History of Dance

Gayle Kassing performed professionally in ballet, modern dance, and musical theater. She has a BFA in ballet and theater, an MA in modern dance, a PhD in dance and related arts from Texas Woman's University, and an MAT in K-12 education with media. She has taught in universities and colleges in Nebraska, Illinois, and Florida, public schools, dance studios, and regional ballet companies. She is the lead author of Teaching Beginning Ballet Technique and Dance Teaching Methods and Curriculum Design and sole author of Interactive Beginning Ballet CD, History of Dance: An Integrated Arts Approach, Human Kinetics' Interactive Dance Series: Beginning Ballet, and Discovering Dance. For the past 15 years, Kassing has been an acquisitions editor in the HPERD division at Human Kinetics. She presents at state, national, and international conferences and works as a dance consultant providing dance professional development workshops for K-12 and university dance educators. In 2010, she was the recipient of the National Dance Association Scholar/Artist, and in 2016 she was designated as the 2016-2017 National Dance Society Scholar. Kassing is a member of the Nebraskans for the Arts.

Part I Dance in Early History Chapter 1. Dance at the Dawn of Time Chapter 2. Dance in Ancient Civilizations Ancient Egypt Ancient Crete Ancient Greece Rome and the Roman Empire Chapter 3. Dance From the Middle Ages Through the Renaissance Part II Dance in Modern History: The Renaissance to the 20th Century Chapter 4. Dance at Court: The Late 16th and 17th Centuries Chapter 5. Dance From Court to Theater: The 18th Century Chapter 6. Romantic to Classical Ballet: The 19th Century Romantic Ballet Classical Ballet in Russia Chapter 7. Dance in the United States: The 17th Through 19th Centuries Part III American Dance in the 20th Century and Beyond Chapter 8. Imported Influences: 1900-1929 Russo-American Ballet New Dance Chapter 9. Emerging American Dance: 1930-1944 Emerging American Ballet Emerging American Modern Dance Chapter 10. Maturing Classics: 1945-1959 Maturing American Ballet Maturing American Modern Dance Chapter 11. Chance and Change: 1960-1979 Chance and Change in Ballet Chance and Change in Modern Dance Chapter 12. New Directions: 1980-2000 New Directions for American Ballet New Directions in Postmodern Dance Chapter 13. Global Interactions: 2000-2016 Global Interactions in Ballet Global Interactions in Contemporary Modern Dance