Table of Contents

Foreword Ivor Guest; Chronology; Introduction Marion Kant; Part I. From the Renaissance to the Baroque: Royal Power and Worldly Display: 1. The early dance manuals and the structure of ballet: a basis for Italian, French and English ballet Jennifer Nevile; 2. Ballet de Cour Marina Nordera; 3. English masques Barbara Ravelhofer; 4. The Baroque body Mark Franko; Part II. The Eighteenth Century: Revolutions in Technique and Spirit: 5. Choreography and narrative: the ballet d'action of the eighteenth century Dorion Weickmann; 6. The rise of ballet technique and training: the professionalism of an art form Sandra Noll Hammond; 7. The making of history: John Weaver and the enlightenment Tim Blanning; 8. Jean-Georges Noverre: dance and reform Judith Chazin-Benahum; 9. The French Revolution and its spectacles Inge Baxmann; Part III. Romantic Ballet: Ballet is a Woman: 10. Romantic ballet in France: 1830–50 Sarah Davis Cordova; 11. Deadly sylphs and decent mermaids: the women in the Danish romantic world of August Bournonville Anne Middlebo Christensen; 12. The orchestra as translator: French nineteenth-century ballet Marian E. Smith; 13. Russian ballet in the age of Petipa Lynn Garafola; 14. Opening the door to a fairy tale world: Tchaikovsky's ballet music Thérèse Hurley; 15. The romantic ballet and its critics: dance goes public Lucia Ruprecht; 16. The soul of the shoe Marion Kant; Part IV. The Twentieth Century: Tradition Becomes Modern: 17. The ballet avant-garde I: the Ballet Suedois and its modernist concept Erik Näslund; 18. The ballet avant-garde II: the 'new' ballet: Russian and Soviet dance in the twentieth century Tim Scholl; 19. George Balanchine Matilda Butkas; 20. Balanchine and the deconstruction of classicism Juliet Bellow; 21. The Nutcracker: a cultural icon Jennifer Fisher; 22. From Swan Lake to Red Girl's Regiment: ballet's sinicisation Yangwen Zhen; 23. Giselle in a Cuban accent Lester Tome; 24. European ballet in the age of ideologies Marion Kant.

Promotional Information

A collection of essays by international writers on the evolution of ballet.

About the Author

Marion Kant teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews

' ... a stimulating read if your curiosity has already been aroused asto how and why ballet is like it is, and whether it has a future as well as a past.' Dance Now