We've ranked the best ballet books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.
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1
Ballet Shoes
Noel Streatfeild, Diane Goode
5.0
An alternate cover edition for this ISBN from 1993 can be found here
Pauline, Petrova and Posy are orphans determined to help out their family by attending the Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training. But when they vow to make a name for themselves, they have no idea it's going to be such hard work! They launch themselves into the world of show business, complete with working papers, the glare of the spotlight, and practice, practice, practice! Pauline is destined for the movies. Posy is a born dancer. But practical Petrova finds she'd rather pilot a plane than perform a pirouette. Each girl must find the courage to follow her dream.
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Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet
Jennifer Homans
4.7
One of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year
For more than four hundred years, the art of ballet has stood at the center of Western civilization. Its traditions serve as a record of our past. A ballerina dancing The Sleeping Beauty today is a link in a long chain of dancers stretching back to sixteenth-century Italy and France: Her graceful movements recall a lost world of courts, kings, and aristocracy, but her steps and gestures are also marked by the dramatic changes in dance and culture that followed. Ballet has been shaped by the Renaissance and Classicism, the Enlightenment and Romanticism, Bolshevism, Modernism, and the Cold War. Apollo’s Angels is a groundbreaking work—the first cultural history of ballet ever written, lavishly illustrated and beautifully told.
Ballet is unique: It has no written texts or standardized notation. It is a storytelling art passed on from teacher to student. The steps are never just the steps—they are a living, breathing document of a culture and a tradition. And while ballet’s language is shared by dancers everywhere, its artists have developed distinct national styles. French, Italian, Danish, Russian, English, and American traditions each have their own expression, often formed in response to political and societal upheavals.
From ballet’s origins in the Renaissance and the codification of its basic steps and positions under France’s Louis XIV (himself an avid dancer), the art form wound its way through the courts of Europe, from Paris and Milan to Vienna and St. Petersburg. It was in Russia that dance developed into the form most familiar to American audiences: The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker originated at the Imperial court. In the twentieth century, émigré dancers taught their art to a generation in the United States and in Western Europe, setting off a new and radical transformation of dance.
Jennifer Homans is a historian and critic who was also a professional dancer: She brings to Apollo’s Angels a knowledge of dance born of dedicated practice. She traces the evolution of technique, choreography, and performance in clean, clear prose, drawing readers into the intricacies of the art with vivid descriptions of dances and the artists who made them. Her admiration and love for the ballet shines through on every page. Apollo’s Angels is an authoritative work, written with a grace and elegance befitting its subject.
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Classical Ballet Technique
Gretchen W. Warren
4.7
"Classical Ballet Technique is an invaluable guide for students, teachers, and ballet lovers. It not only covers the broad spectrum of ballet vocabulary but also gives sound, practical advice to aspiring dancers. The clarity of the writing, in a field notorious for its opaqueness, is in itself a major achievement."--Merrill Ashley, Principal Dancer, New York City Ballet
"An excellent, comprehensive guide to ballet pedagogy valuable to teachers and students alike. For many years Gretchen's has been a major voice in the dance community, and this extensive work details the study of classical ballet from her unique and expert point of view. I applaud her, and I heartily recommend Classical Ballet Technique."--David Howard, International Ballet Master and Master Teacher
"Gretchen Warren has undertaken a monumental task and has completed it with distinction. Obviously a labor of love, this book's attention to detail and the clarity of its text and photos make it a valuable contribution to the lexicon of ballet. I recommend it to every serious student and teacher."--Thalia Mara, Founding Director, Ballet Repertory Company and National Academy of Ballet; Artistic Director, U.S.A. International Ballet Competition
"Congratulations to Ms. Warren for her authoritative book on classical ballet. Thanks are in order too from the many professional teachers, dancers, and students of the art form who will benefit from this book-an essential addition to any dance lover's library."--Lawrence Rhodes, Artistic Director, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
Gretchen Ward Warren studied at London's Royal Ballet and the National Ballet School of Washington, D.C. She was soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet for eleven years and ballet mistress of American Ballet Theatre II from 1978 to 1983. She is professor of dance at the University of South Florida and frequently appears as a master teacher on the national and international circuits.
