"Everything About Theater!"
by Robert L. Lee
Paperback, 156 pages
This book covers every aspect of theater, from the history and terminology of theater, acting, lighting, scenic design and painting, makeup, costumes, directing, and practically everything else. Clear and easy to read, the text includes suggested exercises at the end of each chapter. This book is a wonderful introduction to the world of theater!
Price: $15.00
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"To the Actor"
by Michael Chekhov
Paperback, 288 pages
How does an actor learn to:
- Call up emotion?
- Develop a character?
- Strengthen awareness?
These are essential techniques for every actor, and Michael Chekhov's classic work To the Actor explains, clearly and concisely, how to develop them. Chekhov's simple and practical method - successfully used by professional actors all over the world - trains the actor's imagination and body to fulfil its potential. This handbook for actors (and directors) has been revised and expanded by Mala Powers. It includes: a previously unpublished chapter on 'Psychological Gesture', translated into English by the celebrated director Andrei Malaev - Babel; a new biographical overview by Mala Powers; and a foreword by Simon Callow.
Price: $25.00
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"Acting Solo: the Art of One-Man Shows"
by
Hardcover, 214 pages
A cast of one: an actor's dream - or an actor's nightmare? An exploration of the one-person show, from its disreputable origins in 18th century England to Ruth Draper's monologues and the development of such popular shows as Julie Harris' The Belle of Amherst, John Gielgud's Ages of Man, Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain Tonight! and Spalding Gray's outlandish Swimming to Cambodia. Includes introduction by Julie Harris, interviews with actress Pat Carroll and playwright William Luce, rare photos, appendix of shows, bibliography, index.
Price: $21.00
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"Seasoned Theater"
by Martha Haarbauer
Paperback, 130 pages
Martha Haarbauer has directed The Seasoned Performers senior adult theatre since 1984 and has taught in the Department of Theatre at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for more than twenty-five years. Her experiences teaching classes and leading workshops, acting, designing costumes, writing theatre reviews and scripts, touring theatre productions, fundraising, and running a business have enabled this award-winning director and actress to establish one of the nation's most vibrant senior adult theatre programs.
Price: $7.00
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"Acting: Thought into Action"
by Kurt Daw
Paperback, 240 pages
Kurt Daw pairs cognitive research on the dynamic of the actor's mind with a keen appreciation of the craft and history of acting, expanding the creative thought processes of actors everywhere. Acting offers clear, precise instruction to the veteran actor and debunks the mysticism surrounding performance for the novice. Its series of seven lessons will tap your gray matter as well as your emotional core, utilizing your innate creative abilities to tackle the craft's toughest issues.
Price: $15.00
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"American Dialects: A Manual for Actors"
by Lewis Herman and Marguerite Shalett Herman
Paperback, 312 pages
This standard text, now in paperback for the first time -- the companion volume to Foreign Dialects -- American Dialects offers representative dialects of every major section of the United States. In each case, a general description and history of the dialect is given, followed by an analysis of vowel and consonant peculiarities, of its individual lilt and rhythm, and of its grammar variations. There are also lists of the idioms and idiomatic expressions that distinguish each dialect and exercises using them. American Dialects also includes musical inflection charts and diagrams showing the placement of lips, tongue, and breath.
Price: $24.00
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"After a Fashion: How to Reproduce, Restore, and Wear Vintage Styles"
by Frances Grimble
Paperback, 376 pages
A comprehensive guide to vintage clothing from the Middle Ages to the 1920s provides information on styles, costume research, outfit planning, fabric selection, sewing techniques, and other topics. Frances Grimble is the author of nine books on historic costume and needlework (one of which, After a Fashion, is in its second edition). Over 60 of her articles on sewing and vintage clothes have appeared in national magazines, such as Threads, Sew News, and Antique Trader Weekly.
Price: $27.00
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"The Lively Art"
by by Arthur Holmberg
Paperback, 320 pages
The resident repertory company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, affiliated with Harvard and known as the American Repertory Theatre, has long been considered one of the country's most innovative cultural resources. The quality of its productions and the issues it has raised about the nature of the creative life have distinguished it among American theatre groups. Here is a treasury of criticism, reflection, observation, and insight from the ART's post-production symposia, and pre-show talks, illustrated with photographs and drawings from ART archives. The notable contributors include a great many brilliant poets, novelists, dramatists, critics, scholars, lawyers, theatre directors, designers, and clowns, many of the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners. Whether Susan Sontag reflects on Milan Kundera's Jacques and His Master, or Jonathan Miller on Sheridan's School for Scandal, or Jan Kott on Hamlet, or Carlos Fuentes on Calderon's Life is a Dream, or Derek Walcott on his musical Steel, or Harold Bloom on Ibsen's Hedda Gabbler, or Anatole Smeliansky on Bulgakov's Black Snow, the discourse is heightened and passionate. The book also includes revealing interviews with major theatrical figures-Dario Fo, Philip Glass, Robert Wilson, Andrei Serban, David Mamet, and many others-and lively articles from the ART's founding artistic director Robert Brustein, its managing director Robert J. Orchard, and a variety of literary directors and dramaturges. In all, The Lively A.R.T. is a bountiful theatre experience, better than two on the aisle.
