Do you believe in miracles? You will after reading La Donna Alfano's MY DANCE WITH OPA. Even though La Donna barely survived the tragic train/car accident that took the lives of her mother, identical twin and baby sister when she was five years old, she had an incredible out-of-body experience that gave her so much peace. She lived with different family members until her father remarried and La Donna's stepmother adopted her when she was eight years old. Her hell began. La Donna went through years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and she eventually lost all faith in her angels, in God and in humanity. Her life started to plummet while getting into drugs and alcohol and looking for love in all the wrong places. The majority of her thirties were going through therapy trying to find happiness and finding her true self. While she was on the journey of finding her long-lost mother's family, one night she was awoken and driven to write a letter to UNSOLVED MYSTERIES. La Donna wanted to believe in her angels and in a higher power, but she needed proof. La Donna's grandfather, Opa, and her reunion was bittersweet, but their meeting was a wondrous spiritual dance that led her to a new life, a new awakening and a miraculous beginning. La Donna's heart wrenching narration will touch anyone who has ever suffered through heartbreak and /or abuse and gives proof that life can begin again and what's on the other side of healing is truly a miracle. Author Bio: La Donna Alfano is a sculptor and cosmetologist. She lives in Canton, Connecticut. MY DANCE WITH OPA is her first book.

An assault on the senses, part murder mystery, part metaphysical speculation; a fable for our times as catchy as a rock song blasting from the window of a sports car. High-class call girls billed to Mastercard. A psychic 13-year-old dropout with a passion for Talking Heads. A hunky matinee idol doomed to play dentists and teachers. A one-armed beach-combing poet, an uptight hotel clerk and one very bemused narrator caught in the web of advanced capitalist mayhem. Combine this offbeat cast of characters with Murakami's idiosyncratic prose and out comes Dance Dance Dance. 'If Raymond Chandler had lived long enough to see Blade Runner, he might have written something like Dance Dance Dance' Observer

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK! • Ray McMillian is a Black classical musician on the rise—undeterred by the pressure and prejudice of the classical music world—when a shocking theft sends him on a desperate quest to recover his great-great-grandfather’s heirloom violin on the eve of the most prestigious musical competition in the world. “I loved The Violin Conspiracy for exactly the same reasons I loved The Queen’s Gambit: a surprising, beautifully rendered underdog hero I cared about deeply and a fascinating, cutthroat world I knew nothing about—in this case, classical music.” —Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant and Hour of the Witch Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian’s life is already mapped out. But Ray has a gift and a dream—he’s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can’t afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world of classical music. When he discovers that his beat-up, family fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach, and together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Without it, Ray feels like he's lost a piece of himself. As the competition approaches, Ray must not only reclaim his precious violin, but prove to himself—and the world—that no matter the outcome, there has always been a truly great musician within him.

I love God and I know he loves me, so why can’t I move beyond my past? Many have psychological fractures due to abuse and trauma that can cause conflicts between what they know is true about God and their lived experience. This book explores the importance of psychological justice by delving into the author’s multiple encounters with death, grief, trauma, betrayal, sickness, and abuse. Walk with her and draw out the theological and psychological ways God has passionately brought psychological justice to her life. Tracing the threads of one’s story can open a door of hope leading to a deeper and more congruent grace-filled walk with God the Father, our wonderful Savior Jesus, and the ever-present Holy Spirit. The author’s prayer is that her vulnerability might give readers courage to find their own voice and begin to map out their own story.

Joachim Raff (1822-1882), a protégé of both Mendelssohn and Liszt, was one of the most popular composers in the second half of the nineteenth century. This book, the only biography of him ever published, is an essential source for anyone interested in his fascinating life and times and Alan Howe's splendid, idiomatic and extremely readable translation makes it available in English for the first time. Helene Raff's distinctively brisk voice, objective and unsentimental in her judgement of her father, is masterfully brought to life for today's readers. This modern edition significantly enhances the original 1925 book with many illustrations, extensively researched footnotes, a complete work list and an index.

Through the Eyes of a Dancer compiles the writings of noted dance critic and editor Wendy Perron. In pieces for The SoHo Weekly News, Village Voice, The New York Times, and Dance Magazine, Perron limns the larger aesthetic and theoretical shifts in the dance world since the 1960s. She surveys a wide range of styles and genres, from downtown experimental performance to ballets at the Metropolitan Opera House. In opinion pieces, interviews, reviews, brief memoirs, blog posts, and contemplations on the choreographic process, she gives readers an up-close, personalized look at dancing as an art form. Dancers, choreographers, teachers, college dance students—and anyone interested in the intersection between dance and journalism—will find Perron's probing and insightful writings inspiring. Through the Eyes of a Dancer is a nuanced microcosm of dance's recent globalization and modernization that also provides an opportunity for new dancers to look back on the traditions and styles that preceded their own.

A picture book about the making of Martha Graham's Appalachian Spring, her most famous dance performance Martha Graham : trailblazing choreographer Aaron Copland : distinguished American composer Isamu Noguchi : artist, sculptor, craftsman Award-winning authors Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan tell the story behind the scenes of the collaboration that created APPALACHIAN SPRING, from its inception through the score's composition to Martha's intense rehearsal process. The authors' collaborator is two-time Sibert Honor winner Brian Floca, whose vivid watercolors bring both the process and the performance to life.