Susan Cook has photographed the performing arts for the past fifteen years. Her work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, and many dance books. Her own books of photographs include In a Rehearsal Room and The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
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Firebird
Misty Copeland, Christopher Myers
4.7
In her debut picture book, Misty Copeland tells the story of a young girl--an every girl--whose confidence is fragile and who is questioning her own ability to reach the heights that Misty has reached. Misty encourages this young girl's faith in herself and shows her exactly how, through hard work and dedication, she too can become Firebird.
Lyrical and affecting text paired with bold, striking illustrations that are some of Caldecott Honoree Christopher Myers's best work, makes Firebird perfect for aspriring ballerinas everywhere.
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Recommended by Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins.
Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins
The true story of the life of the ballerina Misty Copeland, one of my heroes. [source]
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Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina
Michaela DePrince and Elaine Deprince
4.7
"Michaela is nothing short of a miracle, born to be a ballerina. For every young brown, yellow, and purple dancer, she is an inspiration!” —Misty Copeland, world-renowned ballet dancer
The extraordinary memoir of Michaela DePrince, a young dancer who escaped war-torn Sierra Leone for the rarefied heights of American ballet.
Michaela DePrince was known as girl Number 27 at the orphanage, where she was abandoned at a young age and tormented as a “devil child” for a skin condition that makes her skin appear spotted. But it was at the orphanage that Michaela would find a picture of a beautiful ballerina en pointe that would help change the course of her life.
At the age of four, Michaela was adopted by an American family, who encouraged her love of dancing and enrolled her in classes. She went on to study at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at the American Ballet Theatre and is now the youngest principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She has appeared in the ballet documentary First Position, as well as on Dancing with the Stars, Good Morning America, and Nightline.
In this engaging, moving, and unforgettable memoir, Michaela shares her dramatic journey from an orphan in West Africa to becoming one of ballet’s most exciting rising stars.
“A story of great courage that all women—young and old—should read.” —Tina Brown
From the Hardcover edition.
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Bunheads
Sophie Flack
4.7
As a dancer with the ultra-prestigious Manhattan Ballet Company, nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward juggles intense rehearsals, dazzling performances and complicated backstage relationships. Up until now, Hannah has happily devoted her entire life to ballet.
But when she meets a handsome musician named Jacob, Hannah's universe begins to change, and she must decide if she wants to compete against the other "bunheads" in the company for a star soloist spot or strike out on her own in the real world. Does she dare give up the gilded confines of the ballet for the freedoms of everyday life?
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Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet
Gail Grant
4.6
"Miss Grant has made more information available in one book than we have ever had before. Teacher's organizations would do well to consider the use of Miss Grant's Technical Manual as an official textbook." — Dance Magazine Teacher recommended, Gail Grant's Technical Manual has long been one of the most popular and effective ballet reference guides. Completely revised and updated, this third edition is virtually a new work and should be owned by every student, dance teacher, choreographer, and ballet enthusiast — even those who purchased the second edition. Extensive revision, expansion, and the inclusion of more than 300 new terms have added immeasurably to the value of this concise, definitive manual. Moving from "abstract ballet" and "adage, adagio" to "working leg" and "wrapped position," the book fully describes and defines over 1,100 ballet steps (saul de chat, jeté enveloppé, failli, entrechat six, etc.), movements and poses (arabesque, épaulement, attitude, en arrière, retiré, à terre, dégagé, etc.), and other expressions and concepts. For each, first a phonetic transcription is provided, then a literal translation, and finally an explanation of how the step is performed, the pose captured, or the movement executed, of how the concept fits in with actual ballet dancing, or of the purpose or function of the idea. A pronunciation guide, cross-references to alternate names for similar steps and positions that vary from the Russian to the French or Italian schools, and a bibliography are all invaluable aids. But the most important supplement is the 15-page pictorial section, drawn by the author, who is both a successful ballet teacher and dancer. Keyed to the dictionary (and vice-versa), these diagrams show clearly the exact foot, leg, arm, and body positions for the proper execution of many of the more common ballet steps and movements. This essential and easy reference is a must for every teacher, aspiring dancer, and ballet class.
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Tiny Pretty Things (Tiny Pretty Things, #1)
Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton
4.6
Soon to be a Netflix TV show!
Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars in this soapy, drama-packed novel featuring diverse characters who will do anything to be the prima at their elite ballet school.
