An absolute classic for introducing modern dance to anyone. Choreographer Bill T. Jones is captured in a variety of dance shapes, and the accompanying text describes feelings and ideas about dance.

Biography of esteemed African American choreographer and founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre; includes illustrations depicting Ailey’s childhood in church and later choreography of Revelations.

Shows how dance can be found in everyday movements and celebrates the choreographer in everyone.

Biography of modern dance mother Isadora Duncan follows her life from childhood to death, washing over the more controversial elements of her life and ignoring the impact of WWI. Not as compelling as the biographies of Ailey or Limon, this book would work best as one small component in a discipline-based unit on early modern dance.

Simple text and photographs introduce readers to dance in a range of contexts and cultural styles. Best for preschool and lower elementary.

Whimsical rhymes introduce parts of speech and invite movement that the dance educator may structure into dance studies.

Graphically engaging autobiography of tap dance star Savion Glover will be accessible to middle school students and above.

Following the format of other titles in the popular Eyewitness series, this nonfiction book provides information on culturally diverse dance styles. Information and examples of western theatrical dance are given from a primarily British perspective.

Introduction to African dance, told through the stories of American students studying th form.

Dancers form letters of the alphabet and pictures of accompanying objects. Ideal for kindergarten classes studing letter formation and the dance element shape.

Simple rhymes introduce animals from Africa – some familiar to American students and some not – with a verb describing action of each. Beautiful illustrations accompany the text, with endpapers giving more detail about each featured animal. A great starting-off point for simple movement studies. The publisher (barefootbooks.com) has sample pages on their website.

Great introduction to a period in dance history.

Wonderful collection of poetry, with audio recordings of many works. Excellent for prompting movement interpretations of the works.