Research Catalog

Title

Ballet class : an American history / Melissa R. Klapper.

Author

Klapper, Melissa R.

Publication

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvii, 403 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

Surveying the state of American ballet in a 1913 issue of Clure's Magazine, author Willa Cather reported that few girls expressed any interest in taking ballet class and that those who did were hard-pressed to find anything other than dingy studios and imperious teachers. One hundred years later, ballet is everywhere. Beginning with the arrival of Russian dancers like Anna Pavlova, who first toured the United States on the eve of World War I, 'Ballet Class: An American History' explores the growth of ballet from an ancillary part of nineteenth-century musical theater, opera, and vaudeville to the quintessential extracurricular activity it is today, pursued by countless children nationwide and an integral part of twentieth-century American childhood across borders of gender, class, race, and sexuality. A social history, 'Ballet Class' takes a new approach to the very popular subject of ballet and helps ground an art form often perceived to be elite in the experiences of regular, everyday people who spent time in barre-lined studios across the United States. Drawing on a wide variety of materials, including children's books, memoirs by professional dancers and choreographers, pedagogy manuals, and dance periodicals, in addition to archival collections and oral histories, this pathbreaking study provides a deeply-researched national perspective on the history and significance of recreational ballet class in the United States and its influence on many facets of children's lives, including gender norms, consumerism, body image, children's literature, extracurricular activities, and popular culture.

Subject

• Ballet > United States > History
• Ballet > Social aspects > United States
• Ballet > Study and teaching > History. > United States
• Ballet
• Ballet > Social aspects
• Ballet > Study and teaching
• United States

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages [359]-383) and index.

Contents

Overture -- First movements. -- A (very selective) early history of ballet in America -- Ballet class -- The Russians are coming: The impact of European teachers on American ballet class -- Brought to you by the Ford Foundation: Mid-Century innovation and the dance boom -- Themes and variations. -- Up a steep and very narrow stairway: Teachers, studios, and the business of ballet -- Race and ballet in America: A troubled/troubling history -- Yes, boys take ballet class too -- Diplomates of dance: Ballet and higher education -- An art or a sport? Recitals and competitions -- Ballet bodies -- Think pink: Ballet and girl culture -- Ballet and popular culture in America.

Call Number

*MGTB (U.S.) 21-936

ISBN

• 9780190908683
• 0190908688

LCCN

2019003627

OCLC

1089259222

Author

Klapper, Melissa R., author. Author

Title

Ballet class : an American history / Melissa R. Klapper.

Publisher

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Creator/Contributor Characteristics

Gender group: Women

Occupational/field of activity group: University and college administrators

Occupational/field of activity group: University and college faculty members

Occupational/field of activity group: History teachers

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages [359]-383) and index.

Local Note

EXAMINES THE MANY FACETS OF BALLET CLASS IN CHILDREN'S LIVES SINCE THE 19TH CENTURY.

Other Form:

Online version: Klapper, Melissa R., author. Ballet class New York : Oxford University Press, [2019] 9780190908690 (DLC) 2019009658

Research Call Number

*MGTB (U.S.) 21-936