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Belles, Dhonielle Clayton, and the author of the highly anticipated Symptoms of a Heartbreak, Sona Charaipotra.
Gigi, Bette, and June, three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet school, have seen their fair share of drama. Free-spirited new girl Gigi just wants to dance—but the very act might kill her. Privileged New Yorker Bette's desire to escape the shadow of her ballet-star sister brings out a dangerous edge in her. And perfectionist June needs to land a lead role this year or her controlling mother will put an end to her dancing dreams forever.
When every dancer is both friend and foe, the girls will sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.
Don’t miss the gossip, lies, and scandal that continues in Tiny Pretty Things’ gripping sequel, Shiny Broken Pieces!
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The Ballet Companion: A Dancer's Guide to the Technique, Traditions, and Joys of Ballet
Eliza Gaynor Minden
4.6
A New Classic for Today's Dancer
The Ballet Companion is a fresh, comprehensive, and thoroughly up-to-date reference book for the dancer. With 150 stunning photographs of ballet stars Maria Riccetto and Benjamin Millepied demonstrating perfect execution of positions and steps, this elegant volume brims with everything today's dance student needs, including:
Practical advice for getting started, such as selecting a school, making the most of class, and studio etiquette
Explanations of ballet fundamentals and major training systems
An illustrated guide through ballet class -- warm-up, barre, and center floor
Guidelines for safe, healthy dancing through a sensible diet, injury prevention, and cross-training with yoga and Pilates
Descriptions of must-see ballets and glossaries of dance, music, and theater terms
Along the way you'll find technique secrets from stars of American Ballet Theatre, lavishly illustrated sidebars on ballet history, and tips on everything from styling a ballet bun to stage makeup to performing the perfect pirouette.
Whether a budding ballerina, serious student, or adult returning to ballet, dancers will find a lively mix of ballet's time-honored traditions and essential new information.
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Mao's Last Dancer
Li Cunxin
4.6
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
The extraordinary memoir of a peasant boy raised in rural Maoist China who was plucked from his village to study ballet and went on to become one of the greatest dancers of his generation.
From a desperately poor village in northeast China, at age eleven, Li Cunxin was chosen by Madame Mao's cultural delegates to be taken from his rural home and brought to Beijing, where he would study ballet. In 1979, the young dancer arrived in Texas as part of a cultural exchange, only to fall in love with America-and with an American woman. Two years later, through a series of events worthy of the most exciting cloak-and-dagger fiction, he defected to the United States, where he quickly became known as one of the greatest ballet dancers in the world. This is his story, told in his own inimitable voice.
THE BASIS FOR A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
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The Painted Girls
Cathy Marie Buchanan
4.6
1878 Paris. Following their father's sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opéra, where for a scant seventeen francs a week, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work as an extra in a stage adaptation of Émile Zola's naturalist masterpiece L'Assommoir.
Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modeling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. There she meets a wealthy male patron of the ballet, but might the assistance he offers come with strings attached? Meanwhile Antoinette, derailed by her love for the dangerous Émile Abadie, must choose between honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde.
Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of "civilized society." In the end, each will come to realize that her salvation, if not survival, lies with the other.
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Dancing in the Wings
Debbie Allen, Kadir Nelson
4.5
Sassy worries that her too-large feet, too-long legs, and even her big mouth will keep her from her dream of becoming a star ballerina. So for now she's just dancing in the wings, watching from behind the curtain, and hoping that one day it will be her turn to shimmer in the spotlight. When the director of an important dance festival comes to audition her class, Sassy's first attempts to get his attention are, well, a little wobbly. But Sassy just knows, somehow, that this is her time to step out from those wings, and make her mark on the world. Actress/choreographer Debbie Allen and Kadir Nelson collaborated on Brothers of the Knight, about which School Library Journal raved, "the strutting high-stepping brothers are full of individuality, attitude, and movement."
