Bliss and Dance explores the four major ballets of composer Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) who was at the centre of British musical life for over 50 years.
Bliss and Dance explores the four major ballets of composer Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) who was at the centre of British musical life for over fifty years. Drawn to finding expression for drama and human emotion, Bliss composed an impressive range of instrumental, choral, opera, film and highly acclaimed ballet scores. He collaborated with pioneering choreographers Ninette de Valois and Robert Helpmann on works for Sadler's Wells Ballet between 1937 and 1946, and with Lew Christensen for San Francisco Ballet in 1958. In fifteen richly illustrated chapters, music and dance specialists delve into the artistic, cultural and socio-political context, creation and performance across several generations of these works, asking what they reveal about his story and the art of dance then and now. The volume of informative, engaging essays by established practitioners is edited by Jennifer Jackson, former dancer and choreographer with The Royal Ballet and Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet.
Sir David Bintley, choreographer and former Artistic Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, is renowned internationally for his numerous ballets, many large-scale, narrative works with commissioned scores, and his wide knowledge of the early British ballet heritage repertoire. Andrew Burn is a broadcaster, orchestral manager and Chair of the Bliss Trust; his specialist enthusiasm is twentieth- and twenty-first-century British music, about which he speaks and writes extensively. Michael Byrne, researches the intersections between dance, history and emergent technologies at Cornell University's engineering campus in New York City, where he is Creative Lead for Tech, Arts and Culture. Dr Susie Crow, teacher, choreographer, writer and former dancer with The Royal Ballet and Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet is the founder of Oxford Dance Writers and Ballet in Small Spaces, one of many professional dance companies and educational projects she collaborates as a choreographer and artistic lead. Dr Sam Ellis conducted AHRC-funded research on Bliss's music and leads the Bachelor of Music degree programme at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, bringing his long experience of teaching music, professional learning and arts pedagogy to new students. Lewis Foreman, the biographer of Arnold Bax and leading authority on British twentieth-century music, has published many books on music, and drawing on his extensive research of the repertoire, has written more than 400 CD booklets. Jennifer Jackson, is published as a writer in professional journals and books and the volume she edited, Ballet: The Essential Guide to Technique and Creative Practice. A former dancer and choreographer with The Royal Ballet and Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, she was senior lecturer at the University of Surrey, choreography tutor at The Royal Ballet School and Artistic Director of Images Ballet Company Susan Jones is Emeritus Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford and widely published on modernism, and the aesthetics and history of dance; a former Soloist with Scottish Ballet, she is founding Director of Dance Scholarship Oxford (DANSOX). Dr Anna Meadmore, joined The Royal Ballet School in 1994 as archive curator and teacher. She is the school's Manager of Special Collections and an authority on its history and Ninette de Valois, whose early work was the focus of her AHRC Techne-funded research. Jane Pritchard, MBE, is Curator of Dance for the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. A former archivist for British dance companies, she has curated exhibitions on dance, design and photography, seasons of dance films, made radio programmes and published on dance. Paul Spicer, one of the UK's most influential choral conductors, has written biographies of Arthur Bliss, George Dyson and Herbert Howells. A former senior Producer for BBC Radio 3 and Artistic Director of the Lichfield Festival, he now devotes himself to conducting, teaching, composing and writing.
