Is there anything better than a good dance book? Yeah, we don’t think so either! Here are three you should check out this month. All of them can be found on Amazon.com. Read away dance fans!!
1. Aerial Dance: A Guide to Dance with Rope and HarnessAerial Dance: A Guide to Dance with Rope and Harness
By Jenefer Davies
2017; Focal Press; $39.95
As an introduction to aerial dance, this guide provides information on rigging, equipment, technique, conditioning and more. The chapters progress in a way similar to an aerial dance class. It provides step-by-step instructions for beginners to follow from their first experience with the art, through various movement phrases, to their performances. It also includes pieces of philosophy and advice from members of the aerialist community: “Aerial is not a reframing of traditional dance forms,” says aerialist Andrea Chastant Burkholder. “It has its own integrity and techniques and blends beautifully with any dance form.”
2. Dance Anatomy, Second EditionDance Anatomy, Second Edition
By Jacqui Greene Haas
2017; Human Kinetics Publishers; $24.95
Cincinnati Ballet athletic trainer Jacqui Greene Haas takes us through more than 100 of the most effective dance, movement and performance exercises designed to correct alignment, placement and breathing. Exercises demonstrated in the book, like proper abdominal stretching, are meant to help prevent common injuries in dancers and improve skills like arabesque and tour jeté. This book provides colorful illustrations of each movement and clearly highlights how to best develop and strengthen target areas of the body.
3. Tap into Improv: A Guide to Tap Improvisation
By Barbara Duffy
2017; CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; $45
Master tap teacher Barbara Duffy calls on several decades of performing (with Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, Brenda Bufalino, Jimmy Slyde), and her experience as director of the all-women Barbara Duffy & Company, to provide a volume of advice and practical tools for exploration in improvisation. Contributors include tap stars Michelle Dorrance, Derick K. Grant, Kazu Kumagai, Thomas Marek, Sarah Petronio and Brenda Bufalino who share their best strategies and exercises.