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Dancing on My Grave
Gelsey Kirkland
4.5
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Astonish Me
Maggie Shipstead
4.5
From the author of the widely acclaimed debut novel "Seating Arrangements," winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize: a gorgeously written, fiercely compelling glimpse into the passionate, political world of professional ballet and its magnetic hold over two generations. "Astonish Me" is the irresistible story of Joan, a ballerina whose life has been shaped by her relationship with the world-famous dancer Arslan Ruskov, whom she helps defect from the Soviet Union to the United States. While Arslan's career takes off in New York, Joan's slowly declines, ending when she becomes pregnant and decides to marry her longtime admirer, a PhD student named Jacob. As the years pass, Joan settles into her new life in California, teaching dance and watching her son, Harry, become a ballet prodigy himself. But when Harry's success brings him into close contact with Arslan, explosive secrets are revealed that shatter the delicate balance Joan has struck between her past and present. In graceful, inimitable prose, Shipstead draws us into an extraordinary world, and the lives of her vivid and tempestuous characters. Filled with intrigue, brilliant satire, and emotional nuance, "Astonish Me" is a superlative follow-up to Shipstead's superb debut.
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Basic Principles of Classical Ballet
Agrippina Vaganova
4.5
Although the stars of Russian ballet Anna Pavlova and Tamara Karsavina possessed a national manner of dancing, there was no truly Russian school of dancing until the 1930s. The development of this school was largely due to Mme. Vaganova (1879–1951), not only a great dancer but also the teacher of Galina Ulanova and many others and an unsurpassed theoretician. The principles of Vaganova's system are presented in this well-known book. Mme. Vaganova's aim of creating a personal approach to the Russian dance was based on the critical assimilation of the experience of her contemporaries. Her ability to choose the best of what had been accomplished in the various ballet traditions (French, Italian, and Russian) and combine these into a unified teaching practice in itself amounted to a new school of dance. She firmly believed that the teaching process should be a planned exercise, ever changing with innovations in the dance. She sought from her pupils emotional expressiveness, strictness of form, a resolute, energetic manner of performance, and the understanding of the underlying coordination of movements. Her book discusses all basic principles of ballet, grouping movements by fundamental types. Chapters cover battements, rotary movements of the legs, the arms, poses of the classical dance, connecting and auxiliary movements, jumps, beats, point work, and turns as well as material for a sample lesson. Diagrams show clearly the exact foot, leg, arm, and body positions for the proper execution of many steps and movements. The result is a fundamental theory of dance that offers dancers, teachers, and ballet lovers information often difficult to locate in other books. 118 illustrations.
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Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova
Laurel Snyder, Julie Morstad
4.5
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A Company of Swans
Eva Ibbotson
4.5
For nineteen-year-old Harriet Morton, life in 1912 Cambridge is as dry and dull as a biscuit. Her stuffy father and her opressive aunt Louisa allow her only one outlet: ballet. When a Russian ballet master comes to class searching for dancers to fill the corps of his ballet company before their South American tour, Harriet's world changes. Defying her father's wishes and narrowly escaping the clutches of the man who wishes to marry her, Harriet sneaks off to join the ballet on their journey to the Amazon. There, in the wild, lush jungle, they perform Swan Lake in grand opera houses for the wealthy and culture-deprived rubber barons, and Harriet meets Rom Verney, the handsome and mysterious British exile who owns the most ornate opera house. Utterly enchanted by both the exotic surroundings and by Rom's affections, Harriet is swept away by her new life, completely unaware that her father and would-be fiancé have begun to track her down...
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Pointe
Brandy Colbert
4.5
Theo is better now.
She's eating again, dating guys who are almost appropriate, and well on her way to becoming an elite ballet dancer. But when her oldest friend, Donovan, returns home after spending four long years with his kidnapper, Theo starts reliving memories about his abduction—and his abductor.
Donovan isn't talking about what happened, and even though Theo knows she didn't do anything wrong, telling the truth would put everything she's been living for at risk. But keeping quiet might be worse.
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Russian Winter
Daphne Kalotay
4.5
Former Bolshoi ballerina Nina Revskaya auctions off her jewelry collection and becomes overwhelmed by memories of her homeland, the friends she left behind amidst Stalinist aggression, and the dark secret that brought her to a new life in Boston.
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Angelina Ballerina
Katharine Holabird, Helen Craig
4.4
Angelina is so busy dancing that she does nothing else. Her parents are in despair until they send her to ballet school.
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21
The Cranes Dance
Meg Howrey
4.4
I threw my neck out in the middle of Swan Lake last night.
So begins the tale of Kate Crane, a soloist in a celebrated New York City ballet company who is struggling to keep her place in a very demanding world. At every turn she is haunted by her close relationship with her younger sister, Gwen, a fellow company dancer whose career quickly surpassed Kate’s, but who has recently suffered a breakdown and returned home.
