Holiday Gift Hints
Bunheads has some gifts galore that won't break either the budget, your back, or the hook on the wall holding up any stockings. From tip to toe, your dancer's needs are covered here. Begin with their elegant assortment of earrings, suitable for the tiniest flower budlets to the most commanding of Princess Auroras. The company has designed four sets of sparkling crystal earrings, from modest to classically marvelous. We'll be surprised if one, you don't order extra sets for yourself and two, the earrings stay on once the dance is done. They can easily be party animals as well as performance polishers to classical and neoclassical costumes and more.
For men and women, Bunheads has exercise bands in medium, heavy and the hard-to-find super heavy weight strength. They are in a tidy tube, ready to slip into a stocking, gift bag or dance bag with ease. The recipient, whether in rehabilitation or working to prevent injuries, will thank you each time he or she uses it. And aware that one size rarely fits all, Bunheads has made a super strong Super Spacer for long toes and industrial strength bunions. Go to bunheads.com for more ideas, large, tiny and in between, for you favorite teacher, student or performer.
University Press of Florida sent Caribbean Dance from Abakua to Zouk - How Movement Shapes Identity, ed. Susanna Sloat. You see, dance and listen to the mambo, reggae and other island delights, but you may not have realized the extent of the influence that the movements and rhythms from these tiny islands have had. Learn more about limbo and Limon, and how the waltz merged with island beats. This is a must-have for fans of Katherine Dunham and her gifts to island dance. Meet Ramero Guerra (aka Suarez) and see how Michel Fokine had a bit of a connection to Caribbean rhythms. The writers use wit, wisdom and admirable research (supported by an extensive glossary and bibliography) to enlighten and teach readers about this neglected area of dance.
Arlene Croce's Writing in the Dark, Dancing in The NewYorker (University Press of Florida) is now in paperback. Covering dance from the '70s on, Croce offers her pieces, warts and all, to readers in a more portable form. Do you have a dancer going on tour? Send him or her off with twenty-five years of mirth, musings and opinions on the world of dance. From her controversial words on Bill T. Jones Still Here, to bits of dance history, to choreographers and companies now gone, Croce's writing is her own. Her introduction to her own book is a prime example of her art and should not be slighted. She was a rule-breaker from the beginning, and readers were incensed, irritated and informed as she chronicled ballet, modern, tap, jazz and the indescribable from 1973 on.
Marian Horosko has written another modern dance book that needs to be on dance library shelves along with her book on Martha Graham (Martha Graham: Evolution of Her Dance Theory and Training), both by the University Press of Florida. May O' Donnell - Modern Dance Pioneer is the story of an early Graham dancer and choreographer. This slim volume covers ninety-eight years of this artist's life. Through Horosko's lively and reverent writing, readers will feel they have met O'Donnell personally from the first paragraph. Modern dance was truly modern when O'Donnell was training, performing and soon helping shape this art. As a partner with composer (and husband) Ray Green, the May-Ray duo enjoyed a long and successful collaboration. Horosko's interviews with O'Donnell give precious first-hand documentation of O'Donnell's technique (she worked from the beginning in her class and in her teaching in getting "students to hold their bodies properly"), of her work with 'sit-down' dancers (The Dancing Wheels com-pany for wheelchair bound dancers is based on O'Donnell's work) and of the devoted, nearly divine duet between music and dance, and husband and wife, she expressed so eloquently. As in her book on Graham, Horosko includes a section on O'Donnell's techniques.
While leotards, tights, massage certificates and nutritional bars are all good to include in gift bags and boxes, appreciates gifts that last and books fit that description beautifully. While the body is resting, the mind can be filled and enriched with beautiful stories. Dancers share the same striving, physical work and passion for their art. Tales of dance and dancers' history can be inspirational, comforting and encouraging as well as educational.