Alvin Ailey Dance Moves! uses the very best in dance to demonstrate that enhancing your physical condition doesn't have to be plodding or routine. In fact, Alvin Ailey Dance Moves! raises the bar on exercise, elevating it to the realm of creativity as it introduces dance-based movement as a way of life. As realized in lucid text and stunning photographs of dancers in action, Alvin Ailey Dance Moves! is filled with stimulating, dance-based exercise and movement, drawing from the myriad techniques and disciplines taught at The Ailey School. These are movements practiced daily by Ailey-trained dancers that can be done by anyone just about anywhere, in just about any clothing, on just about any surface. These exercises are designed to improve posture and increase strength, stamina, flexibility, and muscle tone; help alleviate aches and pains; and contribute to heightened self-esteem, relaxation, and well-being. They can be done successfully by beginners or increased in difficulty to challenge more advanced users. A special 'shortcut' workout is provided for those days when you're really short of time.
Lise Friedman is coauthor, with her sister Ceil Friedman, of Letters to Juliet, the inspiration behind the idea for the 2010 film Letters to Juliet, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Amanda Seyfried. The Italian edition of the book, Lettere a Giulietta, was published by TEA, and the Portuguese, Cartas para Julieta, by Soeman. A former dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Lise is also the author of two Children's Book of the Month Club selections: First Lessons in Ballet and Break a Leg! The Kids Guide to Acting and Stagecraft. She also wrote Alvin Ailey Dance Moves! A Dance-Based Approach to Movement and Exercise, and is coauthor, with photographer Mary Dowdle, of the forthcoming Becoming a Ballerina (fall 2012, Viking Penguin). She is an adjunct professor at New York University's Gallatin School, writes frequently about the performing arts for various publications, and was editor of the award-winning quarterly Dance Ink and the dance writer for Microsoft's New York Sidewalk, an online site focused on arts and culture. She also has edited several books, including Poor Dancer's Almanac: Managing Life and Work in the Performing Arts and John Gruen's People Who Dance, and, been an editorial director of Access Press, Inc., for a series of international travel guides. She lives in New York City.
