Jazz Dance: The Story Of American Vernacular Dance | 
|  | | | Title: | Jazz Dance: The Story Of American Vernacular Dance | | Author: | Marshall Stearns
Jean Stearns | | Publisher: | Da Capo Press | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 21 March, 1994 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0306805537 / 9780306805530 | | List Price: | $21.00 | | You Save: | $6.72 | | Amazon Price: | $14.28 | |
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Product Description
The Story of American Vernacular Dance
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Customer Reviews:
• American Classic 07 June, 2007
I second everything Frank Cullen says about this book. I first read it over thirty years ago, acquiring my own copy some years later. Not only is it a great book on American show business,it makes great reading for anyone interested in all facets of New World music and dance culture. I frequently reccomend this book to fans of American music in general, be it jazz, blues, rock 'n' roll, country, Latin etc. etc. After reading the Stearns' wonderful book, one sees that, no matter how well-versed in the musical lore of the Americas one is, it is all a bit two-dimensional without the perspective offered by 'Jazz Dance'.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A31E2UO47T7IX4
• Trivia, Not How-to 13 May, 2000
Want to know what the "buck and wing" looks like? The "black bottom," "shorty george," "eagle rock" or "Jersey bounce"? Well, if you can read Labanotation, you can find out from the last pages of this book. Otherwise, you'll just have to settle for a bunch of dance history and anecdotes strung together by the Stearns, who interviewed as many American jazz dancers as they could still find alive.It's fascinating stuff, though. The text does give some limited descriptions, and opening the book to a random page reveals both " . . .Crawley danced while he played clarinet, juggling the pieces as he dismantled it" and "As performed by Little Egypt at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, where it first received national attention as the Hootchy-Kootchy, the Shake dance was not particularly rhythmic." As an actual history of American dance, for me this book lacks coherence. But I did learn about ways in which African dance influenced American, see the names of quite a lot of performers, steps, and performance venues, and learn to play the "Buck Dancer's Lament" on the piano. If you want something you can read a page of and then put down until later, this will fill the bill.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AUNCL25WV96GN
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