New(ish) Theory Meeting Minutes

Two more sets of minutes from DNB theory meetings went on the Theory Bulletin Board in July:

• The November Open Theory meeting covered Dance Forms software and several possible ways that the DNB and notators in general could use it, as well as possible ways to notate not just nearness but degrees of nearness.
  
• The June Motif Theory meeting covered numerous Motif topics, including phrasing bows, indications of "the same" and "different," and diagonal paths.

No point trying to summarize here. The really interesting stuff is in the minutes!

Two More Tidbits

Tidbit #1: The DNB just made a major sale of books to Singapore. There are still some great finds left -- and still 50% off -- check the book sale list to see if there's anything to tempt you!

Tidbit #2: Congratulations to Gwendolyn Arbaugh of Elverson, PA, who just completed and passed her Intermediate Correspondence Course in Labanotation. Not an easy feat!

Farewell, Patricia Nanon and Georgette Weisz Amowitz Gorchoff

The Dance Notation Bureau mourns the recent deaths of two dear friends and steadfast supporters: Patricia Nanon, who passed away in February, and Georgette Weisz Amowitz Gorchoff, who passed away in May. We are also deeply grateful that they continued to think of the DNB with monetary gifts at their passing. We shall miss them.

Here's more about Patricia Nanon's amazing life and accomplishments, from the New York Times.

And here's more about Georgette Amowitz Gorchoff's remarkable life and achievements, from the Lynchburg News Advance.

CMAs Look at Presidential Candidates

The New Yorker recently published a short article about the body language and movement styles of presidential candidates as observed by people who really know what they're observing: Certified Movement Analysts.

Be sure to read to the end, where there's a nice surprise about Chelsea Clinton's aptitude for movement analysis!

We Had a Bit of a Blog Break, But We're Back...With an Article from Dance Teacher Magazine

There's a nice article about the Tudor Centennial Celebration on the Dance Teacher Magazine website. By Elizabeth McPherson, author of the Martha Hill book I mentioned in my last post, the article includes Labanotation for two Tudor class combinations, tendus for barre and grands battements for center. The notation is paired with word descriptions of the combinations, so they're good practice for beginning Labanotation students and a good introduction for Labanotation newbies.

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!