Mirrors and Scrims
The Life and Afterlife of Ballet
Publication Year: 2011
Ebook Edition Note: All images have been redacted.
Published by: Wesleyan University Press
Cover
Title Page, Copyright Page
Contents
List of Illustrations
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p. vii-vii
Preface
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p. ix-ix
Over the years covered by this collection, I contributed on a regular basis to several publications and wrote occasionally for others. The tone of the writing changes slightly according to the type of publication. In some . . .
Introduction
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pp. xi-xiv
This is a book about history—about the many possible histories that get written on a single subject. It is a document of change, marking a future still being written, not a past that is safely settled. It is about . . .
1.Legends
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pp. 1-45
The first great choreographer of the twentieth century, Michel Fokine, set out to reform Russian ballet. The classical edifice built by Petipa, Ivanov, and the Maryinsky school in St. Petersburg was suffering . . .
2. Movable Classics
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pp. 46-103
La Fille Mal Gardée (1789) leads off Cyril Beaumont’s indispensable thousand-page reference to the first 150 years of European ballet. Like many classic works that followed it, La Fille survived till . . .
3. Postlude & Prelude
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pp. 104-163
A few years ago, after the premiere of his spooky ballet about Robert Schumann, Davidsbündlertänze, George Balanchine said in an interview that for the finale, after the tormented artist-hero . . .
4. Balanchine Diaspora
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pp. 164-206
Reconstruction in dance means more than bricks and mortar. The largest part of the job, of course, is unearthing and learning the thousands of steps in a ballet that’s been long out of the repertory or one that . . .
5. Ballet in Transit
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pp. 207-274
William Forsythe’s evening-length Artifact is a shrewd amalgam of the trendiest European avant-garde ideas, from Apollinaire and Gertrude Stein to Robert Wilson and Pina Bausch, salted with a few . . .
6. On with the Show
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pp. 275-322
The relationship between Broadway and ballet has been tightening little by little for years. Ballet dancers have gotten more flashy and extroverted; show dancers have piled on more technique. Susan Stroman’s . . .
7. Riffs and Translations
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pp. 323-377
Dance traditions can cross borders as easily as the people who practice them. It’s getting hard to know what’s meant when a tradition is invoked. English choreographer Matthew Bourne’s . . .
Notes
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pp. 379-381
Index
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pp. 383-398
About the Author
E-ISBN-13: 9780819571137
Print-ISBN-13: 9780819568755
Page Count: 416
Publication Year: 2011