Price: $20.00
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"The Healing Art of Tai Chi: Becoming One with Nature"
by Martin E. Lee, PhD, Emily Lee, TC Master, and Melinda & Joyce Lee
Paperback, 144 pages
T'ai Chi offers relief from stress, breathing disorders, muscular ailments, and chronic headaches, as well as a variety of modern office- and sports-related complaints and deep emotional problems. Dr. Lee has developed a groundbreaking practical program that combines Eastern and Western approaches to wellness which helps people become "one with nature", a Buddhist term for the restoration of health. Here is a valuable health/exercise/meditation program, a breakthrough in combining the most ancient spiritual insights with the most advanced scientific knowledge.
Price: $10.00
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"Yoga for Your Life"
by Margaret D. Pierce and Martin G. Pierce
Paperback, 160 pages
"Yoga is the most powerful system of stress management, but it is also... a system for transforming our awareness and quieting down our mind and body to experience inner sources of peace, joy, and well-being. I highly recommend Yoga For Your Life as a practical and clear guide..." -- Dean Ornish, M.D. Over 400 beautiful color photographs present the spirit of yoga adapted to fit the American lifestyle. Along with eight progressive, easy-to-follow lessons are innovative methods for making yoga work for you every day -- to wake up, calm anxiety, focus the mind, and prevent insomnia. Even if you're a beginner, you can pick up this book and start practicing right now! 160 pages (all in color), 8 1/2 x 11.
Price: $14.00
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"The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky"
by Vaslav Nijinsky
Paperback, 384 pages
In his prime, Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950) was the most celebrated man in Western ballet--a virtuoso and a dramatic dancer such as European and American audiences had never seen before. After his triumphs in such works as The Specter of the Rose and Petrouchka, he set out to make ballets of his own, and with his Afternoon of a Faun and The Rite of Spring, created within a year of each other, he became ballet's first modernist choreographer. Then, still in his twenties, he began to go mad. For six weeks in early 1919, as his tie to reality was giving way, Nijinsky kept a diary--the only sustained daily record we have, by a major artist, of the experience of entering psychosis. In some entries he is filled with hope. He is God; he will save the world. In other entries, he falls into a black despair. He is dogged by sexual obsessions and grief over World War I. Furthermore, he is afraid that he is going insane. The diary was first published in 1936, in a version heavily bowdlerized by Nijinsky's wife. The new edition, translated by Kyril FitzLyon, is the first complete and accurate English rendering of this searing document.
Price: $25.00
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"The Modern Dance: Seven Statements of Belief "
Selma Jeanne Cohen (Editor)
Paperback, 112 pages
Editor Selma Jeanne Cohen 'turned on' seven prominent choreographers (Jose Limon, Anna Sokolow, Erick Hawkins, Donald McKayle, Alwin Nikolas, Pauline Koner, & Paul Taylor) to write what their art meant to them. Each was to set forth his or her ideas on the modern dance and then to describe what he [or she] would do if commissioned to compose a dance that had to deal with the theme of the Prodigal Son... With the help of these pre-established foci, the essays actually amount to a documentary on the modern dance at mid-century as seen by its practitioners
Price: $17.00
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"Numbers on the Move"
by Teresa Benzwie
Paperback, 384 pages
Early childhood educator Teresa Benzwie believes that dance and movement foster imagination, which is essential to the learning process. Her philosophy---that creative movement helps children gain knowledge through the body---is incorporated in Numbers on the Move, an appealing and entertaining book that urges kids to dance, stretch, and move as they learn to count and play with numbers.
Featuring playful, full-color illustrations, this book offers dynamic activities for children, who learn most readily from experience. For parents and teachers, Benzwie provides additional games and activities to try with children. Kids will develop a concrete awareness of numbers as they connect in deep, direct ways with their own expressive movement.
Price: $17.00
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"Private Domain: An Autobiography"
by Paul Taylor
Paperback, 406 pages
Taylor explores aspects of himself that have affected his work. He delves into the creation of Aureole and From Sea to Shining Sea, from their initial inception to the ways in which specific dancers influenced the choreography, including such notables as Pina Bausch, Laura Dean, David Parsons, Twyla Tharp, Dan Wagoner, Senta Driver-all of whom went on to form their own companies-and others-Bettie de Jong, Nicholas Gunn, and Carolyn Adams-who remained as much a part of the Taylor style as the choreography itself. Taylor writes with sincerity, wit, and charm of his associations with Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Jerome Robbins, Anthony Tudor, George Balanchine, and many others.
Price: $24.00
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"A Young Dancer: The Life of an Ailey Student"
by Valarie Gladstone & Jose Ivey
Hardcover, 48 pages
Meet Iman Bright, a thirteen-year-old student at the prestigious Ailey School in New York City. Iman is passionate about dance, but she also enjoys drawing, playing music, and of course, hanging out with her friends. Follow Iman as she warms up at the barre, practices violin, and gets ready for a performance with her fellow students.
In descriptive words and striking photographs, this informative picture book provides fascinating insight into the world of dance through the voice of one very talented young performer.
Price: $19.00
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"Acts of Light"
by Nan Deane Cano. Photographs by John Deane.
University Press of Florida, 2006.
