The Oxford Dictionary of Dance (Oxford Quick Reference) - Softcover

Craine, Debra; Mackrell, Judith

3.88

8 ratings by Goodreads

9780198604006: The Oxford Dictionary of Dance (Oxford Quick Reference)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198604009 ISBN 13: 9780198604006

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2002

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Here is a lively, informative roadmap to a truly protean art form, an ideal resource for everyone who loves Swan Lake or the Rockettes, Merce Cunningham or Fred Astaire.
The Oxford Dictionary of Dance offers wide coverage of dancers, choreographers, teachers, composers, technical terms, major works, important films, and organizations involved in the dance world. It embraces the new activity within traditional forms like ballet as well as the stream of new dance languages invented by fresh generations of choreographers and the many dance forms imported from the rest of the world. Readers will find information on classical ballet, Spanish flamenco, Indian Bharata Natyam, Japanese Butoh, and jazz. The volume also covers post-modern dance, examining everything from Balanchine to recent practitioners of Eurocrash, minimalism, and contact improvisation.
Ranging from the history of music to the changing design of the ballet shoe, here is a comprehensive and affordable dictionary compiled by two leading authorities on dance.

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About the Author:

Debra Craine is the deputy arts editor and chief dance critic for The Times (London). Judith Mackrell is the dance critic for The Guardian.

From Booklist:

This is a new version of the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet (2d ed., 1987).Both authors have published widely in Britain on the subject of dance. In this volume, they have broadened coverage to include the history and practice of dance on the "international stage." They state that the work reflects "the unprecedented diversity of the art form as it enters the twenty-first century." They are careful to point out, however, that it does not attempt to include those dance forms that are confined to specific native cultures. They treat dance from a theatrical rather than an anthropological viewpoint.

Entries are brief, usually one paragraph, but major individuals, institutions, and works receive longer ones. Lengthy works lists are provided for a very small number of well-known artists, like Balanchine. The dictionary is still concise , although that word is no longer part of the title. Some entries found in earlier versions have been dropped (for example, Katharine Abel, a famous Viennese dancer who died in 1892, is gone), probably to make room for new and updated entries. Among the new entries are Merce Cunningham's Beach Birds , which premiered in 1991 and was partially created using a computer program; the Ballets Trockaderos de Monte Carlo company; and the Pilobolus Dance Theater, which practices a form of sculptural dance that includes acrobatics, gymnastics, pantomime, and modern dance. Such entries represent the dictionary's acceptance of more diversity among the types of dance included.

Perusing a sampling of entries, one finds specific works (Coppelia , Mass for Our Time , Riverdance ), companies (Berlin Opera Ballet, Rockettes, Stuttgart Ballet), musicians and composers, dance steps and styles, and surveys of dance in various countries. Attesting to the fact that classical ballet, tap, and modern dance are represented, there are entries for Alvin Ailey, Savion Glover, Martha Graham, Gene Kelly, Rudolph Nureyev, Bill Robinson (Bojangles), and Tommy Tune, to name a few. The work cannot match the depth of coverage in the two-volume encyclopedia International Dictionary of Ballet (St. James, 1993) and the recent International Encyclopedia of Modern Dance (St. James, 1998). However, it packs an amazing amount of information into a small amount of space. Very affordable, it is well worth adding to a dance collection in any library and provides a compact, handy way to access dance facts quickly. REVWR
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