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Ballet across Borders

Career and Culture in the World of Dancers

Helena Wulff author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:1st Oct '98

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

This paperback is available in another edition too:

Ballet across Borders cover

Also available in hardback, 9781859739938 GBP50.00 (October, 1998)

This absorbing book is ballet's 'biography' -- a revealing examination of a closed world, its competition and camaraderie, sexual politics, intimacies, pressures and, not least of all, its magic.This absorbing book is ballet's 'biography' -- a revealing examination of a closed world, its competition and camaraderie, sexual politics, intimacies, pressures and, not least of all, its magic. Ballet companies have endeavoured to hide what is going on backstage lest the reality of highly strung nerves, constant fatigue and pain from injuries tarnish the illusion of ethereal figures and seemingly weightless steps in polished performances. But the audience's perceptions of fairy-tale worlds onstage are far removed from the experiences of the dancers themselves. The author, who trained to be a dancer, has been given an entrée to this private world that few outsiders ever see.Books on ballet tend to focus on performance. In contrast, this book, which draws on extensive fieldwork with major companies such as London's Royal Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre in New York, the Royal Swedish Ballet and the Ballett Frankfurt, is about dancers - how their careers are made and unmade and what happens in dance companies offstage. Anyone interested in the culture of ballet or the theatre, as well as students of anthropology, dance, performance and cultural studies, will want to read what really goes on when the curtain comes down.

"If one test of an ethnography is for participants to recognise themselves and their world, this ethnography of the Western classical ballet world succeeds amply ... This book is a rare attempt to raise the curtain on backstage activities, revealing tantalising glimpses of this 'closed' ballet world. - The Australian Journal of Anthropology

A wealth of anecdotal information about backstage life. - Ethnos"

ISBN: 9781859739983

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 570g

216 pages