Dancing Till Dawn: A Century of Exhibition Ballroom Dance

(Hardback)

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"Dancing Till Dawn" explores the history of exhibition ballroom dancing from its heyday in the 1910s to the present. Julie Malnig's record of this intimate, theatrical genre of dance features male-female teams, perhaps the most memorable of which was the team of Irene Vernon Castle, and other teams idolized as theatre personalities in cabaret, vaudeville, and musicals and, later, as stars of film and television. Both role models and teachers, exhibition ballroom teams educated the public in exciting new forms and styles. Exhibition ballroom dancing is also examined as a cultural and social phenomenon, promoting new cultural standards, including the emancipation of women and a casualness and spontaneity between the sexes. This comprehensive study of this dance genre and entertainment form utilizes previously unexplored primary sources, including promotional materials and print reviews, and is illustrated with original photographs. A survey of a subject which has seen renewed interest in recent years, the book can be used by students, researchers and anyone interested in the history of dance, theatre, and all forms of popular entertainment as well as popular culture and cultural history in general.

Reviews

Written as a straightforward chronology of ballroom dance, the book is well researched and entertaining to read. Malnig pays special attention to the music that helped animate this form of popular entertainment. Undergraduate: graduate: faculty. * Choice *
This is a fascinating account of one author's view of the beginnings of exhibition ballroom dance shortly after the turn of the century and her account of its ups and downs through the ensuing years up to the present. * Dance Teacher Now *
Dancing Till Dawn is undoubtedly a solid point of departure for future research in this fascinating field of dance as it is found at the interstices of the popular and the theatrical. * Dance Research Journal *

Author Bio

Julie Malnig holds a PhD in performance studies from New York University and teaches seminars on research and writing for a master's degree program at NYU's Gallatin Division. She is an editor for Women & Performance journal and The Feminist Press at the City University of New York. She also has academic and professional credits as a director and actress. Her articles have appeared in Performing Arts Resources, The Passing Show, and other publications, as well as in anthologies and reference books including Theatrical Directors, forthcoming from Greenwood Press.