The breathtaking images in Acts of Light are the result of John Deane's unprecedented access as a promotional photographer for the Martha Graham Dance Company. The first book to comprehensively survey Graham's dances in full color digital photography, it also features personal interviews with this new generation of Graham interpreters, who reflect on their own lives, the meaning each dance has for them personally, and the Graham technique in frank and touching style. Dancers reveal how they approach now-classic works and personalize their interpretations, coming to them with a new sensibility and unique life experiences. The 18 featured works range from the Greek cycle and biblically inspired ballets through abstract studies of tragedy and hope, considerations of loss incurred in wartime, and literary speculations like Deaths and Entrances, a recently revived work on the Bronte sisters. Deane and Cano give special consideration to the beloved American masterwork Graham created in collaboration with composer Aaron Copland-Appalachian Spring.
Price: $40.00
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"Barbara Morgan (Aperture Masters of Photography)"
by Deba P. Patnaik and Barbara Morgan (Hardcover)
Although celebrated for her extraordinary studies of modern dance in the late 1920s and early thirties, Barbara Morgan enjoyed an artistic career that embraced a wide range of philosophical and aesthetic influences. Her studies of pioneering dancers such as Martha Graham, José Limón, Erik Hawkins, and Merce Cunningham capture the spirituality of a temporal art. She also combined photograms and light drawing to experiment with moving light patterns. A former painter, she used montage and manipulated imagery to express the visual and kinetic energy of New York City. Included in this volume are the finest examples of Morgan's work: dance photographs, photomontages, light drawings, and other works from a long, varied photographic career. In the accompanying essay, Deba P. Patnaik, photo-historian and Executive Director of the Willard & Barbara Morgan Foundation, provides an overview of the development of Morgan's career and insight into the beliefs that informed her work. Hardcover, 8 x 8 in./96 pgs
Price: $15.00
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"The Collaborative Habit: Life Lessons for Working Together"
by Twyla Tharp (Hardcover)
In a career that has spanned four decades, choreographer Twyla Tharp has collaborated with great musicians, designers, thousands of dancers, and almost a hundred companies. She's experienced the thrill of shared achievement and has seen what happens when group efforts fizzle. Her professional life has been -- and continues to be -- one collaboration after another.
In this practical sequel to her national bestseller The Creative Habit, Tharp explains why collaboration is important to her -- and can be for you. She shows how to recognize good candidates for partnership and how to build one successfully, and analyzes dysfunctional collaborations. And although this isn't a book that promises to help you deepen your romantic life, she suggests that the lessons you learn by working together professionally can help you in your personal relationships.
Price: $28.00
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"The Human Alphabet"
by Pilobolus and John Kane (Hardcover)
Pilobolus performs for stage and broadcast audiences around the world, and its works are represented in the repertories of other major dance companies. The company works frequently with children and schools. Its educational outreach program, the Pilobolus Institute, uses choreography as a model for creative thinking, and has produced major projects and residencies for the Lincoln Center Institute, the Julliard School, Yale University, and the Cleveland School for the Arts, among others. Pilobolus is based in Washington, Connecticut.
The company's dancers join limbs, twist, and grip to form twenty-six letters-an alphabet made of the human body, captured in glorious color photographs. Alongside each letter, they've also composed a picture: ants for A; butterfly for B; circus for C-and so on through Z, a human zipper. Can you guess what each one shows? In this novel approach to the alphabet, Pilobolus turns their bold, bright visual statements they are so known for into an unusual, viscerally pleasing book. It's a whole new typography!
Price: $19.00
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"The Dancer's Survival Manual: Everything You Need to Know from the First Class to Career Change"
by Marian Horosko & Judith F. Kupersmit (Paperback)
The process of beginning a career in dance can be intimidating and overwhelming. In choosing a school and a teacher, auditioning, competing, and signing a contract, a young dancer has to play many roles and make many difficult, life-altering choices.
The older dancer faces a different set of concerns: dealing with the management and the press, navigating backstage politics, working through injuries, staying healthy, and eventually coping with the prospect of moving to a new profession.
In The Dancer's Survival Manual, former New York City Ballet dancers Marian Horosko and Judith Kupersmith, M.D., draw upon their vast experience to carefully explain and demystify a career in dance. Written in a highly readable style, this comprehensive guide covers all the major decisions and challenges a dancer may face over the course of his or her career, and emphasizes the importance of caring for both the mind and body at every stage.
Price: $25.00
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"Patrick Swayze: One Last Dance"
by Wendy Leigh (Paperback)
For almost thirty years, Patrick Swayze has been an American icon of masculinity and sex appeal, strong but sensitive, romantic yet dangerous.
In this intimate and revealing biography, New York Times bestselling author Wendy Leigh shares the inspiring untold story of Patrick's incredible life: his show business childhood, his fairy-tale love affair with wife Lisa Niemi, his catapult into alcoholism after his father's untimely death, the daredevil exploits that almost killed him, and his courageous fight against pancreatic cancer, a fight that has off-ered hope and encouragement to others grap-pling with similar life-threatening illnesses.
