Customer Reviews

Reading Dance: A Gathering of Memoirs, Reportage, Criticism, Profiles, Interviews, and Some Uncategorizable Extras

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I learned of this book through Mr. Gottlieb's appearance on the Charlie Rose show and I odered my copy the next day, although I rarely buy new books. Both informative and highly entertaining, the book is an absolute treasure. As a lover of classical ballet I would have preferred more entries on that subject and fewer on modern/contemporary dance, but that is a minor quibble. For anyone who loves dance, especially ballet, my advice is simple: get a copy of this book as soon as possible.

Notwithstanding Suzanne Farrell's classic remark (quoted in this volume), "What does reading have to do with dancing?" this weighty collection of critiques, anecdotes, narratives, etc. is sure to delight all who appreciate the world of dance.

This review will be short as I'm not a dancer. When I read about this book, I thought it would be a wonderful compendium to add to my daughter's collection. She's been dancing since she was 5 and loves dance. The book is expensive and I thought twice about obtaining it but I took a chance.

When "Reading Dance" arrived I was shocked to find what looked like an exhaustive text on dance virtually devoid of any photos.

My instruction to my daughter was simple. "Look her over and see if this book picques your interest - otherwise..."

When she had time, I would see her looking at the book seemingly captivated so I took a peek and found that I too was enjoying articles from people that everyone in dance would know but that I'd never heard of.

Alghough I think this book is a special find for a dancer, it also offers insights for those of us who know virtually nothing about dance.

Wonderfully worth it!

I first saw this book at the local library. Due to its thickness and weight, I was going to just look up the articles on my favorite dancer, read them on the spot and not even bother checking the book out and lugging it home with me. However, the articles were so captivating that I ended up checking the book out so that I could take my time in savoring them. Then after another day of reading, some of the pieces were so special that I started to wish I could own a copy. So within a matter of two days, I went from not wanting to be even temporarily burdened by the book's weight to ordering it on Amazon.

The quality of the collection continues to delight me. Whenever I can squeeze 20 min at the end of a busy day, I would randomly flip to a page and immediately find something fascinating. It has introduces me to many more great dancers, whose personalities come jumping out of the pages through their interviews. Their perspectives on dancing have given me much food for thought and expanded my horizon many times over. Not all personalities come across as flattering, especially when they are presented so close to each other in the same volume. That in itself is interesting in association with their dancing styles.

This book has given me so much enjoyment that I can't remember the last book that made me feel this way.

A great page turner. Isadora Duncan - end of 'free spirit' section and Suzzane Farrell section had several pages missing.

I guess a print error, 30 pages total.

An excellent dance history source. I remember in one of my ballet classes the teacher asked us all to name a favorite dancer/role model that stimulates us as professional dancers. It was interesting that of all the dance majors none of the students knew of any dancers on the spot. Alessandra Ferri is my favorite and inspires me with a dance career well into her mid 40's and her role in Prokofievs Romeo and Julliet is awesome. However, this book should be on the curriculum of any dance school to enhance the students knowledge and interest in those that raised the barre for us all.