brave souls stretching back nearly a century who also suffered mysterious “natural” deaths, including dancers, writers, saints and heroes. These honored dead should not be forgotten by amnesiac government trying to avoid inconvenient truth. The dead and those who remember and loved them deserve answers to two great questions. How? Why? The Dancer and the Devil answers these questions. It tracks a century of Soviet and then Chinese Communist poisons and bioweapons through their development and intentional use on talented artists and heroes like Anna Pavlova, Maxim Gorky, Raoul Wallenberg and Alexis Navalny. It then tracks leaks of bioweapons beginning in Saratov, Russia in 1939 and Soviet Yekaterinburg in 1979 through Chinese leaks concluding in the recent concealed leak of the manufactured bioweapon Covid-19 from the military lab in Wuhan, China. Stalin, Putin, and Xi, perpetrators of these vast crimes against humanity itself, should not be allowed to escape responsibility. This book assembles the facts on these cowardly murderers, calling them to account for their heartless crimes against man concluding in Covid-19.




The Dancer


Book Description

The new book by prize-winning biographer Evelyn Juers, author of The House of Exile and The Recluse, portrays the life and background of a pioneering Australian dancer who died at the age of twenty-five in a remote town in India. A uniquely talented dancer and choreographer, Philippa Cullen grew up in Australia in the 1950s and 60s. In the 1970s, driven by the idea of dancing her own music, she was at the forefront of the new electronic music movement, working internationally with performers, avant-garde composers, engineers and mathematicians to build and experiment with theremins and movement-sensitive floors, which she called body-instruments. She had a unique sense of purpose, read widely, travelled the world, and danced at opera houses, art galleries and festivals, on streets and bridges, trains, clifftops, rooftops. She wrote, I would define dance as an outer manifestation of inner energy in an articulation more lucid than language. An embodiment of the artistic aspirations of her age, she died alone in a remote hill town in southern India in 1975. With detailed reference to Cullen’s personal papers and the recollections of those who knew her, and with her characteristic flair for drawing connections to bring in larger perspectives, Evelyn Juers’ The Dancer is at once an intimate and wide-ranging biography, a portrait of the artist as a young woman.




The Dancers' Body Book


Book Description

Ballet dancers have the strongest, most beautiful, probably the most envied bodies in the world. How do they stay slender and willowy while maintaining the extraordinary energy it takes to perform night after night? Can a nondancer or an amateur attain a dancer's figure and a dancer's vitality? And keep it? Here, in The Dancers' Body Book, the legendary ballerina Allegra Kent discloses the health, weight-watching, and relaxation secrets of some of the world's greatest ballet dancers -- from Suzanne Farrell and Fernando Bujones to Darci Kistler and Madame Alexandra Danilova. Combining them with two well-balanced diets -- one to lose weight by and one to live by -- and an exercise regimen that can be tailored to the individual, she provides a fabulous fitness program for everyone who longs to be slimmer, healthier, and more energetic. Fourteen varied menus incorporate delicious recipes from the dancers themselves (such as Jacques D'Amboise's Wonderful Dinner Salad and Dierdre Carberry's Almond Meringue Kisses), along with calorie guides and advice on how to create additional menus using your own favorite dishes. Helpful discussions on sports and exercise systems -- ranging from jogging and swimming to the sophisticated "Pilates" workout -- are also included, and in a special chapter entitled "A Healthy Outlook," the dancers talk candidly on such issues as smoking, anorexia, vitamins, doctors, massage, junk foods, fad diets, and injuries. Dancers take meticulous care of all their equipment because training and performance depend on it. Of course, the most essential piece of equipment, the body, needs the most care of all, and that is what this book is about: how to take care of the world's greatest machine. Allegra Kent joined the New York City Ballet at the age of fifteen and was a principal dancer with the company for thirty years, during which time she created a number of starring roles in ballets by Balanchine and Robbins. The mother of two daughters and a son, she is also the author of Allegra Kent's Water Beauty Book.




Dancer from the Dance


Book Description

One of the most important works of gay literature, this haunting, brilliant novel is a seriocomic remembrance of things past -- and still poignantly present. It depicts the adventures of Malone, a beautiful young man searching for love amid New York's emerging gay scene. From Manhattan's Everard Baths and after-hours discos to Fire Island's deserted parks and lavish orgies, Malone looks high and low for meaningful companionship. The person he finds is Sutherland, a campy quintessential queen -- and one of the most memorable literary creations of contemporary fiction. Hilarious, witty, and ultimately heartbreaking, Dancer from the Dance is truthful, provocative, outrageous fiction told in a voice as close to laughter as to tears.




