Dancing lives : five female dancers from the Ballet d'Action to Merce Cunningham / Karen Eliot.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Giovanna Baccelli, an object of lustrous beauty -- Adle Dumiltre, misty rows of gauzy women -- Tamara Karsavina, alighting from the air -- Moira Shearer, a fierce resolve, a steely strength and a fragile, porcelain beauty -- Catherine Kerr, sticking to the dancing -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Illustrations.

"Working from the premise that dance history can be studied as it has been created in the through the bodies of dancers, Karen Eliot closely examines the lives and careers of five popular female dancers: Giovanna Baccelli, Adele Dumilatre, Tamara Karsavina, Moira Shearer, and Catherine Kerr. Notable dancers in European ballet, Russian ballet, and American modern dance genres, these women represent a historical cross section of performance, training, and technique in Western theatrical dance since the eighteenth century." "By guiding the reader through the Russian Revolution, dancing rivalries, stage fright and illness, liaisons with aristocracy, and movie stardom, Dancing Lives provides insight about the culture in which each woman performed. Readers are introduced to each dancer's social and economic status, her education and training, and changing debates about dance and choreography. The resulting stories are packed with intimate personal details, keen descriptions of dance pedagogy and performance, and behind-the-curtain glimpses of popular dance trends." "The portraits of these five women serve as a way into a larger discussion of the lives and careers of other female dancers of each era. In examining the dancer's private and performance lives, Eliot mines visual records that include paintings and prints of the ballerinas, novels and poems, her own personal experience in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, revealing interviews, and dance archives in the United States and Europe."--BOOK JACKET.