Customer Reviews

Grace Under Pressure: Passing Dance Through Time

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In Grace Under Pressure: Passing Dance Through Time, ballet expert Barbara Newman (Dance Critic of "Country Life" magazine and a journalist contributor to "Dancing Times"), has compiled remarkably informative interviews with eighteen contemporary illuminaries of the world of dance. This impressive collection of leading dancers and renowned dance instructors ranging from Suki Schorer (School of American Ballet) and Marc Du Bouays (Paris Opera Ballet School) to Yuri Fareyev, Margaret Mercier, and Richard Thomas. Enthusiastically recommended reading for anyone contemplating a life in ballet, Grace Under Pressure offers the reader a diverse selection of insights into the dedicated life and working world of the contemporary ballet as the aspirants experience the hard work and intense discipline for learning and practicing this demanding art.

What a magnificent book! Dance critic Barbara Newman's GRACE UNDER PRESSURE is not just for serious dance afficionados, though it will be deeply meaningful to the serious student of dance; with its engaging writing style and its emphasis on "grace under pressure," on the lives and techniques of great dancers who became great dance teachers, this book will draw in almost any reader who picks it up. The opening of the book, with its description of discovering both the scrumptious pies at a small town diner, and the sadness of a small-town dance school that has closed down, sets the mood well. This book honors dance teachers everywhere, while it gives voice to the teaching experience and philosophy of some of the greatest. The photographs are well chosen, and a treasure in themselves.
This book deserves a wide readership, and will amply reward those who find their way to it. It reflects the author's depth of knowledge of dance, her perceptiveness and clarity in the interview process, and her accessible, engaging and elegant writing style. Highly recommended!

AS A DANCER, TEACHER AND BALLETOMANE, I FOUND THIS BOOK AN ABSOLUTE JOY TO READ. I FOUND MYSELF READING IT AT A SLOWER PACE AS I REACHED THE LAST PAGES...I DIDN'T WANT IT TO END. IT GIVES US AN INSIGHT OF WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN THE WORLD OF DANCE IN THIS PAST YEARS AND THE REASONS BEHIND IT. MAKES US THINK ABOUT WHAT WE HAVE TO DO IF WE WANT TO RECOVER THAT SO OFTEN LOST "ARTISTRY" IN THE BEATIFUL WORLD OF DANCE.