Ever since the steamy low-budget film Dirty Dancing skyrocketed Patrick to fame and cemented his place in the hearts of audiences around the world, he has been one of our most cherished public figures. Based on interviews with countless sources who have never spoken about Patrick before -- from the Texas beauty who shared his first kiss, to the woman he almost married, to the manager who worked closely with him from his teen idol days until his romantic tour de force in Ghost -- and many more, Leigh unveils surprising details about the charismatic actor's life on- and off-screen. Beginning with his training as a dancer with his choreographer mother and spanning his remarkable -- and at times challenging -- career, this groundbreaking biography of the un-forgettable entertainer is the mesmerizing, enduring, and definitive story of a man who captured our hearts.
Price: $16.00
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"Merce Cunningham: 50 years"
by David Vaughan
Celebrates the career of one of the most important artists of the twentieth century from his first innovative and explosive solo dances to the present. This unique book incorporates images of performances by many world renowned photographers, including Imogen Cunningham, Barbara Morgan, Annie Leibovitz, Peter Hujar, and Arnold Eagle.
"The book on Mr. Cunningham aims at, and is, as complete and clear a portrait of the modern dance choreographer and his epochal work as has ever been published... The surprise of the Cunningham book is the grace with which it almost definitively sums up Mr. Cunningham's 63-year life in dance ... Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years is a compelling portrait of a simple yet complex man and an artist who has seldom faltered in his explorations of life and art on the simplest and most complex levels."
-Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times
Price: $50.00
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"Alphabet Movers"
by Teresa Benzwie (Paperback)
Benzwie's playful verse and Bender's dynamic illustrations combine learning the alphabet with movement. Letter jump, leap, and fly with wit and energy that engage the learner's body and mind.
Price: $12.00
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"More Moving Experiences"
by Teresa Benzwie (Paperback)
Foster the imagination essential to the learning process with expressive movement experiences. Learn to create experiences that allow your students to concentrate, problem solve, and develop self-awareness.
Price: $28.00
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"Shoot Me While I'm Happy"
by Jane Goldberg (Paperback, DVD included)
This is not a history of tap dancing. It is one determined woman's highly personal account of falling in love with and living the tap life. One of the linchpins behind the Great Tap Revival of the 1970s and 80s, Jane Goldberg tracked down, studied with, and performed alongside some of the tap greats of the twentieth century. In the process, she came up with a genre all her own-"Rhythm & Schmooze." A romantic, Goldberg thought tap dancing would provide the most direct route to finding a partner like Fred Astaire. It did not, she discovered quickly. What she did discover, however, were her happy feet. Those feet, combined with great tenacity and endless curiosity, led her to ferret out a generation of show biz hoofers who had involuntarily gone underground. "Shoot Me While I'm Happy"-the title comes from an old vaudeville expression-captures a wealth of memories both wacky and touching.
Price: $28.00
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"Dancers Talking Dance"
by Larry Lavender (Paperback)
Written for teachers and dancers at all levels, the book outlines a five-step, systematic approach to critical evaluation. To bring the approach to life the author interweaves practical, how-to examples with explanations of the theories underlying each step. Readers will learn how to help students observe, describe, analyze, write, and talk more effectively about dances and other works of art. These skills will enhance students' choreography and improvisation experiences.
Price: $16.00
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"Designing With Light: An Introduction to Stage Lighting"
by J. Michael Gillette (Paperback)
This comprehensive survey of the practical and aesthetic aspects of basic lighting design treats lighting design for the stage as both an art closely integrated with the director's, actor's, and playwright's vision, and a craft that provides practical solutions for the manipulation of stage space.
Price: $30.00
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"The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script"
by David Trottier
How does a spec script differ from a shooting script? What kind of fasteners should one use to bind a script? How did the term MOS come to mean without sound? You'll find the answers to these pressing questions and much more in David Trottier's eminently usable Screenwriter's Bible. The avuncular Trottier--a writer-producer, script consultant, and seminar leader--has written a friendly guide through the Hollywood morass. He touts it as six books in one: it's "a screenwriting primer, a screenwriting workbook, a formatting guide, a spec writing guide, a sales and marketing guide, [and] a resource guide."
Price: $24.00
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"Stage Make-Up"
by Richard Corson & James Glavan
Hardcover, 432 pages.
Known as "the bible of stage makeup," Richard Corson and James Glavan's classic book addresses makeup principles and techniques for any actor in all types of stage productions. It includes color photo sections, lessons, biographies of famous makeup artists, and updated appendices.
*A note on this edition: This is the Custom Edition of the Ninth Edition produced by Morris Costumes which contains bonus material.
Price: $120.00 NOW: $85.00
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"Stage Rigging Handbook"
by Jay O. Glerum
Paperback, 256 pages
Succinct and jargon free, Stage Rigging Handbook remains the only book in any language that covers the design, operation, and maintenance of stage-rigging equipment. It is written in an at-a-glance outline form, yet contains in-depth information available nowhere else. This fully indexed third edition includes three new parts: the first, an explanation of inspection procedures for rigging systems; the second, a discussion of training in the operation of rigging systems; and the third, essential information about the operation of fire curtains. The remaining six parts, as well as the glossary and bibliography, have been updated. This edition also contains a new preface, many new illustrations, and expanded information on Nicopress terminations.
