Arts & Culture

SYTYCD Dance @ the Toronto Public Library

August 19, 2010 | Bill V. | Comments (0)

After watching SYTYCD do you wonder who Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins or Alvin Ailey are?  And what exactly is Bollywood or African Dance? There are many dance references on the show so why not let the Library help you find this information ? 


Bob Fosse  was a multi-talented and award winning director and choreographer on stage and film.  He developed a jazz style that was notable for its angular sexual nature.  If you have seen "Cabaret" or "Chicago" then you've already been exposed to the Fosse style.

  
Copies to borrow or read at the Toronto Reference Library of All his jazz the life & death of Bob Fosse: Winner of an Oscar forCabaret,a Tony forPippin’, and an Emmy forLiza with a ‘Z’—all in one year, 1972—Bob Fosse (1927–1987) was one of America’s greatest choreographers and directors. Born in Chicago, young Fosse began his career tap-dancing as part of the Riff Brothers in sleazy strip joints, where he encountered the erotic style that later became his signature. Best known for his Broadway hits (The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Sweet Charity,andChicago), he was also a successful movie director. Three of his five films were nominated for Academy Awards:Cabaret, Lenny,and the autobiographicalAll That Jazz.A compulsive womanizer, he had many affairs, even during his three marriages, the last of which was to actress Gwen Verdon, with whom he shared his most fruitful Broadway collaborations. As his fame grew, so too did his insecurities and addictions. He survived two heart attacks and several epileptic seizures, only to die on a street corner in Washington, D.C., in Verdon’s arms. After his death Fosse became a Broadway legend. Based on interviews with friends, family, and colleagues, this eloquent biography provides a vivid connection between Bob Fosse’s life and his work for stage and screen.      Copies to borrow or use at the Toronto Reference Library of Fosse Style : McWaters' precise and thorough analysis of Bob Fosse's accomplishments as a choreographer have an authentic feel, mostly because she has acted as choreographer on a number of Fosse productions on Broadway, and has conducted workshops on this dancing style across the country. Hundreds of photographs examine the dance movements that define Fosse as an artist, allowing the student of dance to replicate the steps with some accuracy. A foreword from Ben Vereen, one of Fosse's most notable stars, is included.  
Copies to borrow or read at the Toronto Reference Library of Bob Fosse's Broadway A show-by-show analysis of one of Broadway's preeminent American choreographers, the angular and jazzy Bob Fosse.


Jerome Robbins was a dancer, choreographer, director and producer and a giant in the American dance world.  He created for TV, film, theatre/stage and also ballet dance.  He won multiple Oscars and Tonys and was even a member of the French Legion of Honor.  If you know the dance sequences in West Side Story you have seen his work but he also choreographed for the "King & I" , "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Peter Pan".   He was closely associated with both the Joffrey and New York City Ballet companies.

Copies to borrow or use at the Toronto Reference Library of Jerome Robbins his life, his theater, his dance - Jowitt's extensive biography of Jerome Robbins pays equal attention to the choreographer's artistic development and his personal relationships. Jowitt (dance, New York University Tisch School of Arts and dance critic for the The Village Voice) had access to Robbins' journals, correspondence and production notes, and she also interviewed over 100 people who worked with Robbins. As a result, the biography conveys a strong sense of Robbins' personality and view of the world. Jowitt's discussion of Robbins' career is strengthened by her grounding in the world of dance  
Copies to borrow of this DVD - Jerome Robbins Something To Dance About - The Definitive Biography of an American Dance Master.Examines the life of the controversial master of the Broadway musical and ballet choreographer Jerome Robbins. Features excerpts from Robbins' work, including never-before-seen rehearsal footage, and interviews with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jacques d'Amboise, Suzanne Farrell, Arthur Laurents, Peter Martins, Frank Rich, Chita Rivera, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harrick, Joseph Stein, and others.   Copies to borrow or use at the Toronto Reference Library of Somewhere the life of Jerome Robbins : From the author of the acclaimedEverybody Was So Young, the definitive and major biography of the great choreographer and Broadway legend Jerome Robbins To some, Jerome Robbins was a demanding perfectionist, a driven taskmaster, a theatrical visionary; to others, he was a loyal friend, a supportive mentor, a generous and entertaining companion and colleague. Born Jerome Rabinowitz in New York City in 1918, Jerome Robbins repudiated his Jewish roots along with his name only to reclaim them with his triumphant staging ofFiddler on the Roof. A self-proclaimed homosexual, he had romances or relationships with both men and women, some famous—like Montgomery Clift and Natalie Wood—some less so. A resolutely unpolitical man, he was forced to testify before Congress at the height of anti-Communist hysteria. A consummate entertainer, he could be paralyzed by shyness; nearly infallible professionally, he was conflicted, vulnerable, and torn by self-doubt. Guarded and adamantly private, he was an inveterate and painfully honest journal writer who confided his innermost thoughts and aspirations to a remarkable series of diaries and memoirs. With ballets likeDances at a Gathering,Afternoon of a Faun, andThe Concert,he humanized neoclassical dance; with musicals likeOn the Town,Gypsy, andWest Side Story, he changed the face of theater in America. In the pages of this definitive biography, Amanda Vaill takes full measure of the complicated, contradictory genius who was Jerome Robbins. She re-creates his childhood as the only son of Russian Jewish immigrants; his apprenticeship as a dancer and Broadway chorus gypsy; his explosion into prominence at the age of twenty-five with the balletFancy Freeand its Broadway incarnation,On the Town; and his years of creative dominance in both theater and dance. She brings to life his colleagues and friends—from Leonard Bernstein and George Balanchine to Robert Wilson and Robert Graves—and his loves and lovers. And she tells the full story behind some of Robbins’s most difficult episodes, such as his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee and his firing from the film version ofWest Side Story. Drawing on thousands of pages of documents from Robbins’s personal and professional papers, to which she was granted unfettered access, as well as on other archives and hundreds of interviews,Somewhereis a riveting narrative of a life lived onstage, offstage, and backstage. It is also an accomplished work of criticism and social history that chronicles one man’s phenomenal career and places it squarely in the cultural ferment of a time when New York City was truly “a helluva town.”

