Stocking Stuffers, Helpful Hints, and Words of Wisdom Abound for Teachers and Dancers this Holiday Season
Massage therapists, those who practice hands-on body work and those interested in Shiatsu will want a copy of Corinna Somma's extensive book on Shiatsu (Pearson/Prentice Hall Health--www.prenhall.com/healthprofessions). This complete reference book offers eighteen chapters, hundreds of photographs, and four appendices covering the history of Shiatsu, Qi and Meridians, Taoism, the Zang Fu Organ system, Acupoints, Protocol, and Qi Gong Exercises. Somma, an author, yoga teacher and massage therapist with a law degree, has done her research, and then some. If you are serious about tackling this subject, this is the book you need. If you are curious, Somma's work will give you clear, careful guidance into your new venture.
People who are beginning to take charge of their own health should have Marion Nestle's What To Eat (North Point Press) on their book shelf. You don't need to be a degreed nutritionist to be able to understand her information. It is subtitled "An Aisle by Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating." She shoots down common myths such as "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," and "Dairy helps you lose weight," and "You should drink eight glasses of water a day." Over your shock? Still with us? After she leaves us stunned, she explains why, and backs it up with research and interesting writing. Learn what Napoleon III has to do with our fatty problem, and how COOL is anything but. Her book is arranged in the sections you'll find in supermarkets--dairy, produce, processed (you fill in the rest). You may start saving a bundle once you read the section on bottled waters and their standards. You may begin losing weight once you recalculate calories, Calories and kilocalories after she has informed you. That chapter 24 is an eye-opener. At any rate, you'll certainly be a healthier, sharper shopper.
Dancing in Your School--A Guide for Preschool and Elementary School Teachers, by Anne Dunkin, and Yoga in Your Schools--Exercises for Classroom, Gym and Playground by Teressa Asencia (Princeton Books, www.dancehorizons.com) are small paperbacks loaded with helps and hints for teachers from preschool up. Both books are extremely well-planned, yet leave room for creativity from students and teachers alike. Whether you are an active PE or dance teacher in a traditional setting, or need ideas for more limited space of a classroom, you'll find them here. Both of these should be handy on your emergency or rainy day shelf, pre or post SOL's or not.
Human Kinetics (www. HumanKinetics.com) has a second edition of John Price Bennett's and Pamela Coughenour Rimer's Rhythmic Activities and Dance. New sections include social (ballroom) dances, student development through dance, assessments, and a CD with music for the dances you'll be teaching such as square dancing, line dancing, folk dancing, rhythmic activities, foxtrots, merengues and mambos. Rael Isacowitz' "Pilates" offers readers clear photographs and explanations of the mat and apparatus work used in Pilates. Each page focuses on an exercise, giving the level, muscle focus, imagery and objectives used to do the exercise safely and correctly. Teachers and students will find this extremely useful as they pursue their Pilates studies.
Irina--Ballet, Life and Love (University Press of Florida, www.upf.com) is Irina Baronova's memoirs of her remarkable life. How could it not be with her work as one of the 'baby ballerinas' in the famed Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo, her associations with George Balanchine and Yul Brynner and her work in Hollywood. Now a vice-president of the Royal Academy of Dance and patron of the Australian Ballet, Baronova takes us into her life - one that could be a film on its own. There is enough drama ('no dancing for six months' she was told), and loving friendship (with Brynner, who stole her radio, but replaced it twenty-eight years later, and with Massine who owned an island given to him by Diaghilev), humorous moments (oranges tossed through her dressing room window from the Covent Garden market) and dance (over 500 pages worth) to keep everyone enthralled. She is still elegant and beautiful, as filmgoers to The Ballet Russes noted, and writes as exquisitely as she danced.
To top things off, stocking wise, that is, Bunheads (www.bunheads.com) has "Pinky Pads" for that easily mashed little digit, "Cushy Cuts" (cut-it-yourself gel foam squares), and "The Big Tip" (a seam-free toe sock grand for male dancers especially) among others, plus a pack of twelve divinely designed cards of dancers photographed by Lois Greenfield to add to your wish list or your favorite dancer's goodie bag.