Books about Ballet

[FLOSS]

Dance Books are publishing a book about Mark Morris. It is called Mark Morris Musician Choreographer.It is available at a 20% discount until the end of this month. £40 rather than £50.

Full details are available on the Dance Books website.

[FLOSS]

 As Christmas is coming up I thought that it might be a good idea to start this topic which I hope will enable fellow ballet enthusiasts to share details of recently published books on ballet and ballet related theme which might be of interest either as presents for others or as something that we might like to mention, if asked what we would like for Christmas,or we might simply like to buy for ourselves.The closure of the Opera House shop is likely to significantly reduce the opportunities to dip into ballet related books and keep abreast of the latest publications during the next few years and while opera goers will probably also regret its closure their interests are reasonably well served in other bookshops.If you have read a book about ballet published or republished recently which might be of interest to others perhaps you would share your opinion of it.

 

Dance Books has recently republished Cyril Beaumont's The Ballet called Swan Lake which follows the same format as the same author's The Ballet called Giselle. Both volumes discuss the ballet's origins,the sources of the choreography,its performance history and end with a detailed account of the choreography.Both are well worth reading.The book on Giselle is invaluable as it discusses at some length who choreographed what the book on Swan Lake is almost as good.

 

Has anyone read any of the following books? Newman's Never Far From Dancing a series of interviews with retired dancers including Seymour and Wall, the two recently published biographies of Alicia Markova and Constant Lambert and a book which I think is called Balanchine and the Forgotten Muse?This last book attempts to cover Balanchine's formative Russian years and the life and mysterious death of a young dancer called Lydia.Its weakness for me was the amount of speculation that the author indulged in which, for me, got in the way of her account of a fascinating period in the development of both Balanchine as dancer and choreographer and Russian ballet as a whole.

Edited October 11, 2015 by FLOSS

[Beryl H]

I recently bought The Ballet Lover's Companion by Zoe Anderson which I am enjoying, it's not too technical, and gives a general history of how ballet has evolved at the start of the chapters, as well as describing many ballets, just been reading about Theme and Variations which is the next ballet I'll see, it describes some of the very difficult steps the male principal has to dance.

[sarahw]

http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/9569-ballet-novels-and-biographies/?fromsearch=1

 

This is the link to a thread from earlier this year that may be of interest.

[FLOSS]

At a talk he gave to the London Ballet Circle some months ago Sir Peter Wright indicated that he was in the process of writing his memoirs. I have been told that Beryl Grey is writing hers. They should both be worth reading.If anyone obtains solid information about either book perhaps they could post the details here.

[Paul Arrowsmith]

At a talk he gave to the London Ballet Circle some months ago Sir Peter Wright indicated that he was in the process of writing his memoirs. I have been told that Beryl Grey is writing hers. They should both be worth reading.If anyone obtains solid information about either book perhaps they could post the details here.

 

Perhaps I can comment. Peter Wright is well advanced with his memoires (I am working with him to prepare them for publication). The book is scheduled to be published in 2016 by Oberon Books to celebrate Peter's 90th birthday.

[Guest oncnp]

From @GWDanceWriter -

 

For anyone who reads Spanish Tamara Rojo's new book. Hope there is an English translation coming

 

Published on 27 November, Caligrama presents the booktrailer for "Psychological Profile of a High Level Dancer", an informative work on the vocational traits of the professional dancer by@TamaraRojo1

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS0wnBTfBKg&feature=emb_logo

 

 

[alison]

Isn't that what she did her Masters/Doctorate or whatever thesis on?

[alison]

28 minutes ago, oncnp said:

From @GWDanceWriter -

 

For anyone who reads Spanish Tamara Rojo's new book. Hope there is an English translation coming

 

Equally, if someone finds out that there isn't, please let me know.

[EVWS]

I've just seen on Instagram that there is going to be a photo book of Marianela Nunez, 'Moments with Marianela' published in November. All photos taken by Maria-Helena Buckley who I think takes a lot of the rehearsal type photos that appear on Marianela's Instagram. 

 

It's published by Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers - more info here: https://scalapublishers.com/moments-with-marianela/ and you can already pre-order from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moments-Marianela-Núñez/dp/1785514733/ref=sr_1_1?crid=HZ9UBGFWM8GW&keywords=moments+with+marianela&qid=1693300676&sprefix=moments+with+marianela%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-1

[capybara]

3 hours ago, EVWS said:

I've just seen on Instagram that there is going to be a photo book of Marianela Nunez, 'Moments with Marianela' published in November. All photos taken by Maria-Helena Buckley who I think takes a lot of the rehearsal type photos that appear on Marianela's Instagram. 

 

This will be nice and it can also be pre-ordered from the ROH Bookshop.

 

Also, I don't think that Vadim Muntagirov's autobiography FROM SMALL STEPS TO BIG LEAPS  has been mentioned on this thread. It is a book which contains a lot 'about ballet' !

[alison]

We do have a lot of "books" threads (21 when I counted last week), so it's perhaps not surprising that not everything ends up on all of them  

[Peanut68]

On 31/08/2023 at 10:29, EVWS said:

I've just seen on Instagram that there is going to be a photo book of Marianela Nunez, 'Moments with Marianela' published in November. All photos taken by Maria-Helena Buckley who I think takes a lot of the rehearsal type photos that appear on Marianela's Instagram. 

 

It's published by Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers - more info here: https://scalapublishers.com/moments-with-marianela/ and you can already pre-order from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moments-Marianela-Núñez/dp/1785514733/ref=sr_1_1?crid=HZ9UBGFWM8GW&keywords=moments+with+marianela&qid=1693300676&sprefix=moments+with+marianela%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-1

Ooh thanks….and pre-order timing perfect for Xmas!