The Choreography of Antony Tudor: Focus on Four BalletsR. Chamberlain Duerden
About the Author:
R. Chamberlain Duerden has led the Dance program at the Manchester Metropolitan University in England since 1992. After initial professional training in ballet at the Hammond School in Chester, she studied for a diploma in piano, later taking B.A. and M.A. degrees in Dance. She was awarded her Ph.D. on the choreographic style of Antony Tudor by the University of Surrey in 1995. Her interest in music has informed much of her scholarly work in Dance, and for some time she has been engaged in researching dance-music relationship in the work of various twentieth-century choreographers, including Mark Morris and Jonathan Burrows. She lives with her husband, also a musician, in Cheshire.
The Choreography of Antony Tudor: Focus on Four Ballets presents both an analytical overview of the ballets created for the stage by Antony Tudor and an in-depth critical analysis of four key works: Jardin aux Lilas (1936), Dark Elegies (1937), Pillar of Fire (1942), and The Leaves Are Fading (1975). Tudor was a British choreographer who spent a large part of his working life in the United States, and although he was not prolific in his output, his works include several masterpieces of twentieth-century ballet repertoire. Charateristic of his work is an exceptionally creative and sensitive relationship of choreography with music, a relationship different from that developed by his equally musical contemporary, George Balanchine, in that it privileges subtle layers of dramatic, often psychological, exposition as well as complex rhythmical structures. Tudor's ballets invariably involve a psychological human dimension, even when there is no such "story" as such, and it is these two strands--the musical and the dramatic--that the choreographer exploits with consummate skill in the best of his work. In the development of the argument through this book, theories of dance and performance analysis are drawn upon (Adshead 1988, Foster 1986, and others) as are theories of aesthetics and the philosophy of art (Redfern 1983, Margolis 1980, and others), and the semiotics of music (Maconie, McClary, and others). The methodology is rooted in an approach indebted to aesthetics, therefore, but also takes cognizance of developments in post-structural thought, with reference to issues of gender and subjectivity. In the first part, the available sources and the main theoretical perspectives are introduced and examined, as the body of Tudor's work for the ballet stage (that is, not including his television, opera, and musical theater work) is investigated. Through this part of the study, issues relating to characteristics of the choreographer's style, as demonstrated in his various choices of movement material, theme, music, and other components, and issues relating to the study of dance itself through (chiefly) secondary sources, arise and are discussed. Four ballets are selected for further analysis in part 2--ballets that are seen to represent key aspects of the choreographer's style, which have survived in the repertoire since their creation, and of which there are notated scores available for study.ISBN 0-8386-3948-8, Price $43.50
About FDU Press New Releases Book Reviews Submission Guidelines
TO ORDER BOOKS:
2010 Eastpark Boulevard
Cranbury, New Jersey 08512
Phone (609) 655-4770
Fax (609) 655-8366
TO REQUEST A CATALOGUE:
M-GH2-01
285 Madison Avenue
Madison, New Jersey 07940
Phone (973) 443-8564
Fax (973) 443-8364
fdupress@fdu.edu
TO RECEIVE UPDATES ON NEWLY RELEASED TITLES BY EMAIL:
albrym@fdu.edu
The FDU Press has particular strengths in literary studies, world history and politics, biography, film, ethnic studies, sociology, the Civil War, art, religion, local history, and urban studies.