Mentioned a number of times on the show was the ground breaking Black American dance choreographer  Alvin Ailey.  Born into a time of deep and often violent segregation he established one of America's best known dance companies the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. 

 DVD to borrow of A Tribute to Alvin Ailey. See here for a list of materials on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.  
See here for copies you can borrow or read only at the Toronto Reference Library of Ailey spirit the journey of an American dance company-Published to coincide with the opening of Alvin Ailey's brand-new building in NYC, these stunning images are accompanied by extracts from in-depth interviews with dozens of dancers and artists associated with the company for over 45 years.  
See here for African American dance an illustrated history and also other material on African American dance.


Bollywood is best known as a film genre from India which also has a strong dance component.The roots of Bollywood dance are in Indian classical and traditional dance.

Copies to borrow of The Bollywood dance workout with Hemalaya ;Fitness instructor Hemalayaa Behl combines yoga with Bollywood dance moves for a workout designed to improve strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular health.    
Copies to borrow of Bollywood a history : Every year the Indian film industry produces more than a 1,000 feature films; every day 14 million Indians go to a movie; and a billion more people a year buy tickets for Indian movies than for their Hollywood-produced counterparts. Bombay's studios have taken the cinematic techniques of Hollywood and used them to produce features that have enthralled audiences throughout eastern Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. The result is the Bollywood movie, a film genre characterized by multiple song and dance routines, intense melodrama, and plots containing everything from farce to tragedy. This is the fantastic, diverse, and rich story of the social and cultural phenomenon of Bollywood and an up-close look at the men, women, and ideas that have fueled its incredible growth.   
Copies you can borrow of Fantasies of a Bollywood love thief inside the world of Indian moviemaking : Bollywood movies are glorious, colorful spectacles of romance, action, drama, song, and dance. The biggest film industry in the world, Bollywood puts out some nine hundred movies a year, which are watched by passionate fans around the globe. Stephen Alter—a writer who grew up in India and has inside access to Bollywood—acts as translator and tour guide in this firsthand look into the world of Bombay films. Following the making of a Bollywood version of Othello, he explores the enormous popularity of Hindi movies and reveals the actors, directors, musicians, and feats of artifice that make them so compelling and unique. From the blessing ceremony performed each time a movie starts shooting to the secrets behind the song- and-dance extravaganzas, Fantasies of a Bollywood Love-Thief is a beguiling introduction to the rituals and culture of a moviemaking industry so similar to and yet utterly different from our own. 

Copies to borrow or use at the Toronto Reference Library of Bells of change kathak dance, women and modernity in India: This is the first critical study of Kathak dance. The book traces two centuries of Kathak, from the colonial nautch dance to classical Kathak under nationalism and post-colonialism to transnationalism and globalization. Reorienting dance to focus on the lived experiences of dancers from a wide cross-section of society, the book narrates the history of Kathak from baijis and tawaifs to the global stage.  
Copy to read only at the Toronto Reference Library of Indian classical dance tradition in transition : The evolution of classical Indian dances, the different techniques and forms that took shape and developed over centuries is the story this book relates. All the major dance forms in India have been elaborated on in intricate and interesting detail from their origin till the present. 
Copy to read only at the Toronto Reference Library - Kuchipudi = Kūcipūdi Indian classical dance artThis book explores the classical 17th-century dance style passed down through generations of Brahmin families in Kuchipudi village. A popular dance recognized as one of the foremost classical dance styles of India, Kuchipudi blends the sensuousness and fluidity of Odissi with the geometric line of today's Bharata Natyam. Included in the text are the dance's origin, history,variations, and accompanying music.

African dance has been performed a number of times on "So You Think You Can Dance".  With the huge variety of original African dance it's helpful to look at a wide range of examples including searching on Youtube looking under African Dance lesson.  

 
African healing dance with Wyoma - DVD - copies to borrow - the healing tradition and expressive movements that are unique to Africa's dance heritage ... tribal people of Africa developed specific dances to summon the energy of the world around them into their bodies for connection and healing .   Drumbeat in our feet - a children's book on African dance. "Informative passages and lyrical verse explore the history and rhythmic qualities of traditional African dance as performed long ago and today.  
Copies to borrow or read at the Toronto Reference Library of African dance-African dance is an ancient and venerable art tradition that has influenced dance styles all over the world. African dance has been an integral part of society for generations and it often commemorates and celebrates birth, rites of passage, harvest, and marriage ceremonies. Through its strong interplay with percussive instruments, African dance creates a polyrhythmic sensual and visual experience. There are many kinds of African dances and dances from other cultures that are representative of thousands of ethnic groups on the continent. Masked, stilt, ceremonial, recreational, and religious dance forms are found within the categories of traditional, neotraditional, and contemporary dance. In contemporary society, African dance is taught around the globe and has found an enthusiastic and receptive home in the United States and Europe. The pulse of African dance is a humanistic one and for centuries it has been the chronicler of history, traditions, and aesthetics.

Enjoy !

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