Mother Earth takes on human form as Mother Nature to walk among us in observation of how mankind cares for and how wisely he uses the bounty of natural resources she has blessed him with. Mankind, being a product of creation is therefore under her charge along with all the flora and fauna that exists upon the earth. Things haven’t been going so well these days and man has fallen into a cycle of waste and abuse that threatens the health of every organism that lives. Although Mother Nature has provided many warning signs, man has become complacent and self-centered, ignoring that he has become a threat to even his own existence. Mother Earth can heal herself and evolve, but at what cost? A mother will always try to protect her offspring from bringing harm upon themselves through intervention. She now calls upon the dark creatures of the Dreaming to come forth to give mankind one final chance to change the error of his ways. Man must be made to see the devastation he brings upon lives unseen, but from a different angle, so that he may see what lies ahead in his own future. A select number of Dryads have been called upon to leave their sacred trees in an effort to enlist mankind in a universal effort to not only save himself, but repair the damage that he has brought upon nature. If he refuses to do so, he will suffer the ultimate and immediate consequences.

Bruce Gewirz has studied sonnets written over the last 600 years, and has written over a thousand sonnets and a number of other poems to his muses over the last 36 years. He presently resides in Mt. Rainier, Maryland.

First published in 2005. The Victorian and Edwardian music hall ballet has been a neglected facet of dance historiography, falling prey principally to the misguided assumption that any ballet not performed at the Opera House or 'legitimate' theatre necessarily meant it was of low cultural and artistic merit. Here Alexandra Carter identifies the traditional marginalization of the working class female participants in ballet historiography, and moves on to reinstate the 'lost' period of the music hall ballet and to apply a critical account of that period. Carter examines the working conditions of the dancers, the identities and professional lives of the ballet girls and the ways in which the ballet of the music hall embodied the sexual psyche of the period, particularly in its representations of the ballet girl and the ballerina. By drawing on newspapers, journals, theatre programmes, contemporary fiction, poetry and autobiography, Carter firmly locates the period in its social, economic and artistic context. The book culminates in the argument that there are direct links between the music hall ballet and what has been termed the 'birth' of British ballet in the 1930s; a link so long ignored by dance historians. This work will appeal not only to those interested in nineteenth century studies, but also to those working in the fields of dance studies, gender studies, cultural studies and the performing arts.

Anna Pavlova's revolutionary debut in 1910 at the Metropolitan Opera House captivated the nation and introduced Americans to the charms of modern ballet. Willa Cather was among the first intellectuals to recognize that dance had suddenly been elevated into a new art form, and she quickly trained herself to become one of the leading balletomanes of her era. Willa Cather and the Dance: "A Most Satisfying Elegance" traces the writer's dance education, starting with the ten-page explication she wrote in 1913 for McClure's magazine called "Training for the Ballet." Cather's interest was sustained through her entire canon as she utilized characters, scenes, and images from almost all of the important dance productions that played in New York.