The history of American dance reflects the nationrsquo;s tangled culture. Dancers from wildly different backgrounds learned; imitated; and stole from one another. Audiences everywhere embraced the result as deeply American. Using the stories of tapper Bill "Bojangles" Robinson; Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire; ballet and Broadway choreographer Agnes de Mille; choreographer Paul Taylor; and Michael Jackson; Megan Pugh shows how freedommdash;that nebulous; contested American idealmdash;emerges as a genre-defining aesthetic. In Pughrsquo;s account; ballerinas mingle with slumming thrill-seekers; and hoedowns show up on elite opera house stages. Steps invented by slaves on antebellum plantations captivate the British royalty and the Parisian avant-garde. Dances were better boundary crossers than their dancers; however; and the issues of race and class that haunt everyday life shadow American dance as well. Deftly narrated; America Dancing demonstrates the centrality of dance in American art; life; and identity; taking us to watershed moments when the nation worked out a sense of itself through public movement.
#238776 in eBooks 2008-12-10 2008-12-10File Name: B0017SWQGA
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Clear and EngagingBy MatthewAs an actor Im always interested in reading good books on the craft of acting. learning about different techniques. and seeking ways to improve my work. The last word. "improve". is perhaps the most difficult to quantify as that improvement necessitates both an objective method of judgement and a standard toward which "improvement" can be made (something that might seem fairly hard to come by when discussing the arts. and perhaps most especially the art and craft of the actor). But when it comes right down to it. its really not all that hard to understand what makes acting good or bad. To paraphrase Esper. "No one comes out of a play or movie saying Wow. those actors were so good! I didnt believe a thing they said." Therefore we can say that in all most all contemporary contexts "good acting" is acting that is indistinguishable from truly living and doing. To paraphrase Stella Adler in a different book: "You must never appear to be acting". So if we say that good acting is acting that appears to be real and genuine living and doing. than a book that promotes Stanford Meisners famous statement that "acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances". or Espers version that clarifies "living" as "doing". and transports you into the midst of a group of artists seeking to learn how to do it must be a pretty good place to start when seeking out improvement or a strong foundation. I have taken a short (i.e. less than one year) Meisner based acting class before. and left feeling as if I had experienced only minimal success. learned only a little bit. struggled...and perhaps not in a good way. and ultimately felt confused. I wondered if maybe the Meisner technique. although wonderful for many people. was perhaps just not for me. Then I read THE ACTORS ART AND CRAFT and I saw everything differently. William Espers fictional acting class is so CLEAR and inspiring! Reading this book helped me understand everything about the Meisner technique that had seemed so ambiguous and down right illogical before! I want to state very clearly that this book "pinched" me (to use a Meisner term) in and of itself and has inspired me to try and get back into Meisner training again. This is one of the best books of the craft of acting I have ever read. If you want to act the way I have described at the beginning of this review then hear this: This is precisely the hope provided by the Meisner technique and I suggest that there may be no one better than William Esper to learn it from. The book is very well written and engaging. The content is truly first rate. Five stars!!! Highly recommended to actor. directors. or anyone wanting insight into the acting training process!1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. An extraordinary book on actingBy MillstoneyWayThis book follows a class of beginning students for their first year of studies. The students are composites of many individuals. Through exercises and assignments they advance through the development of the tools for what he calls straight acting. His comments on the performances in the class are illuminating and revealing. These composite students illustrate common problems of talented beginning performers as well as flashes of brilliance. Well described and very accessible. this is an excellent guide and a great read.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Warts and allBy CustomerThis is without doubt a book for actors. but its also an important resource for those aspiring to enter an art form that is little understood by outsiders and often only sketchily understood by those struggling within it. William Esper is clearly a tough taskmaster. as those at the top of our profession need to be. and he has no time for the amateur or the dilettante no matter how enthusiastic. I love the way he works and DiMarcos commentary is invaluable in highlighting the importance of the techniques used and the impact they have on the actors involved.This is a raw. unflinching method of developing the actors skills without which there is no truthful performance to bind the audience to their seats. completely unaware of the extraordinary techniques needed to make it all seem so effortless and lifelike.If you are already an actor (especially one still struggling for recognition). or a drama student. or even an amateur (in the true sense of the word) who wishes to excel in your chosen hobby. read this book. It wont turn you into the next Brando. Pitt. Dench or Streep. but it will surely and soundly point you in the right direction.