Glerum explains that four main principles make up the core of this book: know the rigging system; keep it in safe working order; know how to use it; and keep your concentration. Glerum applies these principles to all of the major types of stage rigging systems, including block and tackle, hemp, counterweight, and motorized. He describes each type of rigging, then thoroughly reviews the operating procedures and methods of inspecting existing systems.
Price: $29.95 NOW: $19.95
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"Discovering Stage Lighting"
by Francis Reid
Paperback, 144 pages
The practical handling of light, with observation of the relationship of cause to effect, is central to the study of stage lighting. Rehearsal pressures usually restrict the time available for experimenting with lighting for a performance, but laboratory-style projects can be used to enable specific lighting problems to be solved. The projects cover all the major scenarios likely to be encountered by lighting students and have been tried and tested by the author, who has taught lighting students all over the world for over 30 years. The book has also been updated to include more on safety and the latest technology, including: fixed instruments using the new lower wattage high efficiency lamps in combination with dichronic reflectors, an increase in the availability, reliability, and range and usage of 'moving light' technology based on remotely controlled instruments. If you are studying the art and craft of stage lighting this book is an excellent working manual that will provide you with the technical knowledge and skill to cope with a range of lighting situations.
Price: $34.95 NOW: $19.95
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"Techniques of Three-Dimensional Make-Up"
by Lee Baygun
Paperback
Features Step-by-Step instruction in how to make a life mask, break down a life mask, creating three-piece molds, casting hands, modeling and casting small & large pieces, application of foam latex, making teeth & ears, duplicating features for stock use, and casting a full head. Describes and illustrates the techniques of stage make-up in such detail that any performer, teacher, or student can use the book for study at home or in the classroom.
Price: $24.95 NOW: $15.95
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"Readers Theater 2nd Edition"
by Fran Averett Tanner
Paperback, 268 pages
Reader's Theater is an exciting and effective way to instll appreciation of literature and theater in students. Readers Theater – sometimes called Interpreters Theater- is a unique art form that combines oral interpretation and presentational theater. It features a group of animated readers who interact with a literay form for the purpose of generating within the audience member's imagination a vitalized, empathetic response to the material.
Price: $29.95 NOW: $17.95
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"Costume in Detail, 1730 – 1930"
by Nancy Bradfield
Paperback
Written by a leading authority in her field, Costume in Detail 1730 – 1930 will be an invaluable source of information to those concerned with fashion, with period dress, with history, and with theater, film, or television. Many years of research into dresses, accessories and underwear in private collections have culminated this remarkably fine set of highly skilled, well-documented drawings and detailed studies, which show not only the outside construction of the garment from various views, but the inside as well. Only a mere handful of dresses or accessories featured in this book have been seen by the general public; some of them are too frail to ever be out on view. Now, in these detailed drawings, their delicate charm is preserved so the dress can be studied from every aspect.
Price: $35.00 NOW: $20.95
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"Breathe In, Breathe Out: Inhale Energy and Exhale Stress by Guiding and Controlling Your Breathing "
by James E. Loher, and Jeffery A. Migdow
Breathing - fully and deeply - is one of our body's fundamental strategies for maintaining physical and mental well-being. But many of us breathe incorrectly, taking shallow breaths that rob our bodies and brains of oxygen. The result? We lose our most natural weapon against physical and emotional imbalances. In Breathe In Breathe Out the authors teach step-by-step techniques for guiding and controlling breathing. By learning how to breathe correctly, you can: Discharge stress and reduce the impact of anxiety and panic: Lower blood pressure: Sleep more soundly: Increase energy and improve athletic performance and concentration.
Price: $14.95 NOW: $8.95
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"ACSM Fitness Book"
by American College of Sports Medicine
Paperback, 184 pages
Start where you are-then go wherever your goals take you! The fitness experts from the American College of Sports Medicine have put together a comprehensive plan for developing a personal fitness program and sticking with it.
ACSM Fitness Book includes a simple and scientifically proven fitness test to determine your starting point and monitor your ongoing progress. The book includes step-by-step instructions; sample programs; and insights on nutrition, weight control, motivation, and overcoming setbacks.
Whether your objective is to improve cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, or overall body condition, the ACSM Fitness Book is the one book you need for the tools-and the motivation-to put your personal program on track.
Price: $16.95 NOW: $10.95
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"Dario Fo: Stage, Text, and Tradition"
by Joseph Farrell and Antonio Scuderi, Editors.
Hardcover, 232 pages
Joseph Farrell and Antonio Scuderi present an international collection of essays reevaluating the multifaceted performance art of Nobel laureate Dario Fo.
The contributors, all of whom either have previously published on Fo or have worked with him, are the major Dario Fo scholars of three continents. Going beyond the Marxist criticism of the 1970s and 1980s, the editors and contributors try to establish an appropriate language in which to debate Fo's theater. They seek to identify the core of Fo's work, the material that will be of lasting value. This involves locating Fo in history, examining the nature of his development through successive phases, incorporating his politics into a wider framework of radical dissent, and setting his theatrical achievements in a context and a tradition.
The essays cover every aspect of Dario Fo: as actor, playwright, performer, and songwriter. They also provide the historical background of Fo's theater, as well as an in-depth analyses of specific works and the contribution of Franca Rame.
