Dance & other performing arts – The Bell Bookshop

Different aspects

Emma — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TREAT FOR MUSCIAL THEATRE FANS In 1989, a young Michael Ball landed the lead role in the musical Aspects of Love. It was a moment that changed his life forever. It was the first time he worked with legends of the stage like Andrew Lloyd Webber and Trevor Nunn; it was from that show that came his smash hit song, Love Changes Everything, which rode high in the charts for 15 weeks; it was then, also, that he first met his long-term partner Cathy McGowan and battled back against the stage fright that had threatened his career. Over three decades later, Michael returns to a new production of the same show where he made his name, definitely older, possibly wiser, and with a lifetime’s worth of stories to tell. In Different Aspects, Michael takes us backstage inside the making of a West End hit, while diving back into memories to explore that moment in his twenties when the world was at his feet and his life changed beyond recognition. Part exploration of the pitfalls and pratfalls of modern theatre and part exploration of his life, his career and his relationships, Different Aspects is the story of a life lived on the stage. There is laughter, there is tears, there is sweat and some blood, there is even some Roger Moore, although, famously, not quite enough. And through it all the show goes on. Take your seats ladies and gentlemen, the lights are dimming, the performance is about to start.

Why dance matters

Emma — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A passionate and moving tribute to the captivating power of dance, not just as an art form but as a language that transcends barriers

“[A] smart, bracing book of reflection, analysis, memoir and history.”-Willard Spiegelman, Wall Street Journal

“A veritable master class.”-Anne Doventry, Booklist

Mindy Aloff, a journalist, an essayist, and a dance critic, analyzes dance as the ultimate expression of human energy and feeling. From her personal anecdotes, her engaging collection of stories about dance from around the world, or her description of the captivating photograph by Helen Levitt of two children dancing, which she sees as one embodiment of the mystery and joy that dancing can evoke, Aloff’s exploration of the aesthetic, social, and spiritual impacts of dance will prove spellbinding.

Aloff takes us on a journey through various forms of dance-rituals, religious observances, storytelling, musical interpretations-to show why dance matters to human beings. Interlaced with personal experiences, this book builds on analysis to reveal the intimate relationship we have with dance-personal, spiritual, soul-searching, medicinal, and entertaining. The ideas speak to both specialist and general readers.

Diaghilev’s Empire

Emma — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Serge Diaghilev was the Russian impresario who is often said to have invented the modern art form of ballet. Commissioning such legendary names as Nijinsky, Fokine, Stravinsky, and Picasso, this intriguingly complex genius produced a series of radically original art works that had a revolutionary impact throughout the western world.Off stage and in its wake came scandal and sensation, as the great artists and mercurial performers involved variously collaborated, clashed, competed while falling in and out of love with each other on a wild carousel of sexual intrigue and temperamental mayhem. The Ballets Russes not only left a matchless artistic legacy – they changed style and glamour, they changed taste, and they changed social behaviour.

The Ballets Russes came to an official end after many vicissitudes with Diaghilev’s abrupt death in 1929. But the achievements of its heroic prime had established a paradigm that would continue to define the terms and set the standards for the next. Published to mark the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Diaghilev’s birth, Rupert Christiansen – leading critic and self-confessed ‘incurable balletomane’ – presents this freshly researched and challenging reassessment of a unique phenomenon, exploring passionate conflicts and outsize personalities in a story embracing triumph and disaster.

Official Strictly Come Dancing Annual 2022

Emma — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Dah dah dah dah dah dah dah, dah dah dah dah dah…

That’s right, Strictly Come Dancing is back and it’s bigger than ever with an all new cast of stars ready to grace the dance floor. Head behind the scenes for exclusive interviews with the pro dancers, their celebrity partners and the fabulous judges to discover how the Strictly magic is created.

With extra games, quizzes, puzzles and trivia, this is your dream partner for the Strictly spectacular.

Lowering the Tone & Raising the Roof

Emma — Thu, 20 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In this much-anticipated autobiography, Raymond Gubbay brings to life his extraordinary fifty-year career as one of the most experienced and well-connected impresarios in British music and entertainment. With a provenance rich in history and talent, he retraces the musical legacy of his family, growing up in a liberal Jewish household in 1950s post-war London with the challenges he faced while embarking on his musical journey after a few failed attempts at corporate conformity.

Beginning his career at the Royal Albert Hall, his introduction to the entertainment industry commenced under the guidance of the late Victor Hochhauser – Britain’s foremost promoter of Russian ballet and classical music.

Passionate and enigmatic, this memoir delves right into the heart of 1960s performing arts, with Gubbay absorbingly recounting both the stress and excitement that came with marshalling three coach loads of Russian performers around the country at a time of conflicting traditions, theatrical decline, amid Soviet tensions – and this was only the beginning?

Setting up on his own, he started with a handful of performers touring to modest venues around the country, building a brand and a style which seemed very much in tune with the times.

Later, working alongside some of the most prestigious classical and popular artists of our time – from Yehudi Menuhin, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Luciano Pavarotti and the English National Ballet to Ray Charles, Miles Davis and Andrew Lloyd-Webber – Gubbay has witnessed and played a hand in promoting and producing some of the most iconic performances of opera, ballet and classical music ever staged in some of the largest music venues in Britain, the Royal Festival Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham – and not least of all the Royal Albert Hall. He was in at the start of the Barbican in the City of London and provides a keen insight into the early years there.

Lowering the Tone is rich with stories of showbusiness and the behind-the scenes business of the great musical venues, with appearances from a wealth of household and international names.

This is the story of achievement, imagination and a desire to bring happiness and entertainment to generations of music lovers.

Fame

Emma — Thu, 07 Nov 2002 00:00:00 +0000

It seems we can’t get enough of celebrities today. Our TV screens, magazines and newspapers are filled as never before with famous singers, actors, models, even footballers and chefs. And, in the age of “Big Brother” and “Pop Idol”, it’s easier than ever to become a star. Anyone, it appears, can get their 15 minutes if they want it badly enough.;But what is fame really like when you achieve it? Does it fulfill its promise? Journalist David Gritten has spent years meeting the globally famous, including the Beatles, Madonna, Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. Here he gives us a revealing, sometimes shocking insight into the glittering, fascinating and often downright bizarre world of modern celebrity, from Elton John’s tantrums and Geri Halliwell’s reinvention to Melanie Griffith’s rehab website and the stalker who wants to become President.;Gritten asks: is it possible for the famous to retain a sense of normality when those around them cater to their every whim? How do they cope when their private life is relentlessly scrutinized by the press? What is it like to confront the dark side of fan worship – obsession, harassment, even death threats? And why do so many celebrities fall victim to the excesses of fame while a small minority seem to flourish in the limelight?;Gritten’s conclusion is that being famous is a far more troubling, complex, even dangerous phenomenon than it first appears to be, that you cannot court celebrity purely on your own terms and playing the fame game always comes at a price. And yet, despite the flipside of fame, why do so many stars still seem addicted to it?

John Cleese At The Beeb Audio

Emma — Mon, 05 Oct 1998 00:00:00 +0000

A double audio cassette released to tie in with reissues of the "Fawlty Towers" TV comedy series. Cleese celebrates the highlights of his long BBC career with extracts from all his best-known shows.