Introduction Part I: Caste, Community and performance A ritual performance of Kerala, Vayala Vasudevan Pillai The Patuas of Bengal, Makbul Islam Bards and goddesses: The Pombalas in Tirupati, Anand Akundy Explorations in the art forms of the Cindu madigas in Andhra, Y A Sudhakar Reddy and R R Harischandra Caste identity and performance in a fisher-village of Assam, Kishore Bhattacharjee Part II: Performance Beyond Caste Telugu pady natakam in Andhra: Performance dynamics, P Subbachary Modernising tradition: The yaksagana in Karnataka, Guru Rao Bapat Kalarippayatt as aesthetics and the politics of invisibility in Kerala, P K Sasidharan India People’s Theatre Association in colonial Andhra, V Ramakrishna Gaddar and the politics and pain of singing, D Venkat Rao Reviving moghal tamsa in Orissa, Sachi Mohanty Part III: Classical Dance and its Successors New directions in Indian dance, Sunil Kothari Transpositions in kuchipudi dance, Aruna Bhikshu The impact of commercialization in dance, K Subadra Murthy Art addressing social problems, Ananda Shankar Jayant

More than 150 inspired—and inspiring—novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians on how they subtly maneuver the many (self-inflicted) obstacles and (self-imposed) daily rituals to get done the work they love to do. Franz Kafka, frustrated with his living quarters and day job, wrote in a letter to Felice Bauer in 1912, “time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers.” Kafka is one of 161 minds who describe their daily rituals to get their work done, whether by waking early or staying up late; whether by self-medicating with doughnuts or bathing, drinking vast quantities of coffee, or taking long daily walks. Thomas Wolfe wrote standing up in the kitchen, the top of the refrigerator as his desk, dreamily fondling his “male configurations”.... Jean-Paul Sartre chewed on Corydrane tablets (a mix of amphetamine and aspirin), ingesting ten times the recommended dose each day ... Descartes liked to linger in bed, his mind wandering in sleep through woods, gardens, and enchanted palaces where he experienced “every pleasure imaginable.” Here are: Anthony Trollope, who demanded of himself that each morning he write three thousand words (250 words every fifteen minutes for three hours) before going off to his job at the postal service, which he kept for thirty-three years during the writing of more than two dozen books ... Karl Marx ... Woody Allen ... Agatha Christie ... George Balanchine, who did most of his work while ironing ... Leo Tolstoy ... Charles Dickens ... Pablo Picasso ... George Gershwin, who, said his brother Ira, worked for twelve hours a day from late morning to midnight, composing at the piano in pajamas, bathrobe, and slippers.... Here also are the daily rituals of Charles Darwin, Andy Warhol, John Updike, Twyla Tharp, Benjamin Franklin, William Faulkner, Jane Austen, Anne Rice, and Igor Stravinsky (he was never able to compose unless he was sure no one could hear him and, when blocked, stood on his head to “clear the brain”).

Once musicians such as Mozart were little more than court servants; now they are multimillionaire superstars wielding more power than politicians. How did this extraordinary change come about? Tim Blanning's brilliantly enjoyable book examines how everything from the cult of the romantic to technology and travel all fed the inexorable rise of music in the West, making it the most dominant and ubiquitous of the art forms. Encompassing balladeers, the great composers, jazz legends and rock gods, this is an enthralling story of power, patronage, creativity and genius.

The performing arts represent a significant part of the artistic production in our culture. Correspondingly the fields of drama, film, music, opera, dance and performance studies are expanding. However, these arts remain an underexplored territory for aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Expression in the Performing Arts tries to contribute to this area. The volume collects essays written by international scholars who address a variety of themes concerning the core philosophical topic of expression in the theory of the performing arts. Specific questions about the ontology of art, the nature of the performances, the role of the performer, and the relations between spectators and works emerge from the study of the performing arts. Besides, these arts challenge the unchanging physicality of other kinds of works of art, usually the direct result of creative individual artist, and barely affected by the particular circumstances of their exhibition. Expression is one of the issues that adopt a special character in the performing arts. Do singers, dancers or actors express the feelings a work is expressive of? How does the performer contribute to the expressive content of the work? How does the spectator emotionally respond to the physical proximity of the performers? Is aesthetic distance avoided in the understanding of the performing arts? How are the expressive properties of work, performance and characters related? And how are the subjectivities they embody revealed? The contributions presented here are not all in agreement on the right answers to theses questions, but they offer a critical and exciting discussion of them. In addition to original proposals on the theoretical aspect of expression in the performing arts, the collection includes analyses of individual artists, historical productions and concrete works of art, as well as reflections on performative practice.

Fundamentals of movement for actors, conductors, musicians, yogis . . . and everyone else

Extraordinary reference book of over 80 famous painters, their lives, their loves and their iconic paintings. This art book includes insightful biographies of artists accompanied with remarkable reproductions of their famous artworks. Begin with the early Renaissance and follow art movements through the centuries to some of the most well-known artists alive today. A gorgeous exploration of the defining people of the art world including pioneers like Giotto and Jan van Eyck, the greats like Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, and the visionaries like Frida Kahlo and Hokusai. The large format art book is overflowing with information and pictures of your favorite classics. The full-page prints are especially spectacular, allowing you to get the full effect of the work that inspired, defined and encapsulated art movements. Over 500 years of the craft is discussed, with the chapters organized by century starting with "Before 1500” and ending with “1945 – Present.” Each chapter features the relevant painters of those years with its own directory. Read about the historical context of art movements in sections which include timelines and fact panels giving incredible insight into the art world, the past lives of artists and their visions and techniques. Discover the unconventional stories of the artists' lives, including their influences, developments, friendships, loves and rivalries. Read about the portraits that Holbein did for Henry VIII to play matchmaker, Caravaggio's astonishing reaction to a badly cooked artichoke and the many romantic affairs of Picasso. Sometimes scandalous and often tumultuous, the lives of artists like Raphael, Hogarth, van Gogh, O'Keeffe, Magritte, Warhol and Kiefer are as interesting and captivating as their work. The Artists Behind the Paint Brushes A beautiful coffee table book that would make a lovely gift for those interested in art history and artist biographies, or to browse the attractive reproductions of the famous artworks. Includes a foreword by Ross King, who is the author of the bestselling Brunelleschi's Dome and Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, as well as the novels Ex-Libris and Domino. • Over 80 biographies of the standout artists over the centuries since the early Renaissance. • Beautiful reproductions of artworks that allow you to get up close to their brush strokes. • Insight into historical art themes and movements that influenced the periods.