LOST OPPORTUNITY
DUST FOR.THE DANCERS, by Beth Dean and Victor Carell; Ure Smith, Australian price 25/- ; "HIS ser have been a-really interesting book in several different ways, but not in that which has .been chosen by the authors. Beth Dean and her husband, Victor Carell, borrow a truck and make a long journey through the Northern Territory of Australia studying aboriginal dancing; they finish up as choreographer and stage manager respectively for the ballet Corroboree, presented before Her Majesty on her Australian tour. There is plenty of material, but the trouble is that the book is written without apparent aim. If the journey was undertaken to study dance for the special purpose of producing Corroboree, and related throughout to the problems, this would have formed an admirable thread on which to hang the tale. If Miss Dean, in her American enthusiasm for dance, found that her study of aboriginal dancing was suddenly and fortuitously important for a composer and for a Queen’s entertainment, how excitingly it could be told. If the book was written with the zest and lively observation of a cultured globe-trotter
the reader would be held. Tf details of the dances were plotted and described technically (even if dully) the book would be of value to dancers and a respectable achievement. As it is, the book lacks purpose, shape and colour, The writers have not the humour and vision to make the personalities of the people they meet, native or white, vital and entertaining; they are little more successful with the scenery and dances, though the great fnitiation which they (continued on next pase)
BOOKS (continued from previous page) witnessed would be a challenge to any writer. Even the photographs are dis-
appointing.
John V.
Trevor
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 885, 20 July 1956, Page 13
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289LOST OPPORTUNITY New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 885, 20 July 1956, Page 13
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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