Alone for the first time in her life, Kate is anxious and full of guilt about the role she may have played in her sister’s collapse. As we follow her on an insider tour of rehearsals, performances, and partners onstage and off, she confronts the tangle of love, jealousy, pride, and obsession that are beginning to fracture her own sanity. Funny, dark, intimate, and unflinchingly honest, The Cranes Dance is a book that pulls back the curtains to reveal the private lives of dancers and explores the complicated bond between sisters.
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Holding On to the Air
Suzanne Farrell
4.4
Suzanne Farrell, world-renowned ballerina, was one of George Balanchine's most celebrated muses and remains a legendary figure in the ballet world. This memoir, first published in 1990 and reissued with a new preface by the author, recounts Farrell's transformation from a young girl in Ohio dreaming of greatness to the realization of that dream on stages all over the world. Central to this transformation was her relationship with George Balanchine, who invited her to join the New York City Ballet in the fall of 1961 and was in turn inspired by her unique combination of musical, physical, and dramatic gifts. He created masterpieces for her in which the limits of ballet technique were expanded to a degree not seen before. By the time she retired from the stage in 1989, Farrell had achieved a career that is without precedent in the history of ballet. One third of her repertory of more than 100 ballets were composed expressly for her by such notable choreographers as Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Maurice Bejart. Farrell recalls professional and personal attachments and their attendant controversies with a down-to-earth frankness and common sense that complements the glories and mysteries of her artistic achievement.
Suzanne Farrell has staged Balanchine’s ballets in New York, Boston, Seattle, and Miami and for the Vienna Opera Ballet, the Kirov, and the Bolshoi. She is the subject of an Academy Award nominated documentary, Suzanne Farrell--Elusive Muse.
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Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal
Toni Bentley
4.4
An irresistible inside look at one of the world's great dance companies, Winter Season is also a sensitive, intimate, and almost painfully honest account of the emotional and intellectual development of a young woman dedicated to one of the most demanding of all the arts.
Bentley's association with the New York City Ballet began when she was accepted by the affiliated School of American Ballet at the age of eleven. Seven years later, she became a member of the company. In the fall of 1980, as the winter season opened, she found herself facing an emotional crisis: her dancing was not going well. At 22 she felt that her life had lost direction. To try to make something of her experience, on paper if not on stage, she began to keep a journal, describing her day-to-day activities and looking back on her past. The result is perhaps the closest that most of us will ever come to knowing what it feels like to be a dancer, on stage and off. It also offers memorable glimpses of some notable members of the City ballet, with, at the center, the man whose vision they all served--George Balanchine.
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Dancer
Colum McCann
4.4
Taking his inspiration from biographical facts, novelist Colum McCann tells the erotically charged story of the Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev through the cast of those who knew him: there is Anna Vasileva, Rudi's first ballet teacher, who rescues her protégé from the stunted life of his provincial town; Yulia, whose sexual and artistic ambitions are thwarted by her Soviet-sanctioned marriage; and Victor, the Venezuelan street hustler, who reveals the lurid underside of the gay celebrity set. Spanning four decades and many worlds, from the horrors of the Second World War to the wild abandon of New York in the eighties, Dancer is peopled by a large cast of characters, obscure and famous: doormen and shoemakers, nurses and translators, Margot Fonteyn, Eric Bruhn and John Lennon. And at the heart of the spectacle stands the artist himself, willful, lustful, and driven by a never-to-be-met need for perfection.
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Dancing Through It: My Journey in the Ballet
Jenifer Ringer
4.4
A behind-the-curtains look at the rarefied world of classical ballet from a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet
In her charming and self-effacing voice, Jenifer Ringer covers the highs and lows of what it’s like to make it to the top in the exclusive, competitive ballet world. From the heart-pounding moments waiting in the wings before a performance to appearing on Oprah to discuss weight and body image among dancers, Dancing Through It is moving and revelatory.
Raised in South Carolina, Ringer led a typical kid’s life until she sat in on a friend’s ballet class, an experience that would change her life forever. By the age of twelve she was enrolled at the elite Washington School of Ballet and soon moved to the School of American Ballet. At sixteen she was a professional dancer at the New York City Ballet in Manhattan, home of the legendary George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.
