A Selection of European Folk Dances, Volume 3 presents the dance sequence and music for selected Folk Dances from various European countries. The book focuses on traditional folk dances from France, Germany, and Israel, as well as from Yugoslavia, Portugal, and Romania. Experts from the dance's country of origin are consulted to ensure that the instructions given in the book are precise. The music for the dances is recorded under the auspices of the Society for International Folk Dancing. Dance instructors, dancers, sociologists, and musicians will find this book informative and interesting.

A fascinating exploration of an ancient system of beliefs and its links to the evolution of dance. From Southern Greece to northern Russia, people living in agrarian communities have long believed in “dancing goddesses,” mystical female spirits who spend their nights and days dancing in the fields and forests. In The Dancing Goddesses, archaeologist, linguist, and lifelong folkdancer Elizabeth Wayland Barber follows the trail of these spirit maidens—long associated with fertility, marriage customs, and domestic pursuits—from their early appearance in traditional folktales and harvest rituals to their more recent incarnations in fairytales and present-day dance. Illustrated with photographs, maps, and line drawings, the result is a brilliantly original work that stands at the intersection of archaeology and folk traditions—at once a rich portrait of our rich agrarian ancestry and an enchanting reminder of the human need to dance.

This edited collection charts the development of contemporary dance in Central and Eastern Europe since the literal and symbolic revolutions of 1989. Central Europe and the former Soviet Bloc countries were a major presence in dance – particularly theatrical dance – throughout the twentieth century. With the fragmentation of traditional structures in the final decade of the century came a range of aesthetic and ideological responses from dance practitioners. These ranged from attempts to reform classical ballet to struggles for autonomy from the state, and the nature of each was influenced by a set of contexts and circumstances particular to each country. Each contribution covers the strategies of a different country’s dance practitioners, using a similar structure in order to invite comparisons. In general, they address: Historical context, showing the roots of contemporary dance forms The socio-political climates that influenced emerging companies and forms The relationships between aesthetic exploration and institutional patronage The practitioners who were central to the development of dance in each country A diagnosis of the current state of the art and how it has come about The book’s main through-line is the concept of community, and how all of the different approaches that it documents have in some way engaged with this notion, consciously or otherwise. This can take the form of oppositional relationships, institutional formations, or literally, in identifiable communities of dancers and choreographers.

In Balkan Fascination, ethnomusicologist Mirjana Lausevic, a native of the Balkans, investigates this remarkable phenomenon to explore why so many Americans actively participate in specific Balkan cultural practices to which they have no familial or ethnic connection.

New Directions in Dance is a collection of papers presented at the Seventh Dance in Canada Conference held at the University of Waterloo, Canada, in June 1979. The book focuses on the future directions of dance and covers dance thought and expression, its physical realities, related arts, and its role in society. The topics encompass a wide range of disciplines, from choreography, semiotics, and aesthetics to criticism, psychology,history, physics, biomechanics, orthopedics, education, and computer analysis. Comprised of 19 chapters, this book begins with an introduction to Aristotle's dramatic theories and their application to the criticism of dances, particularly those with dramatic structure and/or origins. Of particular relevance are Aristotle's treatment of the aesthetic concepts of unity and causality; his definition of tragedy; the means of poetic imitation as diction and melody; and the manner of poetic imitation as dramatic with the use of spectacle. The discussion then turns to R. G. Collingwood's principles of art and whether they contain a theory of dance; some applications of linguistic and semiological concepts to theater dance; and parallel trends in the development of Expressionist painting and the genesis of modern dance in Germany. Subsequent chapters explore children as dance audience; the history of dance in Canada; the link between physics and ballet; and computer-assisted notation of dance. The final section is devoted to dance policy and education. This monograph will be of interest to dancers, dance scholars and researchers, artists, students, teachers, and others involved in the dance profession.