Dancing With Delight: Footprints Of The Past: Dance And Dancers In Early Twentieth Century Auckland

Description

Cherie Devliotis was brought up to dance. Her mother, Isabelle Brook, was a dancer who performed regularly in the 1920s and 1930s; she also had her own school of dance in Hamilton in the 1930s. Cherie was taken along from infancy. She is thus well placed to write a history of dance, dancers and dancing schools in the early part of the 20th century in the Auckland area with glances further afield. The book tells the story of dance in relation to the early films. We hear about the development of the competitions and the advent of ballet in the city and beyond. There are famous names here - Rowena Jackson and Bryan Ashbridge to mention just two. The book is thoroughly researched; a grant from Creative New Zealand assisted this process. The book is lavishly illustrated with pictures from the period covered in the book. It is a readable story which will also become a definitive work on the history of dance. There is much about early Auckland here, told from the perspective of those who lived for dancing and who had to move about the city to fulfil their engagements and take their lessons. The title reflects the author's own delight in dancing and its history.

Table of contents

Preface: Overture, The Eternal Dancers; Chapter 1, A Discourse on Dance; Chapter 2, The War is Over: Here come the 1920s - Values, Vaudeville, Ventures; Chapter 3, A Special Visitor; Silent Films; Cabarets; Chapter 4, Shall We Dance? Early Auckland Teachers; Chapter 5, Miss Cecil Hall; Two of her Assistants, Myra and Lorrie; Chapter 6, The Concerns of the 1930s: Talking Pictures; Ak Amateur Operatic; Chapter 7, Introducing Rowena; Chapter 8, Introducing Doreen and Da; Chapter 9, The Auckland Competitions; Chapter 10, The Curtain Rises and In They Dance: Isabelle and Mardi ; Chapter 11, Isabelle - Happy Days, in Hamilton; Chapter 12, Dancing with Delight; Chapter 13, The Meadowbank School of Dance; Chapter 14, Mardi; Chapter 15, Auckland, early 1940s; Chapter 16, The Civic Theatre - 1929 - Rona Speaks; Wartime - Regina and Lenore; Chapter 17, The Exodus: Dancers Travel - Peggy, Margaret, Kathleen, Harold; Chapter 18, Beryl Nettleton and Bettina Edwards; Their School of Dance; Chapter 19, Finale; Select Bibliography and Sources Consulted; Index