The Dancer's Book of Health


Book Description




The Dancer's Promise


Book Description

'Oh my gosh! What a beautifully written story!... I totally loved it... I literally could not stop reading... This is a must if you like historical fiction!!' Reader review 5 stars 'A beautifully written and evocative story of love and loss, of family and redemption, that swept me away.' Rachel Burton, author of The Last Party at Silverton Hall When their father loses the family fortune, and their mother locks herself away, sisters Grace and Clementine are left to raise themselves in a grand London house that is slowly falling apart around them. Each of them is determined to one day restore their fortunes and their family name and make a promise to do just that. Clementine dreams of being a star on stage, a celebrated ballerina who will tour the world, earning fame and fortune. She is adamant she won't put her fate into a man's hands but take charge of it herself. Grace, in contrast, sees security in a good marriage. Their eligible new American neighbour, with wealth, charm and looks, seems like the perfect match. But when Clementine falls unexpectedly in love, it throws both sisters' lives into turmoil and forces each of them to ask if they are prepared to break their promise for a chance at true love... A beautifully imagined historical novel about the bond between sisters and a changing world. Perfect for fans of Tracy Rees, Lucinda Riley and Kate Morton. Readers love The Dancer's Promise: 'Brilliant... I loved the characters Grace and Clementine a true story of sisterly love and support in such difficult times... Truly memorable read... touching and inspiring' Reader review 5 stars 'What a treat! With its mystery element thrown in to enhance the plot, I found the time sped by and I was lost in another time and place' Reader review 5 stars




The Dancer


Book Description

The Dancer is a simple story of a young woman in love, a young woman who is trying to find out who she is. While the story is simple, the manner in which it unfolds is anything but. And sometimes the ride is so wild it has everyone, including the Author, hanging on to their seats. The Dancer starts on the Stage and that’s where it ends. In between, it goes to the beach, to an Artist’s Studio, to a Native Village. We come to understand that the Artist’s Studio and Native Village are other worlds. Will the Dancer find true love? Will she find her place in the World? Welcome to the wonderful, if somewhat strange and chaotic world of The Dancer.Series: 5 Books – Fantasy – Other Worlds – Love Story Ease: Very Easy; Target Audience – Everybody who is young at heart and who loves stories about those who are in love and about community. Rating G; Reading Level Very Easy 5th Grade; Longest Word: Categorization Sometimes she felt like she was living on a yo-yo. Flown towards the ground, then hovering there – a few inches away from the ground – before being spun back the other way and flown towards the sky, hovering there and then flown back towards the ground. From one extreme to the other – that was her life. That was her love life also between Ramon and Raul, so different, so alike. Some days she couldn’t decide between the two of them. Other days, who cared? They were both Italian, and she liked Italian men. And so, the Dancer’s life is very normal. But then magic comes into the scene. Whose magic? Is it good or bad? Whatever this magic is, wherever it comes from, it turns the Dancers life upside-down.




The Dance of Death


Book Description

"The German choreographer Kurt Jooss (1901-1979) belonged to a generation of artists who grew up and matured between the two world wars. Jooss was a major innovator in dance and an active participant in Weimar culture. Suzanne K. Walther provides a brief political and cultural history of the Weimar Republic; an overview of dance and choreography during this period leads to a detailed account of the contributions of Rudolf von Laban to German dance and his early association and life-long friendship with Jooss. The author provides complete descriptions and analyses of the four extant Jooss ballets: Pavane on the Death of an Infanta, Big City, A Ball in Old Vienna, and the award-winning anti-war ballet The Green Table. It also provides a full assessment of Jooss's fundamental contributions to the development of German modern dance, his aesthetic legacy, his concern with the social and humanitarian issues of his time, and the lasting influence of his pedagogical methods."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved




The Dance


Book Description

A celebration in verse of the silent poetry of dance and the dancer, this anthology features a dizzying range of subjects: Chinese dagger dances and Hindu festival dances, belly dancers and whirling dervishes, high school proms and wedding waltzes, tango, tarantella, flamenco, modern dance, reels and jigs, disco, and ballet. Some of the world’s most famous choreographers and dancers move through the poems gathered here: from Nijinsky and Pavlova to Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, from Isadora Duncan to George Balanchine and Martha Graham, from Bojangles to Baryshnikov. The work of more than 150 poets—including Shakespeare, Milton, Hafiz, Rumi, Li Po, Rilke, Rimbaud, Lorca, Akhmatova, Whitman, Dickinson, Cummings, Eliot, and Merrill—reflects the grace, the drama, the expressive power, and the sheer joy to be found in dance around the world and through the ages.