In this memoir of a roller-coaster career on the New York stage, former actor and dancer Bettijane Sills offers a highly personal look at the art and practice of George Balanchine, one of ballet’s greatest choreographers, and the inner workings of his world-renowned company during its golden years. Sills recounts her years as a child actor in television and on Broadway, a career choice largely driven by her mother, and describes her transition into pursuing her true passion: dance. She was a student in Balanchine’s School of American Ballet throughout her childhood and teen years, until her dream was achieved. She was invited to join New York City Ballet in 1961 as a member of the corps de ballet and worked her way up to the level of soloist. Winningly honest and intimate, Sills lets readers peek behind the curtains to see a world that most people have never experienced firsthand. She tells stories of taking classes with Balanchine, dancing in the original casts of some of his most iconic productions, working with a number of the company’s most famous dancers, and participating in the company’s first Soviet Union tour during the Cold War and Cuban Missile Crisis. She walks us through her years in New York City Ballet first as a member of the corps de ballet, then a soloist dancing some principal roles, finally as one of the “older” dancers teaching her roles to newcomers while being encouraged to retire. She reveals the unglamorous parts of tour life, jealousy among company members, and Balanchine’s complex relationships with women.

The story of this groundbreaking summer dance program is told through the voices of staff, faculty, and students. Administrative director Mary Josephine Shelly’s previously unpublished writings form a key summary of eight of the nine summer sessions. The Bennington School of the Dance held classes from 1934 through 1942 at Bennington College in Vermont, with one summer spent at Mills College in California. Its effects were far-reaching in the development and dissemination of modern dance as an original American art form. The school produced unique choreographic works by teachers in residence: Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. Leading choreographers of the later 20th century such as Merce Cunningham, Anna Halprin, José Limón, Alwin Nikolais and Anna Sokolow participated at the school. The largest portion of students were high school and college level teachers who would spread modern dance across the country and abroad.

Embracing dramatic similarities, glaring disjunctions, and striking innovations, this book explores the history and context of dance on the land we know today as the United States of America. Designed for weekly use in dance history courses, it traces dance in the USA as it broke traditional forms, crossed genres, provoked social and political change, and drove cultural exchange and collision. The authors put a particular focus on those whose voices have been silenced, unacknowledged, and/or uncredited – exploring racial prejudice and injustice, intersectional feminism, protest movements, and economic conditions, as well as demonstrating how socio-political issues and movements affect and are affected by dance. In looking at concert dance, vernacular dance, ritual dance, and the convergence of these forms, the chapters acknowledge the richness of dance in today’s USA and the strong foundations on which it stands.

Biography of the life and career of Hemsley Winfield, actor, director, choreographer, dancer and creator of the first African American Modern Dance Company.

An annotated bibliography of Hemsley Winfield's life and career. Includes 511 annotations of Winfield's life and career plus images of programs, letters, and other materials.

What do ballerinas and blossoms have in common? Grace, resilience, and the power to inspire. Welcome to Ballerina Garden—a lyrical celebration of movement and nature. Step into a whimsical world where flowers and ballerinas share the spotlight. Petals pirouette and dance blooms alongside heartfelt reflections and dreamlike imagery. From resilience and self-expression to community and joy, these pages invite young dancers to reflect on their journey. With gentle themes of growth, self-care, and artistic identity.

Bunny leaps from the wolf's belly with only one memory-she loves to dance.But something, or someone, is STILL MISSING! Bellyrina delivers Once Upon a Dance's signature blend of heartwarming stories wrapped in the mission of inspiring joyful movement. Dance-Along Fun with Once Upon a Dance features. Perfect for ages 4-8, Bellyrina features adorable animals, fairy magic, gentle drama, and plenty of sparkle. Whether shared in classrooms, studios, or at home, this Dancing Ever After series debut invites children to their own happily ever after.

Meet Quinn Hops and Bella Beak—the most adorable duo to ever don ballet gear! Their hearts flutter with anticipation—it’s their very first dance class! Will wobbly toes lead to whimsy, wiggles or woes?   

Focusing on the downtown improvisation collective that grew out of Yvonne Rainer's work.

