No Fixed Points Dance in the Twentieth Century Nancy Reynolds, Malcolm McCormick

This book chronicles 100 years of dramatic developments in ballet, modern and experimental dance for stage and screen in Europe and North America. The volume encompasses the history of theatrical dance from 1900 through to 2000. Beginning with turn-of-the-century dancer-choreographers like Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Michel Fokine and a bit later Vaslav Nijinsky, and proceeding through the profusion of dance styles performed at the beginning of the 21st century, the book provides a view of dance in performance as it changed and grew in the 20th century. Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick set dance in broader cultural and historical contexts, examine specific dance works and explore the contributions of outstanding choreographers, performers, visual artists, impresarios, composers, critics and other figures. They discuss the breakaway barefoot dance of the early 1900s and demonstrate its links with later forms and styles. With detail, illustrations and wide-ranging insights, this volume is a guide to the transformations in the dance scene of the 20th century.

Nancy Reynolds is director of research for the George Balanchine Foundation and a former member of the New York City Ballet. She has written widely about ballet and modern dance and is the author of Repertory in Review, among other books. Malcolm McCormick is a former professional dancer and costume designer who was a member of the dance faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles, and guest lecturer at other universities for many years.

'Leaping smoothly from ballet to modern and post-modern dance, and from gilded theatres to the silver screen, [Reynolds and McCormick] entertain and educate with equal aplomb. They capture the vitality of the pioneering personalities and the essence of their theories and describe their creations in evocative detail' - Country Life Magazine

'This is, in sum, a work of astonishing and comprehensive research, of intellectual clarity, of sure understanding, of - ultimately - passionate belief in dance itself' - Dancing Times

'an encyclopaedic book that encompasses all the great figures...it reads like an engrossing novel, pulling out skeins of plot and shadows of association in order to paint a full picture of one of our most importance art forms' - The Daily Telegraph

'monumental...a serious, highly readable and impressive 850-page survey of dance throughout the twentieth century' - Time Out

'No Fixed Points' is just too good. Open it on page one and start reading...and you'll be as startled as I was to find you can't put it down. [The authors] tell a story...with all the assuredness and brilliance of great historians at the top of their game...you'll treasure [this book]' - Dance Now