A01=Helena Wulff
American Ballet Theatre
Author_Helena Wulff
backstage dynamics
Ballet Centres
Ballet Companies
Ballet Directors
Ballet Mistress
Ballet Performances
Ballet School
Ballet Students
Ballet World
Ballett Frankfurt
camaraderie
Category=ATQL
Category=JB
Category=JBCC
Category=JHM
Category=JHMC
Classical Ballet
Contemporary Companies
Corps De Ballet
Corps De Ballet Dancers
dance anthropology
dancer
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethnographic fieldwork
ethnography of professional dancers
gender roles performance
Male Dancer
performing arts research
Principal Dancers
Royal Ballet
Royal Ballet School
Royal Opera House
Royal Swedish Ballet
Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet
Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet
sexual politics
Swan Lake
Swedish Ballet
vocational training dance
York City Ballet
Product details
- ISBN 9781859739938
- Weight: 730g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 01 Oct 1998
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
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.
Helena Wulff Senior Lecturer,Stockholm University
