Dancing Through Life

The television actress recounts her experiences as a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars," a program in which she participated in part as a way to showcase her Christian faith, and describes the lessons she learned facing its challenges.

Cartoonist Cathy Guisewite joins forces with her sister Mickey to explore in illustrated essays what it means to be a woman today. Welcome to the world of two-second vacations, two-dollar raises, and $200 car-phone conversations, where the modern woman ponders innumerable mysteries.

Jean Little's poignant novel about an abandoned girl, and the dog who helps teach her how to trust again. Ten-year-old Min has had a long history of foster care since she was abandoned at age three. Now, let go by yet another foster family, Min continues to build a protective wall around herself. Her newest caregiver, a former Children's Aid doctor, sees past Min's hardened shell and tries to find a way to reach her...and does, finally, by taking in a sick, neglected dog that has escaped from a puppy mill. While watching the dog recover and open its heart to its new owners, Min comes out of her own shell. Readers will rejoice as Min opens her heart and allows herself to be a part of a loving family, to make friends and to finally stand up to the taunts of a bully, whose hurtful words have contributed to her lack of self-esteem.

A warm and encouraging self-help book that draws inspiration and motivation from ballroom dancing. Precisely because the dance floor stands apart from the everyday world, allowing dancers to play, experiment and take on new roles, it also serves as a stage for human behavior. Antoinette Benevento, a former national ballroom dancing champion and co-owner of Fred Astaire Dance Studios, has been a student of that stage for 25 years. She has discovered that getting out on the dance floor is a powerful and empowering metaphor for living fully in all realms of life. Some of the tenets Antoinette Benevento lives, dances, and teaches by: -Persistence is a form of beauty -Give yourself permission to begin again--and again and again -If you're not willing to risk falling, you'll never learn to walk (or dance) -Desire is the energy that moves us forward in dance and in life -To dance well and to live fully, body and soul need to work together Building on the ballroom dancing craze that has swept the country, including the popularity of "Dancing with the Stars", this illuminating and highly readable book shows that what you learn on the dance floor can help you dance through life. ANTOINETTE BENEVENTO is co-owner of and National Training Director for the Fred Astaire Dance Studios and a former national ballroom dancing champion. EDWIN DOBB is a contributing editor of Harper's Magazine, and has written for numerous other national publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and Discover.

Lyrical Dance - a dance choreographed to a song about overcoming obstacles. What do you do when all you've ever known about yourself, what gave your life meaning, is wiped away? How do you get it back?All of her life Esther has taken care of others. How can she let others take care of her? Will she ever be herself again? Meanwhile, Kathleen struggles to understand what it is to be a pastor's wife. Who is she now that she's married? Is it possible to grieve over the loss of a dream she didn't even know she had? Book seven of the Dancing through Life Series, Lyrical Dance explores the question of suffering in this life. Why do good people suffer? How do we go on in the face of suffering? Join Esther, Kathleen and other members of the Reese family as they continue to deal with life's challenges and find ways not only to survive, but to thrive.

“A glimpse into the fragile psyche of a dancer.” —The Washington Post Jenifer Ringer, a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, was thrust into the headlines after her weight was commented on by a New York Times critic, and her response ignited a public dialogue about dance and weight. Ballet aficionados and aspiring performers of all ages will want to join Ringer behind the scenes as she shares her journey from student to star and candidly discusses both her struggle with an eating disorder and the media storm that erupted after the Times review. An unusually upbeat account of life on the stage, Dancing Through It is also a coming-of-age story and an inspiring memoir of faith and of triumph over the body issues that torment all too many women and men.

Why do we suffer? Is there a purpose to our pain? Noting that human beings have wrestled with such questions for thousands of years, Phillip Moffitt has found answers for his own life in Buddhist philosophy and meditation. Reflecting on his own journey from Esquire magazine editor-in-chief to Buddhist meditation teacher, Moffitt provides a fresh perspective on the Buddha's ancient wisdom, showing how to move from suffering to new awareness and unanticipated joy. In this deeply spiritual book that is sure to become a Buddhist classic, Moffitt explores the twelve insights that underlie the Buddha's core teaching--the Four Noble Truths--and uses these often neglected ideas to guide readers to a more meaningful relationship to suffering. Moffitt write: "These twelve insights teach you to dance with both the joy and pain, finding peace in a balanced mind and calm spirit. As the most specific, practical life instructions I have ever encountered, they serve as an invaluable tool for anyone who seeks a life filled with meaning and well-being." Practicing these twelve insights, as Moffitt suggests, will help readers experience life's difficulties without being filled with stress and anguish, and they will enhance their moments of happiness. With engaging writing and a strong message of self-empowerment, Dancing with Life offers a prescriptive path for finding joy and peace that will appeal to meditation students and readers of "Dharma Wisdom," Moffitt's column in Yoga Journal, as well as anyone searching for a more authentic life.

Live your life to the fullest In Dancing through Life, Allen Brown offers his unique perspective: All life starts with the question Wouldn’t it be great if . . .? Allen believes that a true, authentic life begins with this simple question because it signals an awakening to the possibility of more. We can be more than we think we are, and we can do more than we think we’re capable of doing. And the sense of wonder and possibility contained in Wouldn’t it be great if . . .? isn’t just for the young. It’s for everyone! This book will inspire you to start living the lives you’ve always wanted to live. The author offers his advice on such topics as— • trusting your intuition • broadening your horizons and getting out of your comfort zone • understanding the power of your own thoughts • adopting a growth mind-set • setting and achieving goals An entrepreneur and self-made millionaire, Allen became an amateur ballroom dancing champion in his mid-eighties. Through the insight he provides in Dancing through Life, you will be reminded that if the music is playing, you should be dancing. We only have one life, and we should live it with gusto!

Internationally traveled and familiar with salons and personalities of the dance world, we find a stroll through the years as Dorothy Dean Stevens gives us glimpses of personal encounters with leading dancers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She begins by tracing her ancestors settling in the west; on through her early years, then to her entrance into the hallowed halls of European Ballet and the continued ties with leading dancers. Early in her life she studied at Cornish School of the Arts and later with Eugene Lorin. Such notables as Adolf Bolm, and Dimitri Romanoff, instructed in her dance studio in Monterey California. Sucessful dancers such as Frank Bourman, and Michael Smuin, who later founded the Smuin Ballet in San Francisco, taught for a time at Dorothy's studio. She also covers the development of the cultural arts, tracing theater and talent that existed in the central California region of the Monterey Peninsula. But there is more to her life than this; travel and adventure, business and pleasure all woven into a tale of her life. Dorothy dances through joys and sorrows to the encore years in which her family, once again, takes the spot light.

The book captures the life and adventures of Bubu, A little girl who had been adopted by a family of dental technicians. She had experienced a lot of things since she was born until she moved from her natal city. She was not an arrogant girl, but many appreciated her intelligence and openness to information. In her story, she manages to capture the moments that left deep marks on her evolution, but also the new situations she had faced over time. Many people came into her life, but few could transform her.