Selected writings over 40 years

This book brings together theories and tools of consent-forward, trauma-informed, and psychologically safe pedagogies and pedagogies of care, specifically for dance and movement teachers. It begins with power assessments for educators, then offers insights on the ripple effects of those powers in the classroom on students’ consent, agency, and psychological well-being. Each chapter includes reflective prompts for educators to examine their current classroom practices, as well as imagine new possibilities. Specifically in the second half of the book, chapters include multiple tools and/or templates for movement educators to use in incorporating new pedagogic practices into their classroom, including their syllabus, class design, and assessment. Reminders of the big ideas or highlight concepts conclude each chapter. Care-full Creativity in Theatre and Dance Education is written for dance and movement educators as they develop consent-forward, trauma-informed, psychologically safe classrooms, rehearsals, and studio spaces.

Book overview:Pre-Ballet: The Piantaggini Method is for teaching artists who educate young children. It includes syllabi and suggested playlists for the following classes:Dance for Ones with Grown-Up, Dance for Twos and Threes with Grown-Up, Dance for 3s & 4s Independent, Pre-Ballet for Pre-K, Pre-Ballet for Kindergarteners

Branching Out: Oral Histories of the Founders of Six National Dance Organizations was written by Margot C. Lehman and Marilynn Danitz (both former ADG Presidents) and Katja Pylyshenko Kolcio. It contains stories of the Guild and organizations that emerged from it through interviews with the radical educators and artists who founded these seminal associations.

This book provides professional guidance, gentle adaptations and compassionate support to improve your bone health, strength and balance for an active lifestyle at any age.

The theory and practice of a pioneering method to help you move with ease, release tension, and relieve chronic pain.

This is a user-friendly guide to the biomechanical human body, with practical applications to yoga and any type of exercise. There are chapters on each part of the body, presenting the bones and soft tissue structures, with illustrations, innovative exercises and study questions for review.

Dancing with Georges Perec is an interdisciplinary exploration of the relationship of dance to the life and work of the remarkable Parisian-Jewish writer, Georges Perec (1936-1982). The book addresses art-making parallels of dance, writing (especially Oulipo, the Workshop for Potential Literature), and other fields, as well as their sociocultural and personal contexts. These include Perec's childhood loss of his parents in the Holocaust and the repercussions of that loss in the significance of the body, everydayness, space, and attention permeating his work. Dancing, framed as a performative autobiographical enactment of the author's relationship to Perec, offers Satin's dancerly experience of reading his work.

In her first posthumous work, the revered poet crafts a personal history of Black dance and captures the careers of legendary dancers along with her own rhythmic beginnings. Many learned of Ntozake Shange’s ability to blend movement with words when her acclaimed choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf made its way to Broadway in 1976, eventually winning an Obie Award the following year. But before she found fame as a writer, poet, performer, dancer, and storyteller, she was an untrained student who found her footing in others’ classrooms. Dance We Do is a tribute to those who taught her and her passion for rhythm, movement, and dance. After 20 years of research, writing, and devotion, Ntozake Shange tells her history of Black dance through a series of portraits of the dancers who trained her, moved with her, and inspired her to share the power of the Black body with her audience. Shange celebrates and honors the contributions of the often unrecognized pioneers who continued the path Katherine Dunham paved through the twentieth century. Dance We Do features a stunning photo insert along with personal interviews with Mickey Davidson, Halifu Osumare, Camille Brown, and Dianne McIntyre. In what is now one of her final works, Ntozake Shange welcomes the reader into the world she loved best.

Movement plays a fundamental role in human life, shaping how we think, communicate, and engage with ourselves and our surroundings. Somatic practice, which focuses on deepening the relationship between body and mind, offers a framework for understanding the human experience. This book examines the theoretical foundations of somatics and introduces SomaLab®, a system designed to support integrated mind-body learning. The book contextualizes somatic experience by exploring how humans learn, regulate, and respond to different environments. Practical applications—designed across educational, artistic, and community contexts—are offered for dancers, musicians, and others who use movement as a means of expression, interaction, or connection.