Price: $40.00 NOW: $24
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"The Vance Stance"
by Vance Bonner, Ph.D. (Paperback, 176 pages)
Teaching Balanced Alignment, a way of positioning yourself in space that enables you to move with more grace and power, Vance Bonner shows you how to work with gravity instead of against it to reshape your body and reverse the restricting postural habits of a lifetime.
The Vance Stance and its program of Thirty-Four Movements will eliminate, step-by-step, the causes of chronic joint and muscle pain while greatly increasing your body-Ys flexibility. With knees unlocked, ankles unfrozen, and spine fully lengthened, you will experience a dramatic new sense of limberness, energy, and overall well-being.
Price: $12.95 NOW: $7.95
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"Burn the Floor"
DVD 103 minutes
Ballroom dancing has always been about a man and a woman, moving together up close and personal. Today, stripped back to its soul, it is hot, sweaty and sexy. This is ballroom dancing in the new millennium. This is Floor Play.
Conceived, directed and choreographed by World Champion Ballroom dancer Jason Gilkison who choreographed the original, Burn the Floor which has been seen by over 3 million people worldwide.
Floor Play has been ten years in the making, and features a hand picked cast of dancers. Breath-taking, action-packed, unpredictable, sensual and ultimately inspiring, this is Jason's legacy to us all.
Price: $20.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Flamenco from A to Z"
DVD 101 minutes
Explore the beautiful world, music and culture of Flamenco step by step, from A to Z with this entertaining program that provides great insights into its dancing, singing and feeling. With illustrated definitions, interviews and archive pictures.
What does 'Duende' mean? Would you like to know more about 'Sevillanas'? Learn Flamenco expressions with this in-depth program that includes performances and shows by some of the most prestigious Flamenco masters and professors from around the world.
Price: $20.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Dancing in the Light"
DVD 57 minutes
The American Dance Festival presents Dancing in the Light, a one-hour modern dance television program showcasing 6 historic dance compositions by African American choreographers. All of the dances were originally recorded for the Emmy Award-winning series Free to Dance, a three-hour documentary that aired on PBS in 2001 as part of the Great Performances: Dance in America series.
While Free to Dance uses select excerpts from the dances to inform its narrative within a historical context, Dancing in the Light features six dances in their entirety or in the case of one work, a complete section.
Featuring G. D. Harris, Bill T. Jones, Jerome Stigler, Dawn Marie Watson, Philadanco, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.
Price: $20.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Denishawn Dances On!"
DVD 100 minutes
Between 1919 and 1931, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn and their company toured the entire United States, England, Cuba and the Far East. Within that period, they created some 300 pieces, using their original technique based on classic ballet discipline molded to pliant bodies and bare feet, with emphasis on various ethnic cultures.
With the new expression of movement, they became the creators of the choreography from which American Modern dance evolved. Sadly, little of the rich body of work from that time could be visually preserved. Only over the last twenty years did Barton Munaw, a member of Denishawn in its last year and Jane Sherman, the last living member of the original Denishawn company succeed in creating this documentary – the largest re-creation of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn's dances in existence, featuring 23 powerful works of the Mother and Father of American Modern Dance.
With the issue of this DVD, their mission to preserve these seminal works from oblivion has been accomplished.
Price: $20.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Ballet for Boys"
DVD 35 minutes
This informative program is the perfect introduction to ballet for boys and young men. Specially devised and presented by world-renowned ballet teacher Richard Glasstone, this program is demonstrated by young beginners, late starters and a professional dancer. It presents in a clear and understandable style how to coordinate the basic building blocks of ballet in a unique series of exercises that include bending, extending rising, jumping, turning, and darting.
Richard Glasstone is the former Senior Teacher for Boys at The Royal Ballet Lower School. He has auditioned and taught many of the dance world's most talented male dancers. He is the Director of Ballet at Lain Theatre Arts and Director of the Cecchetti Centre in London. Richard Glasstone is also the author of Better ballet and Male Dancing as a Career.
Price: $20.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Paul Taylor: Dancemaker"
Directed by Matthew Diamond.
Docurama, 2000. DVD
Nominated for an Oscar®, Dancemaker is a breathtaking journey into the world of preeminent choreographer, Paul Taylor, and his extraordinary creations. From the fluid Aureole to the primal Cloven Kingdom and graceful Esplanade, Taylor has remained at the forefront of 20th century modern dance.Offering a rare glimpse inside the creative collaboration between the master and his hardworking troupe, Dancemaker chronicles the evolution of the fiery, tango-derived Piazzolla Caldera from its first tentative steps through its triumphant New York City premiere.Filled with magnificent archival footage from Taylor's early years as a featured dancer for the Martha Graham Dance Company, and inspired performances from his troupe, Dancemaker is a unique exploration of the mysteries of creative life, the obsession and talent of the dancers, and the mind of an artistic genius. 98 minutes.
Price: $22.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Dancing to the Promised Land"
View Video, 1996. DVD
Bill T. Jones is one of the most powerful forces in Modern Dance. His influences range from Alvin Ailey to Martha Graham, however his dances are completely unique, provocative and contemporary. Take a look at his life, work and creative process in this multiple award-winning DVD. Jones himself hosts this BBC production which unveils penetrating insight of one of today's most brilliant artists. Contains nudity.. 60 minutes.
