Overview

How They Became Famous Dancers: A Dancing History for young readers tells the story of twelve dancers - six women and six men -who became famous, some against all odds. Coming from different parts of the world (France, Hungary, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, Trinidad, and the United States) and displaying a variety of physical sizes, body shapes, and skin colors, their lives spanned the seventeenth into the twenty-first centuries. Placed in chronological order, each biographical sketch mirrors the subject's historical and cultural context. Featured dancers are: Louis XIV, John Durang, Marie Taglioni, William Henry 'Juba' Lane, Anna Pavlova, Rudolf Laban, Doris Humphrey, Michio Ito, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Pearl Primus, Amalia Hernández, and Arthur Mitchell. Each chapter includes ""Create a Dance"" giving readers the opportunity to try out each dancer's style. Midwest Book Review ""A unique and impressively written, organized and presented history of dance, ""How They Became Famous Dancers"" is very highly recommended for both school and community library collections.""

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9780997713510

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Reviews

"Midwest Book Review - ""A unique and impressively written, organized and presented history of dance, ""How They Became Famous Dancers"" is very highly recommended for both school and community library collections. Anne Green Gilbert, author of Creative Dance for All Ages and Brain-Compatible Dance Education - ""I loved this fascinating, easy-to-read, interactive book about some of the most famous dancers of the 17th into the 21st centuries. The book, appropriate for ages 10 and up, is thoroughly researched and beautifully illustrated with lovely drawings and historical paintings and photos. The prompts for creating dances based on each dancer's style that appears at the end of every chapter is a fabulous addition. I highly recommend this book!"" Jane M. Bonbright, Ed.D., Founding Executive Director/National Dance Education Organization - ""How they Became Famous Dancers: A Dancing History fills a void existing in dance and arts education literature for young readers. It integrates the beautifully researched history with aesthetics and criticism, topics usually not addressed in K-12 arts education materials, and embeds the three artistic processes - creating, performing and responding - through creative dance activities. This book supports different learning styles by introducing and integrating modes of learning that access kinesthetic, spatial, cognitive, and musical intelligences."" Shana Habel, K-12 Dance Adviser, Los Angeles Unified School District - ""How They Became Famous Dancers: A Dancing History is such a well-written, welcome and much needed addition to the dance literature for young readers. It is an utterly charming book, and hits the mark with its rich text and wonderfully diverse selection of historical figures for students to connect to both intellectually and kinesthetically. I can't wait to explore its possibilities in the classroom!"" Dale Schmid, State Arts Resource Specialist - ""Finally! Here's an indispensible resource that alleviates the K-12 dance teachers' heavy reliance on dance history text excerpted from scholarly articles and book chapters written for the adult reader. Crafted in student-friendly language, How They Became Famous Dancers: A Dancing History captures the history of dance for young readers in an engaging and direct manner. This book will be a great addition to any school library, as well as a terrific enhancement to dance teachers' personal reference collections."" Elsa Posey, R.D.E., President, National Registry of Dance Educators. Director, Posey School of Dance - ""How They Became Famous Dancers"" is a book I will recommend to all my students and associates. Dancers have need of this book. It will help them reflect on why they dance and how they dance as they learn about famous dancers of the past from all over the world. How will you dance? Reading this book will help inspire you to find your own dance. Mary-Jean Cowell, Ph.D., Coordinator, Dance Program, Washington University in St. Louis - ""The choice of dancers covered in this book is admirable in its diversity of dance genres and ethnicities represented. Moreover, the biographies not only make clear the passion, dedicated effort and persistence required to achieve excellence in dance but also connect the dancers' lives and work with larger sociopolitical issues, some very important today. I would certainly recommend this book to teachers and to families with young dancers."""

Midwest Book Review - A unique and impressively written, organized and presented history of dance, How They Became Famous Dancers is very highly recommended for both school and community library collections. Anne Green Gilbert, author of Creative Dance for All Ages and Brain-Compatible Dance Education - I loved this fascinating, easy-to-read, interactive book about some of the most famous dancers of the 17th into the 21st centuries. The book, appropriate for ages 10 and up, is thoroughly researched and beautifully illustrated with lovely drawings and historical paintings and photos. The prompts for creating dances based on each dancer's style that appears at the end of every chapter is a fabulous addition. I highly recommend this book! Jane M. Bonbright, Ed.D., Founding Executive Director/National Dance Education Organization - How they Became Famous Dancers: A Dancing History fills a void existing in dance and arts education literature for young readers. It integrates the beautifully researched history with aesthetics and criticism, topics usually not addressed in K-12 arts education materials, and embeds the three artistic processes - creating, performing and responding - through creative dance activities. This book supports different learning styles by introducing and integrating modes of learning that access kinesthetic, spatial, cognitive, and musical intelligences. Shana Habel, K-12 Dance Adviser, Los Angeles Unified School District - How They Became Famous Dancers: A Dancing History is such a well-written, welcome and much needed addition to the dance literature for young readers. It is an utterly charming book, and hits the mark with its rich text and wonderfully diverse selection of historical figures for students to connect to both intellectually and kinesthetically. I can't wait to explore its possibilities in the classroom! Dale Schmid, State Arts Resource Specialist - Finally! Here's an indispensible resource that alleviates the K-12 dance teachers' heavy reliance on dance history text excerpted from scholarly articles and book chapters written for the adult reader. Crafted in student-friendly language, How They Became Famous Dancers: A Dancing History captures the history of dance for young readers in an engaging and direct manner. This book will be a great addition to any school library, as well as a terrific enhancement to dance teachers' personal reference collections. Elsa Posey, R.D.E., President, National Registry of Dance Educators. Director, Posey School of Dance - How They Became Famous Dancers is a book I will recommend to all my students and associates. Dancers have need of this book. It will help them reflect on why they dance and how they dance as they learn about famous dancers of the past from all over the world. How will you dance? Reading this book will help inspire you to find your own dance. Mary-Jean Cowell, Ph.D., Coordinator, Dance Program, Washington University in St. Louis - The choice of dancers covered in this book is admirable in its diversity of dance genres and ethnicities represented. Moreover, the biographies not only make clear the passion, dedicated effort and persistence required to achieve excellence in dance but also connect the dancers' lives and work with larger sociopolitical issues, some very important today. I would certainly recommend this book to teachers and to families with young dancers.

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