Mindy Aloff – författare

A passionate and moving tribute to the captivating power of dance, not just as an art form but as a language that transcends barriers  “[A] smart, bracing book of reflection, analysis, memoir and history.”—Willard Spiegelman, Wall Street Journal  “A veritable master class.”—Anne Doventry, Booklist  Mindy Aloff, a journalist, an essayist, and a dance critic, analyzes dance as the ultimate expression of human energy and feeling. From her personal anecdotes, her engaging collection of stories about dance from around the world, or her description of the captivating photograph by Helen Levitt of two children dancing, which she sees as one embodiment of the mystery and joy that dancing can evoke, Aloff’s exploration of the aesthetic, social, and spiritual impacts of dance will prove spellbinding.  Aloff takes us on a journey through various forms of dance—rituals, religious observances, storytelling, musical interpretations—to show why dance matters to human beings. Interlaced with personal experiences, this book builds on analysis to reveal the intimate relationship we have with dance—personal, spiritual, soul-searching, medicinal, and entertaining. The ideas speak to both specialist and general readers.

The Legat Legacy brings back into print two classic works that offer rare insights into the golden age of Russian ballet. The first, Ballet Russe: Memoirs of Nicolas Legat, takes readers into the last three decades of the Imperial Ballet before the 1917 Russian Revolution. Written by Nicolas Legat (1869–1937), one of the great creative geniuses of classical ballet, these memoirs recount Legat's experiences as principal dancer before he fled to Europe to escape the Russian Civil War. The book is filled with memorable character descriptions and includes some of Legat's unique, celebrated caricatures.The second, Heritage of a Ballet Master: Nicolas Legat, is a valuable testament to Legat's classroom pedagogy. Assembled by Legat student, professional dancer, and prolific author John Gregory (1914–1996) to showcase the four complete classes that Legat wrote out by hand for his student the ballet star André Eglevsky (1917–1977), this book also features several Legat classes remembered by other students. In addition, it contains music for the classes, Legat's drawings, photographs of him in performance, and other archival material. It includes a brief biography of Legat and fascinating remembrances from his former students, among them Alicia Markova and Léonide Massine, and a forward by Alexandra Danilova. Marked by their variety and musicality, Legat's teachings are preserved here for future generations of dancers to discover.

From ballet and Balanchine to tap and swing, a treasury of unforgettable writing about the beauty and magic of American dance.From the beginning, American dance has been an exciting fusion of many disparate influences, with European traditions of ballet and social dancing encountering Native American rituals and African American improvisations to create something new and extraordinary. In this landmark collection, dance critic Mindy Aloff brings together an astonishing array of writers—dancers and dance creators, impresarios and critics, and enthusiastic literary observers—to tell the remarkable story of the artistry, innovation, and sheer joy of a great American art form. Here is dance in its many varieties and locales: from tap and swing to ballet and modern dance, from Five Points to Radio City Music Hall, and from the Lindy Hop to Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk.  With 100 selections spanning three centuries, this is the biggest and best anthology on American dance ever published. Here are the most acclaimed dance critics, including Edwin Denby, Joan Acocella, Lincoln Kirstein, Jill Johnston, and Clive Barnes; the most inventive and influential choreographers and dancers, among them George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Allegra Kent, and Mikhail Baryshnikov; and a dazzling roster of literary figures, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson, Hart Crane, Edmund Wilson, Langston Hughes, and Susan Sontag. Here too are rare and hard-to-find texts, several previously unpublished, among them Jerome Robbins’s reflections on the secret of choreography and an inspiring commencement address from Mark Morris.  Brilliant profiles of unforgettable performers—Stuart Hodes on Martha Graham; John Updike on Gene Kelly; Alastair Macaulay on Michael Jackson—join incisive, often deeply personal pieces—Zora Neale Hurston on hoodoo ritual; Arlene Croce on dance in film; Yehuda Hyman on Hasidic dances—to form a one-of-kind reading experience every dance lover will cherish.  A twelve-page color insert presents iconic photographs of key figures from Isadora Duncan to Michael Jackson.