"...a fascinating study of art, philosophy and politics..."
- Billboard Magazine
"...this engrossing (program) will surely make the viewer hungry to see live performance...recommended for all..."
- Library Journal
Price: $22.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Josè Limòn: Three Modern Dances"
Video Artist International, 2003. DVD
Josè Limòn (1908-1972) was a Mexican-American choreographer who continues to be regarded as one of the modern dance world's seminal creative artists, known for his intense dramatic presence and the theatricality and musicality of his dances. Here for the first time on video are three of his most famous works with the original casts, filmed in their entirety for the Canadian Broadcasting Company in the 1950s.
The Moor's Pavane (1949) is generally considered to be one of the great masterworks in the modern repertory. In the form of a Renaissance dance, Limon distills the legend of Othello into a taut, one-act human drama with music by Henry Purcell. Joining Limon are his close collaborators Lucas Hoving, Pauline Koner, and Betty Jones. Telecast date: March 6, 1955. 21 minutes.
The Traitor (1954) was Limon's response to the McCarthy hearings and the climate of betrayal that haunted the arts and entertainment fields during this period. Against a music score of violence, passion, and tenderness (by Gunther Schuller), the tragedy of Judas is portrayed as if it were taking place in modern times. Telecast date: October 23, 1955. 19 minutes.
The Emperor Jones (1956) is based upon the play by Eugene O'Neill wherein a fugitive from a chain gang sets himself up as a ruler of an island domain. He becomes a tyrant, and his mistreated subjects eventually rebel and hunt him down. For this dance, Limon commissioned a musical score from Heitor Villa-Lobos. Telecast date: March 13, 1957. 23 minutes.
Price: $25.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Limon: A Life Beyond Words" Directed by Malachai Roth
2005. DVD
Narrated by Uta Hagan and Isaiah Sheffer, "Limon: a Life Beyond Words"offers a compelling look at revolutionary modern dancer and choreographer José Limón (1908-1972,) once described by the New York Times as "the greatest male dancer of his own or any other time."
The film has appeared in festivals from India to New York City, and won awards for "Best Film Made for Television" at the Montreal Festival for Films on Art, "Bes Documentary" at Ajijic Festival Internacionale de Cine in Mexico, and "Best Documentary in the Arts" at the Wine Country Film Festival in California. It has been screened at Lincoln Center, the Pompidou Center, the Kennedy Center, the National Gallery, and the Museum of Metropolitan Art In New York City.
Price: $50.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Last Dance" Directed by Mirra Bank
First Run Features, 2004. DVD
Powerhouse creative forces unite, and sparks fly, in Mirra Bank's award-winning LAST DANCE. Bank follows the dazzling Pilobolus Dance Theater and legendary author-illustrator, Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) as they collaborate on the dance-theater work that honors a haunting holocaust legacy. LAST DANCE weaves rehearsal footage, probing interviews, chilling Nazi propaganda footage and breathtaking performance into a thrilling insight into the creative process. The film holds nothing back as philosophies clash, confrontations abound, and artistic disaster threatens at every turn. But in the end we are rewarded as Pilobolus dancers -- pure bolts of force and grace -- give life to a stark and stunning dancework.
Price: $22.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Martha Graham in Performance"
Kultur, 2002. DVD
A true pioneer in the world of dance, Martha Graham became an American legend. She was a fearless explorer and a passionate artist, and she exemplified the American spirit in it's truest form. The program is in three parts: A Dancer's World, A Night's Journey, and Appalachian Spring. 93 minutes.
Price: $20.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
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"Points in Space"
Kultur, 1991. DVD
This is the critically acclaimed collaboration for the screen by choreographer Merce Cunningham, composer John Cage, and filmmaker Elliot Caplan. The first half features BBC's documentary: interviews with Cunningham, Cage and members of the company, as well as scenes from rehearsals in New York and London take the viewer through the complexities and exhilaration of bringing new dance to television. The second half features Points in Space performed by Cunningham and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. 55 minutes.
Price: $20.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Jerome Robbins: Something To Dance About - The Definitive Biography of an American Dance Master"
DVD, 2009
This first and only documentary on Robbins features excerpts from his personal journals, archival performance footage, and never-before-seen rehearsal recordings, as well as interviews with Robbins himself and over forty witnesses among them Mikhail Baryshnikov; Jacques d'Amboise; Suzanne Farrell; Arthur Laurents; Peter Martins; Rita Moreno; Austin Pendleton; Frank Rich; Chita Rivera; Stephen Sondheim; and Robbins Fiddler collaborators Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, and Joseph Stein.
Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About was directed and produced by six-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Judy Kinberg and written by best-selling Robbins biographer Amanda Vaill. This film is narrated by Ron Rifkin (Brothers & Sisters), who performed the roles of both Robbins and his father in a workshop production of the director/choreographer s theatrical autobiography, The Poppa Piece.
Price: $25.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Beyond the Steps
DVD, 2007
This dazzling cinema verité documentary follows the extraordinary dancers and renowned choreographers of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater as they do everything it takes to keep American modern dance fresh and a legacy alive.
