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The problem of recording movements of the human body isalmost as old as the art of dancing: it has been said that theancient Egyptians had a system of notation, but there is noreal evidence to prove that this was so.The present system was developed by the Russian dancerVladimir Ivanovich Stepanov at the end of the 19th century.It is based on existing music notation, and although basicis certainly practical: one has only to read the officialtestimonial, signed by such people as Petipa and Johanssen,to realise this. Lessons in the system were given at theImperial Ballet Schools, and many ballets of the periodwere notated in it.Stepanov's book is no more than a skeleton key, showingthe general principles of his system and their application,yet even as it stands it can be used to decipher old notations- it was by means of notations made in Stepanov's systemthat Nicolai Sergeyev was able to reproduce The SleepingPrincess for Diaghilev, and other ballets for the Sadler'sWells Ballet and International Ballet. More recently, otherhands have used the system to revive ballets long thoughtto have been irrevocably lost.

A Labanotation score.In capturing the spirit of the 'Roaring Twenties' Jerome Robbins' Charleston Ballet is agem. It came to life in the 1945 Broadway show Billion Dollar Baby, providing a highlightdespite being only seven minutes long. Robbins depicted the various characters of thetime, the gangsters, bootleggers, a policeman (who was always looking the other way)and various other characters who entered - and also exited - the Speakeasy. For each ofthese people Robbins selected appropriate Charleston steps of the period to illustrate theirparticular personality. Three young Flappers had great fun whooping it up; the RichCouple exuded elegance and disdain as they swept into the Speakeasy; the doddery OldCouple, dancing the familiar steps with caution; the over exuberant Collegiate Couplewildly sharing a flask of booze; two Younger Generation, he with banjo, joyfully beatingtime to the music; two Gangsters furtively casing the joint before the Bootleggers bringin the boxes of likker. The poor Timid Girl (who lives alone in an attic), meets up withGood Time Charlie who soon drags her into the Speakeasy. Before long, wildly drunk,the Timid Girl comes bursting out the Speakeasy and introduces exaggerated Charlestonsteps which leads into the group finale.

Tamara Karsavina, premiere danseuse with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, was one of the greatest dancers of the 20th century. Works were choreographed on her by Fokine, Massine, and Nijinsky, who was also one of her regular partners. This book, first pubished in a limited edition in 1922, is both a biography and appreciation of a great artist.

The death of the internationally celebrated choreographer Antony Tudor made the ballet world aware of the importance of preserving his works to enrich future generations before it was too late. Soiree Musicale, the first Tudor ballet to be made available in published form, will provide access to this delightful piece both to dancers and dance students as well as to teachers, historians, researchers and scholars concerned in the art. It is hoped that an understanding of this ballet will stimulate a desire to publish other works by this choreographer, who pointed the way to a deeper psychological insight into the art of ballet. The pages of history speak for themselves. Tudor's place in the development of ballet is assured, and it is vital that his heritage be kept alive as an essential pan of dance education and scholarship. Soiree Musicale is a charming, lively piece, well-suited to classroom study as well as stage performance. Although technically demanding when performed up to full tempo, the dances allow for a degree of personal interpretation and expression which can surmount technical problems. In the book the full Labanotation score is accompanied by detailed study and performance notes, historical background and photographs which provide the flavor of this much-loved piece.

'Robert le Diable - The Ballet of the Nuns' offers a new approach to the study of one of the most epoch-making works in European ballet history. Based on the choreographic notations made by the great nineteenth-century Danish choreographer, August Bournonville, this spectral dance scene has been recreated by Dr. Knud Arne Jurgensen with the precision afforded by Labanotation, here recorded by Ann Hutchinson Guest. Supported by extensive historical source materials and study and performance notes, the book not only enables us to unearth a hitherto lost ballet from the Romantic period, but also represents the most accurate possible reflection of the very pulse of Romantic Ballet.

The Pas de Six from La Vivandiere is the only ballet preserved intact from the glorious period of the Romantic Ballet. Because it was recorded in detail by the choreographer Arthur Saint-Leon in his own dance notation system it could be revived faithfully for audiences to enjoy and students and scholars to study. The historical background of the piece - the period, the choreography, the style - has been provided by world renowned ballet historian Ivor Guest. The Study and Performance Notes which provide a guide in studying and reviving the ballet are the result of productions of the work for professional companies. Publication of the ballet in Labanotation, the contemporary dance notation system, makes the choreography accessible internationally to researchers, students, teachers and dancers. While the steps are technically challenging, the ballet is an excellent piece for students to dance, thereby gaining insight into the Romantic Ballet style.

This is the book of reminiscences of the Ballets Russes which MrBeaumont, as the best qualified man in England, has, for the last tenyears, been urged to write. Readers will find that it is more intimateand personal than any of Mr Beaumont's previous works. From1912 he saw every London season of Diaghilev's Ballet, at first, as amember of the public, and, after 1918, both before and behind thecurtain, as a friend of the Director and his lieutenants and of manyof the Company.This book records the Ballet's activities in London,and a personal critical impression of the principal dancers in theroles that they made famous. Little intimate incidents are included,and pen pictures of distinguished personalities in private life. It tellsfor the first time, and for all time, what the Diaghilev Ballet wasreally like.

Herman Finck (1872 - 1939) was a celebrated musical theatre conductor of the early 20th century, with a twenty year term as both musical director and composer at the Palace Theatre in London, followed and overlapped by sessions at the Queen's Theatre and the Drury Lane Theatre.He conducted the London premieres of many romantic musicals including Rose Marie, The Desert Song and Showboat; composed, arranged and orchestrated a great deal of music, particularly for revues (including Round the Map and The Passing Show), wrote around thirty theatre shows including operettas and ballets, and composed many light orchestral pieces and popular songs including 'I'll make a man of you' and 'Gilbert the Filbert'. As conductor he worked with many of the great luminaries of the period, including Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Vesta Tilley, Harry Lauder, Edith Day and Marie Lloyd.Finck was also a celebrated wit, bon viveur, and clubman, and his autobiography includes many gems of theatrical anecdotage and stories of his famous friends, ranging from Dan Leno to Sir Edward Elgar. It presents a fascinating and wide-ranging picture of life in London musical theatre in the early part of the twentieth century.

A facsimile of the 1706 edition of John Weaver's translation of Raoul Auger Feuillet's 1701 dancing manual 'Choregraphie, together with a facsimile of Weaver's own 1706 publication 'A Small Treatise of Time and Cadence in Dancing'.Many examples in Feuillet's own notation system are included.