Wendy Hilton A Life In Baroque Dance And Music

Beginning with her childhood discoveries of the worlds of dance and music, continuing through her ballet and historical-dance studies in England, and culminating in her distinguished work as a dancer, choreographer, scholar, and teacher in the United States, this memoir traces the fascinating, circuitous path of Hilton's remarkable career. Her early aspirations to become a ballerina led her to the ballet studios of Marie Rambert, Cleo Nordi, Audrey de Vos, and Maria Fay and then to dancing in live broadcasts on early British television, in movies, and with the companies of Felicity Grey, Walter Gore, and Letty Littlewood. In 1952, a chance introduction to the historical dance specialist Belinda Quirey began Hilton's lifelong study of and commitment to the fields of early dance and music. A few years later, another chance Introduction to the eminent Bach specialist Rosalyn Tureck brought Hilton to America, with their collaborations winning rave reviews from some of America's most distinguished critics. Hilton went on to collaborate with such other renowned musicians as Michael Tilson Thomas, Albert Fuller, and Frederick Renz, and such early music groups as the New York Pro Musica Antiqua and the Ensemble for Early Music. Two significant academic appointments, both of which would continue for over twenty years, also opened up: at the Juilliard School, where, as nowhere else, she mounted gloriously costumed and musically sophisticated performances in the Baroque dance style, and at Stanford University, where she directed an annual workshop on baroque dance and music. Hilton's pathbreaking book Dance of Court and Theater: The French Noble Style, 1690-1725 remains the standard text for the field of baroque dance. --Book Jacket.