Award-winning filmmaker Phil Bertelsen offers a rare backstage look at one of America's oldest modern dance companies at a defining moment in its history--as it settles into its own permanent home and training facility in New York City. Set against the construction of the new dance center and the creation of a new dance, every bit of passion, talent, and hard work that goes into keeping a company running is on display. The troupe seamlessly weaves from rehearsal to a triumphant tour in Russia, back to their new dream-come-true digs in Manhattan. BEYOND THE STEPS intertwines the dancers individual tragedies and triumphs with breathtaking performance footage from their journey, shining a spotlight on the story of one of America s most beloved cultural institutions. Visually stunning and emotionally poignant, the film provides a rare glimpse into the fascinating world of modern dance.
Price: $25.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
Ballets Russes
DVD, 2006
Part history, part love letter, Ballets Russes may be the most purely delightful documentary in years. The movie follows the birth of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the early 1930s, an event that eventually led--after years of exhilarating experiments, bitter artistic battles, and exhausting tours--to the establishment of modern ballet around the world. Ballet Russes combines astonishing film footage of fantastical ballets (featuring extravagant sets designed by Salvador Dali and costumes by Henri Matisse) and interviews with surviving dancers in their 70s, 80s, and 90s (ranging from Dame Alicia Markova, who was a prima ballerina with the original Ballet Russe under impresario Sergei Diaghilev, to Yvonne Craig, who went on to become Batgirl in the '60s tv show Batman); the result is a breathtaking range of scholarship and depth of feeling. The heart of the film is the dancers themselves, who are sly, thoughtful, gossipy, and amazingly youthful in spirit--even the most difficult times are discussed with humor and honesty. Ballet fans will find this an essential document, while anyone who's never even thought of going to ballet will be completely caught up in these dancers' passion and wonder. A beautiful, entrancing movie. --Bret Fetzer
Price: $25.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"Born to be Wild: the Men of American Ballet Theater"
DVD
This Dance in America performance and documentary explores the lives of the ABT's four lead male dancers: Cuba's Jose Manual Carreno, Spain's Angel Corella, Ukraine's Vladimir Malakhov, and the U.S.'s Ethan Stiefel. The program culminates with a work created especially for the four dancers by acclaimed choreographer Mark Morris, and includes revelaing behind-the-scenes glimpses of the rehearsal process along the way.
Price: $22.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"The Lester Horton Technique: Intermediate level"
VHS
Dance Spotlight presents the Intermediate tape of the innovative dance training technique of Lester Horton for modern dancers, teachers and choreographers. Lester Horton developed a training method which expanded the body's traditional range of motion. These codified technique studies preserve this important achievement in modern dance training for future generations. Marjorie B. Perces, former Horton dancer and teacher, and Ana Marie Forsythe, chair person of the Horton Department at the Ailey School since 1979, lead a group of professional dancers through Preludes, Fortifications, Hinges, Balances and other studies which continue the documentation begun in "Lester Horton Technique - The Warm-Up". The material presented on this tape helps to build strength, agility, and lexibility. This is also an excellent way to do a non-aerobic workout and beautiful movements that help develop grace, free artistic expression and reduce muscle stress. Features Prelude Studies #1,2 and 3, Fortification Studies #7-12, Hinge Studies #1,2 and 3, Falls, Balance Studies, Figure 4 Study, and Percussive Stroke Study.
Price: $25.00 NOW: $20
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
"The Lester Horton Technique: Advanced level"
VHS
Dance Spotlight presents the final documentation of the Lester Horton modern dance technique. This innovative technique is a source of inspiration to countless modern dance choreographers and continues to train strong, versatile dancers, expanding the body's traditional range of motion. Lester Horton, the creator of the technique, developed a training method that explores the many ways the body can move. Marjorie B. Perces, former Horton dancer and teacher, and Ana Marie Forsythe, chair of the Horton department at the Ailey School, lead a group of professional dancers through fortifications, balance, hinge, and more advanced studies in this program.
Price: $25.00 NOW: $20
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
Music From the Bournonville School
4-CD set
This 4-disc set compiles music used during practices at the Bounonville School. The Bournonville School is a very distinctive style of ballet, most associated with the Royal Danish Ballet and its leader for many years, August Bounonville.
The technique features very basic use of arms, usually keeping them in prepatoire position. Perpetual use of simple diagonal epaulements. Vocabulary for men is essentially varied forms of beats. Pirouettes are taken with a low developpe into seconde, then from seconde, for outside turns, and with a low developpe into 4th for inside turns. Also common are the dramatic use of fifth position bras en bas (preparatory position) for beginning and ending movements. The style has many recognizable poses such as pointe derriere one arm in 5th, the other a la taille (at the waist), with a touch of epaulement. Famous dancers from this school include Erik Bruhn and Johan Kobborg.
Price: $45.00 NOW: $30.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
DANCE-OPOLY
The first-ever board game created by dancer for dancers. Build dance studios, teaching students from beginning through advanced. Your dance studios expand into dance theaters! Audition in Los Angeles, Las, Vegas, and New York! Now, you're starring on Broadway or a reality television dance show! What ever happens, it's a great time! for 2 to 6 players, ages 8 to adult..
Price: $25.00
To purchase contact 215-636-9000 ext 109
or email shagan@danceaffiliates.org
