Something In The Way She Moves: Dancing Women From Salome To Madonna [Hardcover]

Wendy Buonaventura (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2004

With heroines like Josephine Baker, Colette, Isadora Duncan, and the cancaneuses of the Moulin Rouge, this is far from a conventional history.Rich with both fascinating anecdotes (such as the New Jersey girl picked up by the police for dancing the very sexy turkey trot one day during the Roaring Twenties), and astonishing facts (the first geishas were men), Something in the Way She Moves shows us the world of dance and sex through women's eyes. Best-selling author Wendy Buonaventura brings us from Buenos Aires, Argentina, where immigrants created the delicious tango, to Paris and the bawdy, leggy cancan dancers of the Moulin Rouge, to New York, where struggling African-Americans cakewalked, Charlestoned, and shimmied into the public eye, creating "jazz dance" (originally--and tellingly--called "jass" dance). This is a book for lovers of dance and lovers of history alike, and an engrossing introduction to a slightly seamy side of a cultural legacy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A charming collection of stories...Recommended for dance fans and social history buffs." -- Curled Up with a Good Book 4/6/05

"A paean to all the women who have danced for innumerable ages for innumerable reasons...Highly intriguing." -- Infodad.com

"Brilliantly researched and utterly absorbing." -- Venue (UK)

"Engrossing...a book for anyone intrigued by the...sublime, sexy, and downright surreal ways we find to strut our stuff." -- SirReadaLot.org 4/1/04

"Fascinating feminist history of dance under the sway of fashion, class, race, and gender roles." -- Bust Fall 2004

"This remarkable book is a fascinating read." -- Choice January, 2005

About the Author

An established dancer and choreographer, Wendy Buonaventura is author of the acclaimed Serpent of the Nile. Her performance work was recently the subject of the television documentary Making Mimi. She has written and presented programs for BBC Radio 4 and has performed and lectured extensively throughout Europe and the USA.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (April 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306813483
• ISBN-13: 978-0306813481
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,165,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Wendy Buonaventura is a writer, choreographer and performer. Her work has been the subject of a documentary for British tv and she has written and presented for BBC Radio. Her theatre work mixes text with dance to explore cultural myths of female life. Her books combine non-fiction, memoir and fiction, and on several occasions have been selected in the British press as Books of the Year and Paperbacks of the Year. She continues to perform and lecture internationally and is Artistic Director of the annual UK dance festival Sirocco.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Lazy writing, lazier insights, October 6, 2009

By 

nolayurp "nolayurp.com" (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Something In The Way She Moves: Dancing Women From Salome To Madonna (Hardcover)

As someone deeply interested in feminism and dance, I was excited to read what Buonaventura has to say in this book. However, it wasn't 20 pages in that I started to realize SHE doesn't quite know what to say. Oh yes, she has a lot of opinions, many of them broad generalizations of entire dance forms: modern belly dance has been bastardized by the West, and only insecure losers would pay money to learn it; ballet is an assault on the female body and completely unnatural. But her opinions don't ever add up to a coherent thesis, at least one that could pass for a strong, developed argument. She supports none, or very little, of her information with a credible source, instead expecting readers to believe her glossed-over summaries of centuries of dance history in various cultures.

Moreover, and this is the saddest part, I actually liked dance less while reading this book. By halfway through (which is when I figuratively tossed this book), I couldn't even tell if SHE liked dance. Don't waste your time on this half-baked, vaguely depressing tome.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Historical Perspective on Women in Dance, September 11, 2005

By 

Maria Dancer "Maria" (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Something In The Way She Moves: Dancing Women From Salome To Madonna (Hardcover)

Wendy Buonaventura's book is a book about the way women have gained freedom from the constraint's of society through dance. How the "battle of the sexes" have played out on the dance floor, and how society views women during different historical periods. This book is a "must read" for any serious student of dance, whether male or female. Some people may find sections of the book offensive, but, hey, the way women were treated in society and are still treated is offensive, Wendy just points out the obvious!

It's an intelligent, thoughtful, well-written book, with all her sources listed for further study. For those of us women in the dance world, it rings very true and very close to home.

However, this book should be read by the general public, just not dancers. It is for anyone interested in societal pressures on women, and men, and how dance often spurs change.

I have bought this book for dancer friends and donated to a few libraries, it is a book that should be on every dancer's shelf.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So So, November 29, 2008

By 

Jennifer Mora - See all my reviews

This review is from: Something In The Way She Moves: Dancing Women From Salome To Madonna (Hardcover)

I was well into this book and thinking "This author does NOT like middle eastern dance" You can imagine my suprise when I got to the last chapter and realized middle eastern dance is her passion. The last chapter was the only one that kept me interested. The rest of the book had some small interesting tid-bits, but just not enough. I do see she as a book just on middle eastern dance and I will give that a try. This one was a little hard to read.