Ringer takes us inside the dancer’s world, detailing a typical day, performance preparation, and the extraordinary pressures that these athletes face. Ringer shares exhilarating stories of starring in Balanchine productions, working with the famous Peter Martins, and of meeting her husband and falling in love at the New York City Ballet. Ringer also talks candidly of Alistair Macauley’s stinging critique of her weight in his 2010 New York Times review of The Nutcracker that ignited a public dialogue about ballet and weight. She unflinchingly describes her personal struggles with eating disorders and body image, and shares how her faith helped her to heal and triumph over these challenges.
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Margot Fonteyn
Meredith Daneman
4.3
Margot Fonteyn - born plain Peggy Hookham - was dreamed into existence by the architects of British ballet: Ninette de Valois, Frederick Ashton and Constant Lambert. Carried to fame on a wave of wartime patriotism, Margot's sense of duty rather than ambition propelled her forward. Yet her gifts were such that her pre-eminence would come to eclipse the careers of subsequent generations.Ballet is a fairytale world; if Margot, like the pure and poetic heroine of Swan Lake, was a natural Odette, she would also have to contend with virtue's raw shadow-side in the guise of Constant Lambert, Roberto Arias and Rudolph Nureyev - the men who, like Von Rothbart, were to take possession of her heart.
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Ella Bella Ballerina and Swan Lake
James Mayhew
4.3
Can Ella Bella help the swan princess to be reunited with her prince? Will she help to break the wicked sorcerer's spell? Will true love conquer all? Young ballerinas will find the answer to all these questions and delight in the sheer charm of Ella Bella's world.
Recommended by Meurig and Rachel Bowen.
Meurig and Rachel Bowen
Music and dance are centre stage in these charmingly illustrated re-tellings of some of the better known stories from ballet. [source]
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101 Stories of the Great Ballets: The Scene-by-Scene Stories of the Most Popular Ballets, Old and New
George Balanchine
4.3
Authored by one of the ballet's most respected experts, this volume includes scene-by-scene retellings of the most popular classic and contemporary ballets, as performed by the world's leading dance companies. Certain to delight long-time fans as well as those just discovering the beauty and drama of ballet.
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To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel
Siena Cherson Siegel, Mark Siegel
4.3
The Sibert Honor–winning graphic memoir about the dreams and realities of becoming a ballerina.
Ballerinas are young when they first dream of dance. Siena was six—and her dreams kept skipping and leaping, circling and spinning, from airy runs along a beach near her home in Puerto Rico, to dance classes at the School of American Ballet, to her debut performance on stage with the New York City Ballet while working with ballet legend George Balanchine.
Part family history, part backstage drama, this beautifully updated graphic memoir—which features a refreshed design and a brand-new scrapbook of Siena’s mementoes—is an original, firsthand look a young dancer’s beginnings.
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Vampirina Ballerina
Anne Marie Pace, LeUyen Pham
4.3
Oh, to be a ballerina! It's a challenge for any little girl, but even more so if you happen to be a vampire like Vampirina. First of all, you have to find a class that meets at night. Then you have to figure out how to perfect your form when you can't see yourself in the mirror? And then there's wearing pink (not the most flattering of colors if you happen to be undead) and that nagging urge to take a little nip out of the other dancers. And worse of all STAGE FRIGHT!!!
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Sparrow
Mary Doria Russel
4.3
Troy Brennan
Every southie in Boston knows that name. The son of a dead mobster. The heart throb with steel blue eyes. "The Fixer" who can make or break you in this city.
Oh, and my new husband.
Sparrow Raynes
That's me. No one seemed to remember my name up until he barged into my life. But then he caged me. Kidnapped me. And killed every chance I had to runaway from the place where we grew up. Put simply, Troy Brennan clipped my wings.
I have dreams, big ones, but I doubt he'd ever let me chase them. I have no idea why he'd decided to take me as his wife. But I do know this: pissing off this man will not do me any good. At all.
Sparrow is a standalone, full-length novel. It contains graphic violence and adult situations some may find offensive.
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Recommended by Ellah Allfrey.
