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 It's Time to DANCE.....
Join author, Elisha Cooper, as he pays tribute to the marvelous world of dance. This is a unique book about the process, not the performance. Arrive at the studio and warm up with the troupe, stretching and working at the barre. Meet the choreographer and watch as he demonstrates steps and teaches the new dance, bending bodies and correcting positions "as if he were molding clay." Then practice, practice, practice. "The dancers rehearse until their arms and legs remember the steps." There are costumes to fit, tickets to sell, programs to print, and advertisements to write. Lights, music, and scenery need to be coordinated with the dance and dancers, and even flowers need to be bought to give to the dancers after the performance. So much to do in only four short weeks... Mr Cooper's lyrical text is filled with imagery, magic, and passion as it creatively mimics its subject and dances across the pages. His simple pencil and watercolor artwork dazzles, complementing the prose beautifully, and captivates with grace, energy, and motion. Perfect for youngsters 8-12, or as a read aloud for younger children, Dance is an evocative and exciting experience that builds with each page turn. "Opening night. A crowd forms outside the theater, bustling for tickets. The dancers gather backstage. They can hear the buzz of the audience finding seats, the beating of their own hearts. They hug. The choreographer tells them they are wonderful. The lights go down. The curtain goes up."
Fantasitc book!
"Dance" by Elisha Cooper is a triumph. The illustrations have a wonderful grace and style sure to delight children of all ages. I treasure my copy.
I LOVE THIS BOOK!!
I LOVED this book! I have ten kids to give holiday presents to this year and I'm getting Dance! for all of them. It's the best of what a kid's book should be -- mind-expanding and entertaining for the child, and just as entertaining for the adult who has to read it to them every night!
It's nice to use your imagination.
Elisha Cooper's book Dance! is wonderful for what it says and shows but also for what it does not spell out. He shows us some of the exquisite details in the daily lives of the dancers, in the practice studios, posing and touching and relating to each other..walking on your partners back for example. But I'm pleased to say he stops before you get the big show, just when the curtain is about to go up. Now young and old a like will stretch their creative imagination to envision the performance. Almost like the good old days of radio shows when you listened carefully and visualized what was going on. Maybe Elisha Copper will someday give us Act I so we can compare it to ours. He gets better with each book.
PERFECT book for dance lovers
Cooper does what I didn't think was possible--he captures, on the page, the beauty and fluidity of dance. His exquisitely simple watercolors--and exquisitely spare prose--take us from the dancers' studio, to the neighborhood in which the dancers live, to the opening night stage. His artwork evokes rather than dictates, his prose suggests rather than explains. It's a gorgeous book. And my kids, the most important judges, loved it.Three of my four children are or were involved in dance. After reading the review for Dance in the New York Times, I bought it for my youngest for a birthday present. I quickly found myself back in the bookstore buying copies for my other children (and for my sister's kids, and the author's Baseball book for my son) for Christmas. It truly was a wonderful find, and I'd suggest it to anyone who knows kids--or adults, for that matter--with an interest in dance. Highest recommendation.
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