Choice Review

In a remarkably concise volume, Chazin-Bennahum has provided a vivid and informative chronicle of the period in dance history from 1787 to 1801. These years bridged the shifting tide of dance history from the heavily ornamented and restricted movement of 18th-century court ballets to the free-flowing Romantic movement whose heroes and heroines were not mythological beings, but were accessible members of the middle class. The author brings to her work the effective dual perspective of a dance historian and a dancer who has performed with Robert Joffrey and as a principal soloist with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. Her performing experience, in particular, brings to the printed page an animated style of writing that enlivens most effectively the performances described. Her work as a dance historian is well represented by a careful synthesis of livrets, the printed scenarios of ballets performed in Paris during the years surrounding the French Revolution. An invaluable aspect of the book is the way developments in dance history are consistently connected with events in the tumultuous social and political times of the day. For its size and reasonable cost, this book is an absolute gem. There is a very interesting select chronology at the beginning of the book, and an impressive six-page bibliography at the end. An extensive series of unusually fine plates throughout the book provides stimulating illustrative support to the clearly written text. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate collections. -C. W. Sherman, College of William and Mary