Ellah Allfrey
I am a big science fiction junkie. Ekow Eshun wrote a sci-fi book called Black Gold of the Sun and he says that a lot of immigrant children love science fiction because it is about travel to new worlds even further away than the world they have come from. I found that made sense to me. Russell is a feminist academic and this book is about a Jesuit priest on a Catholic mission, not to Peru, but to outer space, to a place with which contact has been made. There is some communication and trade and he is now going on this mission. He develops a deep relationship but there is a fundamental misunderstanding that results in terrible tragedy. He has committed a terrible murder of a child and can’t forgive himself. A Jesuit in space! It’s brilliant, but it’s not at all comic. It is about how you can transfer God and Jesus to space, how people might seem to have understood you when they have not understood you at all. There is astonishing writing here and if it wasn’t science fiction it would be read as great literature. [source]
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32
A Dance Like Starlight: One Ballerina's Dream
Kristy Dempsey, Floyd Cooper
4.3
A story of little ballerinas with big dreams.
Little ballerinas have big dreams. Dreams of pirouettes and grande jetes, dreams of attending the best ballet schools and of dancing starring roles on stage. But in Harlem in the 1950s, dreams don’t always come true—they take a lot of work and a lot of hope. And sometimes hope is hard to come by.
But the first African-American prima ballerina, Janet Collins, did make her dreams come true. And those dreams inspired ballerinas everywhere, showing them that the color of their skin couldn’t stop them from becoming a star.
In a lyrical tale as beautiful as a dance en pointe, Kristy Dempsey and Floyd Cooper tell the story of one little ballerina who was inspired by Janet Collins to make her own dreams come true.
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Nutcracker
E.T.A. Hoffmann, Maurice Sendak, Ralph Manheim
4.3
"A classic, new and complete. One of the ten best illustrated children's books of the year." -- New York Times Book Review
The tale of Nutcracker, written by E.T.A. Hoffmann in 1816, has fascinated and inspired artists, composers, and audiences for almost two hundred years. It has retained its freshness because it appeals to the sense of wonder we all share.
Maurice Sendak designed brilliant sets and costumes for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Christmas production of Nutcracker and created even more magnificent pictures especially for this book. He joined with the eminent translator Ralph Manheim to produce this illustrated edition of Hoffmann's wonderful tale, destined to become a classic for all ages.
The world of Nutcracker is a world of pleasures. Maurice Sendak's art illuminates the delights of Hoffmann's story in this rich and tantalizing treasure.
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Recommended by Igreth the Elf.
Igreth the Elf
Maurice Sendak was inspired by the set and costumes he designed for the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Christmas production [source]
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34
A Very Young Dancer
Jill Krementz
4.3
A ten-year-old student at the School of American Ballet in New York describes her classes and the preparation for and performance of her role in the ballet "The Nutcracker."
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35
Flora and the Flamingo
Molly Idle
4.3
In this innovative wordless picture book with interactive flaps, Flora and her graceful flamingo friend explore the trials and joys of friendship through an elaborate synchronized dance. With a twist, a turn, and even a flop, these unlikely friends learn at last how to dance together in perfect harmony. Full of humor and heart, this stunning performance (and splashy ending!) will have readers clapping for more!
For more feathery fun, pick up Flora and the Penguin, Flora and the Peacocks, Flora and Friends Matching Game or, coming soon, Flora and the Chicks.
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36
The Walls Around Us
Nova Ren Suma
4.3
On the outside, there's Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.
On the inside, within the walls of the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there's Amber, locked up for so long she can't imagine freedom.
Tying their two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls' darkest mysteries…
What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve—in this life or in another one?
In prose that sings from line to line, Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and of innocence, and of what happens when one is mistaken for the other.
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37
Dogs Don't Do Ballet
Anna Kemp
4.3
A Simon & Schuster eBook
Recommended by Tom McLaughlin.
Tom McLaughlin
I think it’s a rare example of a book that works for both kids and grown-ups. [source]
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38
Miss Lina's Ballerinas
Grace Maccarone, Christine Davenier
4.3
In four rows of two, Miss Lina's eight ballerinas--Christina, Edwina, Sabrina, Justina, Katrina, Bettina, Marina, and Nina--dance to the park, at the zoo, and even while doing their schoolwork. They are one perfect act, but when Miss Lina introduces Regina, a new girl, the group of nine's steps become a mess.
