No Fixed Points: Dance in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

*Presentation de l'editeur : «The definitive history of twentieth-century theatrical dance, enhanced with more than 200 exceptional photographs This book chronicles one hundred years of dramatic developments in ballet, modern, and experimental dance for stage and screen in Europe and North America. The volume is magisterial in scope, encompassing the history of theatrical dance from 1900 through 2000. Beginning with turn-of-the-century dancer-choreographers like Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Michel Fokine, and a bit later Vaslav Nijinsky, and proceeding through the profusion of dance styles performed today, the book provides an unparalleled view of dance in performance as it changed and grew in the twentieth century. Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick set dance in broader cultural and historical contexts, examine specific dance works, and explore the contributions of outstanding choreographers, performers, visual artists, impresarios, composers, critics, and other figures. They discuss the breakaway barefoot dance of the early 1900s and demonstrate its links with later forms and styles. With unusual detail, fascinating illustrations, and wide-ranging insights, this book is an indispensable guide to the transformations in the dance scene of the twentieth century. There is simply no other history of twentieth-century dance that is as detailed, comprehensive, and readable as No Fixed Points. Much thought has gone into it, along with prodigious research.--Lynn Garafola, co-editor of The Ballets Russes and Its World » *TABLE DES MATIERES : Preface --Chapter 1 New Dance: America's Pioneers (1900@-1940)--Vaudeville and spectacle extravaganza--exercise and dress reform--Fuller, Duncan, Denishawn Chapter 2 Experimentalism in Ballet: Fokine, Diaghilev, and the Russian Legacy (1900@-1930s)--End of the Petipa era--Fokine--Diaghilev--Nijinsky--Massine, Nijinska, Balanchine--other Russians in the West--worldwide influence of later Ballets Russes Chapter 3 Central European Modern: Ausdruckstanz, the Dance of Expression (1910@-1945) --Laban--Wigman--Schlemmer and the Bauhaus--solo concert dancers--Kreutzberg and Georgi--Jooss--Ausdruckstanz and National Socialism Chapter 4 Ballet Comes to America (1900-1940s) --Early visitors--Russians in America--Ballet Russe tours--Regionalism, Americana themes--unaffiliated Americans Chapter 5 America After Denishawn: The Heroic Age of Modern Dance (1920@-1940s) --Modernism defined--role of John Martin--Graham, Humphrey, Weidman, and Holm--political themes--Bennington summer dance program Chapter 6 Ballet in Western Europe: The Rise of National Traditions (1900-1960s) --Expatriate Russians in the West--Rambert, early Tudor, de Valois, Ashton and English Classicism, Fonteyn, early Cranko, early MacMillan, Festival Ballet--hegemony of the Paris Opera, Lifar, de Cuevas, Kochno, Petit, Charrat--Denmark's Bournonville legacy, Lander Chapter 7 A World Apart: Dance in Russia and the Soviet Union (1900@-1960s)--Innovation in Moscow--the Russian Revolution--the experimental 1920s--Socialist Realism, the dramballet--the late 1950s limited thaw Chapter 8 Ballet in America Comes of Age (1935@-1965) --Balanchine in America--American Ballet Theatre-- Chapter 9 Modern Dance in America: The Second Generation and Beyond (1935@-2000) --Sokolow, Lang--King, Shearer--Limon--Horton--Dunham, Primus--Ailey Chapter 10 New American Moderns: Schism and Transition (1940s@-2000) --Cunningham--Hawkins--Nikolais, Louis--Taylor--Waring Chapter 11 Beyond the Boundaries: Postmodernism (1960@-1980) --Precursors--Robert Dunn and the Judson Church--new spaces--Halprin, Rainer--Paxton and contact improvisation--Brown--Monk--Childs--early Tharp Chapter 12 Internationalism: The Merging of the Disciplines (1950@-2000)--Merging before 1950-- Chapter 13 Ballet Rising (1960@-1990s) --The ballet boom--government funding--Nureyev, Makarova, Baryshnikov--the revival of full-evening classics--Cranko, MacMillan--the dominance of Balanchine Chapter 14 Ballet's High Tide (1960s-2000) --New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre--The Joffrey, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Harkness, Les Ballets Trockadero--Regional Ballet in America--Canada--Great Britain--France--Germany--the Soviet Union and the New Russia--Denmark, Switzerland, Spain Chapter 15 Late Modern: Pluralism and the Ascendancy of Style (1960s@-2000) --The global vision, Chapter 16 Musical Theater in America (1900@-2000) --Minstrelsy, tap, chorus lines, operetta, ballroom--Ziegfeld, Cohan, Miller, black musicals, Princess Theatre musicals--the Golden Age, 1930@-1980--reemergence of tap--revival fever Chapter 17 Dance in the Movies (1900@-2000)--The silents----the talkies--Berkeley--Astaire--Balanchine--the Golden Age of the Hollywood musical, 1942@-1957--Broadway shows on film--decline of the studio system--the backstage world of ballet