Martha Hill Book - How to Get More Than 60% Off

It's true -- deeeeeeep discounts are available for The Contributions of Martha Hill to American Dance and Dance Education, 1900-1995 by Elizabeth McPherson.

Here's how to get the book for $39.95 instead of $109.95 (more than 60% off!):

Email the author, Elizabeth McPherson, at emm2072000[at]yahoo[dot]com. (Format the email address in the usual way, of course; just trying to prevent spam.) She can give discount flyers to individuals (not institutions, though).

Great deal!

Martha Hill - Important Woman, Important Book

Martha Hill, 1900-1995, was a major figure in dance education and a major supporter of dance notation. Here are just two of her accomplishments, just to give you a sense of her impact: in 1932 she created the first bachelor of arts program in dance (at Bennington), and in 1951 she became the first director Juilliard's dance division. Pretty impressive, huh? Now think about this: she remained director of Juilliard's dance division for 34 years, until 1985.

In a word: wow.

Want to know a little bit more about Martha Hill?
Read her obituary from Dance Magazine.

Want to know more than just a little bit more about her? Read this new book:
The Contributions of Martha Hill to American Dance and Dance Education, 1900-1995 by Elizabeth McPherson

Here is the book's table of contents. It's amazing how the life of Martha Hill is essentially the history of dance education in America (NYU, Bennington, Connecticut College, Juilliard, scores of students who taught scores more students):

1. An Overview of the History of Dance in Higher Education in the United States
2. Hill’s Youth and Early Career: Growing Up in the Bible Belt (1900-30)
3. Establishing a Dance Program in the School of Education at New York University (1930-51)
4. Establishing a Place for Dance in a Liberal Arts Setting at Bennington College (1932-51)
5. Moving Dance into Mainstream American Thought at The Bennington School of the Dance and The Connecticut College School of the Dance/American Dance Festival (1934-52)
6. Creating and Nurturing a Conservatory Program in Dance at Juilliard (1951-95)
7. Through the Eyes of Hill’s Students
8. Hill’s Legacy

The list price is $109.95, but I'm told that it's available at a deep discount. Elizabeth, if you see this, could you possibly leave a comment telling people how to get the discount? I'll then repost the information in its own blog post...thanks!

Another Staging...

I don't know much about this staging, so I don't have much to say about it, but I like to share news of stagings around the world. So many dances, so many choreographers, so many dancers, so many stagers, so many companies, so many countries! It may still be the case that most people haven't heard of Labanotation, but that doesn't mean Labanotation isn't in active use all over the place!

So, today I write to report that Marion Bastien recently staged Lotte Goslar's Clapping on Comité Departmental Meuse Danse in Paris, France.

(A great line from Lotte Goslar's NYTimes obituary: "A short, roly-poly woman with a round, expressive face, Miss Goslar as a performer brought bugs, flowers and mushrooms vividly to life.")

Read about Staging Folksay, Hear about Staging Folksay

The D.C. based CityDance Ensemble is currently staging Sophie Maslow's Folksay, and they have two great blog postings about the staging process.

If you'd rather read about it, read the Reflections on Reconstructing a 60 Year Old Dance post.

If you'd rather hear about it, watch the video of Greg Halloran talking about it.

I did both -- and recommend both!

50% Off Books from DNB!

Dear DNBlog, has it really been a month since my last post? I'm afraid it has. (I do hope that next month will have more posts and pics than last month. Just a wee bit busy these days.)

Today I write with news of a sale. And who doesn't like a sale? More specifically, who doesn't like 50% off!

That's right: 50% off all books listed on the DNB's Book Sale page. I am assured that this includes the rare and fine books on the list! The sale is effective immediately and will run through June 30, 2008. Plenty of time to make your selections!

Scanning the list, I see popular titles such as Toni Bentley's Winter Season, sure-to-be-fascinating older titles such as Dancing from 1895, serials from many decades...lots to choose from!

Tribute to Tudor

As I've mentioned several times before, this year is Antony Tudor's centenary. Here's another newspaper tribute to Tudor, partially focusing on a two-day conference about Tudor and mourning the absence from the conference of Airi Hynninen, notator and former assistant to Tudor:

http://www.nysun.com/arts/tribute-tudor

New Theory Bulletin Board Posting

The minutes of the DNB's November open theory meeting, which benefited from the attendance of Ann Hutchinson Guest, are now available on the DNB Theory Bulletin Board. The minutes capture the meeting's lively discussion, which included palm and thumb facing, the term "front sign," counting issues, Graham hand and torso contractions, entrances and exits, and direction sign progressions.

To access the newest posting, follow the link above and click "Minutes for the Open Theory Meetings" or follow this link.

As always, responses are welcome. Instructions for submitting postings are on the Theory Bulletin Board page.