oh trina: i KNOW that feeling! <P>and it's a dreadful shame, isn't it, that so many of the best books are out-of-print, even quite recent ones...<P>still, i HAVE found, as you say up above, that the determined soul CAN hunt them down ( i am one such soul!)

Maggie...oops, didn't answer you're other question about Agnes DeMille books. I've read-"And Promenade Home" and the first one...I can't remember the name...about her early life in the DeMille clan, early dance career...she is a GREAT writer, but again, I couldn't decide which one to put on "the list". Also, my husband read the list and noticed there was nothing specifically about Denishawn era. The best one I know of is by Barton Mumaw, a former Denishawn dancer. But it's very much a "kiss and tell" book ,so I don't know!! Does anyone know of any one good Denishawn book? Historically and stylistically speaking?

Yes, I know that book. I do know of, I think, two others. I'll look into it and post them. I remember reading them.

Maggie-the name of the earlier Agnes De Mille book is "Dance to the Piper".She really is wonderful writer..and the other book I want to add to "The List" is "Dancing" by Gerald Jonas. It was the companion book to the PBS series by the same name. It is wonderfully organized in that it has a chapter entitled "Classical Court Dance" and then will cover classcial dance from Cambodia, French (ballet), Balinese, etc. So it uses a cross-cultural perspective and covers a worldwide view of dance forms... very thorough and in-depth. <BR>

<P>trina: Dancing, The Pleasure, Power, and Art of Movement, $20 from amazon.com, published september 1998, 256 pages. sounds interesting! <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0810927918/qid=960446723/sr=1-19/103-1857762-1863800" TARGET=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0810927918/<BR>qid=960446723/sr=1-19/103-1857762-1863800</A><P>and de mille is a great storyteller: i'd agree with that! <p>[This message has been edited by grace (edited June 07, 2000).]

Trina, I've seen the PBS series and loved it. I had no idea there was an accompanying book. Thank-you for mentioning it. I believe I will check those PBS videos out from the library and watch them again.

I too saw the PBS special..as a footnote-the modern section of the special focused quite extensively on Twyla Tharp, who I like. Then I noticed that Rhoda Grauer, Twyla's former company manager, produced the program!<BR> Well, that's neither here nor there. I thought it was a great program....both the show and the book are very comprehensive and attempt to present dance as a GLOBAL art form, as an expression of cultural, spiritual and entertainment values.

fans of the DANCING series may be more than a little pleased to discover that there is a Teachers Resource Guide and even Lesson Plans based on the series, at this URL: <A HREF="http://www.pbs.org/dancing/dancinghome.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.pbs.org/dancing/dancinghome.html</A> <P>pretty good, eh?

Another book I simply MUST add to the list--"Private Domain", autobiography of Paul Taylor. This book is just as brilliant, surprising and quirky as the choreography of this great master himself...highly recommmended, entertaining and thoughtful.

Here is a book that was recently recommended to me:<P>Physics, Dance, and the Pas De Deux/Book<BR>by Kenneth Laws, Cynthia Harvey<P> <BR> <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0028713265/qid=961027550/sr=1-2/002-4812336-1618410" TARGET=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0028713265/qid=961027550/sr=1-2/002-4812336-1618410</A>

On the subject of books, I found this site that is a source for 2nd hand and out of print dance books and magazines. I haven't had a chance to explore the possibilities. It looks like a good rainy day fun thing, and we've had precious little rain here so I don't know when I'll get to it! It looks like a good site, though. <A HREF="http://www.toronto.com/E/V/TORON/0011/85/01/" TARGET=_blank>www.toronto.com/E/V/TORON/0011/85/01/</A> <p>[This message has been edited by Maggie (edited June 24, 2000).]

<P>why is it that i feel you have been doing a search on 'terpsichore' maggie?<P>i like these women already:<BR> you can guess WHY!<P>doesn't that ginger boofhead on the left look like it's got heaps of personality!<P>i agree that this site looks very much worth referring to for dance books.

Ha-ha-ha! After Michael said he had seen manifestations of a male Terpsichore in France, I decided I would try and see what one looked like. Alas, I could find no guy form of above mentioned muse. I'm still curious, though.<P>That *is* an orange boof-head. He looks like he doesn't take any stuff from anyone!

maggie, i've never seen or heard of a male terpsichore either..but maybe michael's onto a creative thought here - maybe 'go with it'!

As a teacher of both Cecchetti and RAD ballet I suppose I should be putting forward their associated manuals as my top technical books on ballet. However my favourite, and one that should perhaps be on all ballet teachers shelves irrespective of the kind of ballet they teach, is Kostrovitskaya and Pirarev's School of Classical Dance. Despite being essentially a Vaganova textbook it provides a myriad of details regarding the execution of most of the class room steps.<P>For basic practical knowledge on anatomy and ballet I don't think you can get much better then Valerie Grieg's Inside Ballet Technique. This should be on the reading list of all student teachers.<BR>