I Put a Spell on You

Women with pizzazz. Dances to shock and enchant. With heroines like Josephine Baker and Isadora Duncan, this was never going to be a conventional history. Buonaventura's book is rich with fascinating anecdotes (like the New Jersey girl arrested for dancing the Turkey Trot on her lunch hour) and astonishing facts (the first geisha were men), as well as tender portrayals of dancers whose stage antics have earned them lasting fame. The author takes us to Buenos Aires and the first immigrants dancing the tango; to Paris and the bawdy entertainers of the Moulin Rouge; to Chicago and New York, where struggling black Americans cakewalk, charleston and shimmy their long road from slavery. She returns to the Middle East, and the Arabic dance that led to a life-long fascination with the dancing body. On the way, she takes in Princess Diana, anorexia, transvestism and cosmetic surgery. This is a book for anyone intrigued by the sublime, sexy and downright surreal ways we find to strut our stuff.

Wendy Buonaventura

Wendy Buonaventura is a writer, choreographer and performer. Her work has been the subject of a documentary for British tv and she has written and presented for BBC Radio. Her theatre work mixes text with dance to explore cultural myths of female life. Her books combine non-fiction, memoir and fiction, and on several occasions have been selected in the British press as Books of the Year and Paperbacks of the Year. She continues to perform and lecture internationally and is Artistic Director of the annual UK dance festival Sirocco.

Language: English
ISBN: 9780863567889
2003, Hardcover, 312 pages, 6.5 x 9.5 inches