cygneblanc Posted February 2, 2005 Share Posted February 2, 2005 I'm looking for some books about reflections on ballet. Could you give me some tips? Has someone read Next Week, Swan Lake Reflections on Dance and Dances by Selma Jeanne Cohen ? If yes, have you like it ? Thanks a lot in advance Link to comment
Estelle Posted February 2, 2005 Share Posted February 2, 2005 I haven't read that books, but I'd recommend Arlene Croce's "After images" (and probably her other books, but that one is the only one I have) and Edwin Denby's dance writings. Probably the native English speakers of the board will have more advice... By the way, I find that serious books about ballet really aren't numerous enough in France- well, I guess it's a bit the same problem as with dance critics and dance magazines... Link to comment
cygneblanc Posted February 2, 2005 Author Share Posted February 2, 2005 Estelle, I have a volume of E. Denby's writings and poetry published by the Yale University Press. It is really interesting. It's too bad there aren't some good writings in French. There is a PhD on Dance and Philosophy I read once at the Sainte Genenvieve library, but it has never been published. It's a shame, because it's quite a good work. I'm just bought the book you mentionned . I got a brand new one for $5. In France it would be impossible to having such a book at such a prize ! Link to comment
kfw Posted February 2, 2005 Share Posted February 2, 2005 cygneblanc, I highly recommend Bruce E. Fleming's collection of essays, Sex, Art and Audience , published in 2000. Many of these essays first appeared in Alexandra's magazine DanceView. Sample sections headings: Do Real Men Watch Dance?, and Modern Masters. Link to comment
sandik Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 Without knowing exactly what you mean by "reflections" on ballet, I'm not sure what to recommend, but since you ask about the Cohen... Selma Jeanne Cohen is an excellent writer, able to make specific philosophical questions understandable to a general audience without either speaking down to the reader or trivializing the ideas. This particular anthology brings us some of the classic dance aesthetic questions (how does dance communicate? what makes a dance specific? how do we recognize a dance) discusses them very thoughtfully. I highly recommend it! Link to comment
Estelle Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 sandik: I think that cygneblanc probably wrote "reflections" to mean the French "réflexion", i.e. some serious thinking (I guess it's yet another of those words which look the same but whose meaning is a bit different ?), so some serious essays about ballet. cygneblanc, where did you buy that book ? Are you in the US now ? I remember a professional trip to Berkeley where it was hard for me to choose which (cheap and interesting) second hand books about dance to buy, as my bag was not very big so I couldn't carry many of them back home... Tough choice ! And French dance-related books really are often disappointing (most of them being either some coffee-table books with nice photos but little interesting text, or some rather obscure and almost esoteric-souding books about modern dance choreographers...), and for example it's a real pity that many of Ivor Guest's books about French ballet have never been translated into French. Link to comment
cygneblanc Posted February 3, 2005 Author Share Posted February 3, 2005 Yes, Estelle you're right about what I mean with reflections. And no, I'm not in the USA now although I will be in Canada in two weeks (I can't wait !). I got the book from the Amazon Marketplace, you have a lot of choice here. During my last trip in the States, I had to buy another bag, because I bought so many second hand books but they were so cheap that I couldn't resist. (Me and the books ). One thing we do with some friends is that we sometimes order some books from amazon USA together and we share the shipping costs. It can be interesting because there often are some bargain prices when you're buying some titles together. Link to comment
Marga Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I've bought hundreds of ballet books on Ebay. Afterimages was only 99 cents (plus shipping). I purchased all of Arlene Croce's books of her dance reviews, Writing in the Dark, Sight Lines, and Going to the Dance, in addition to Afterimages, through Ebay. I was considering paying the $50 (Cdn.) that our local dance shop was asking for Sight Lines, but thankfully found it on Ebay for less than $5 (U.S.). Even considering postage to France, I think you can save more than a few dollars by checking online auctions -- and, of course, Amazon . Link to comment
sandik Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Estelle, many thanks for the clarification -- I'm embarrased by my poor language skills. Back to the question at hand... Cohen's "Next Week Swan Lake" would indeed be a good addition to your collection. You might also look for Marcia Siegel's "The Shapes of Change," which has some very interesting analysis of Balanchine's work, and Deborah Jowitt's "Time and the Dancing Image," which takes a more historical perspective. And tangentially, I sometimes mail books to myself when I'm travel -- it gets them home and you don't have to haul another heavy suitcase. Link to comment
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