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39
Shiny Broken Pieces (Tiny Pretty Things, #2)
Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayto
4.3
June, Bette, and Gigi have given their all to dance at Manhattan’s most elite ballet school. Now they are competing one final time for a spot at the prestigious American Ballet Company. With the stakes higher than ever, these girls have everything to lose… and no one is playing nice.
June is starting to finally see herself as a prima ballerina. However, getting what she wants might cost her everything—including the only boy she’s ever loved. Legacy dancer Bette is determined to clear her name after she was suspended and accused of hurting her rival, Gigi. Even if she returns, though, will she ever regain the spotlight she craves? And Gigi is not going to let Bette—or the other dancers who bullied her—go unpunished. But as revenge consumes her, Gigi may be the one who pays the price.
After years of grueling auditions, torn ribbons, and broken hearts, it all comes down to this last dance. Who will make the cut? And who will lose her dream forever?
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40
Nureyev: The Life
Julie Kavanagh
4.2
Rudolf Nureyev had it all: beauty, genius, charm, passion, and sex appeal. No other dancer of our time has generated the same excitement, for both men and women, on or off the stage. With Nureyev: The Life, Julie Kavanagh shows how his intense drive and passion for dance propelled him from a poor, Tatar-peasant background to the most sophisticated circles of London, Paris, and New York. His dramatic defection to the West in l961 created a Cold War crisis and made him an instant celebrity, but this was just the beginning. Nureyev spent the rest of his life breaking barriers: reinventing male technique, “crashing the gates” of modern dance, iconoclastically updating the most hallowed classics, and making dance history by partnering England’ s prima ballerina assoluta, Margot Fonteyn--a woman twice his age. He danced for almost all the major choreographers--Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Kenneth MacMillan, Jerome Robbins, Maurice Béjart, Roland Petit--his main motive, he claimed, for having left the Kirov. But Nureyev also made it his mission to stage Russia’s full-length masterpieces in the West. His highly personal productions of Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Raymonda, Romeo and Juliet, and La Bayadère are the mainstays of the Paris Opéra Ballet repertory to this day. An inspirational director and teacher, Nureyev was a Diaghilev-like mentor to young protégés across the globe--from Karen Kain and Monica Mason (now directors themselves), to Sylvie Guillem, Elisabeth Platel, Laurent Hilaire and Kenneth Greve.
Sex, as much as dance, was a driving force for Nureyev. From his first secret liaison in Russia to his tempestuous relationship with the great Danish dancer Erik Bruhn, we see not only Nureyev’s notorious homosexual history unfold, but also learn of his profound effect on women--whether a Sixties wild child or Jackie Kennedy and Lee Radziwill or the aging Marlene Dietrich. Among the first victims of AIDS, Nureyev was diagnosed HIV positive in 1984 but defied the disease for nearly a decade, dancing, directing the Paris Opéra Ballet, choreographing, and even beginning a new career as a conductor. Still making plans for the future, Nureyev finally succumbed and died in January 1993.
Drawing on previously undisclosed letters, diaries, home-movie footage, interviews with Nureyev’s inner circle, and her own dance background, Julie Kavanagh gives the most intimate, revealing, and dramatic picture we have ever had of this dazzling, complex figure.
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41
Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina
Misty Copeland
4.2
Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here
Determination meets dance in this memoir by the history-making ballerina.
In this instant New York Times bestseller, Misty Copeland makes history, telling the story of her journey to become the first African-American principal ballerina at the prestigious American Ballet Theatre. But when she first placed her hands on the barre at an after-school community center, no one expected the undersized, underprivileged, and anxious thirteen-year-old to become one of America’s most groundbreaking dancers . A true prodigy, she was attempting in months roles that take most dancers years to master. But when Misty became caught between the control and comfort she found in the world of ballet and the harsh realities of her own life, she had to choose to embrace both her identity and her dreams, and find the courage to be one of a kind.
With an insider’s passion, Misty opens a window into the life of an artist who lives life center stage, from behind the scenes at her first classes to her triumphant roles in some of the world’s most iconic ballets. A sensational memoir as “sensitive” and “clear-eyed” (The Washington Post) as her dancing, Life in Motion is a story of passion, identity and grace for anyone who has dared to dream of a different life.
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42
Ballet Cat: The Totally Secret Secret (Ballet Cat, #1)
Bob Shea
4.2
Ballet Cat and Sparkles the Pony are trying to decide what to play today. Nothing that Sparkles suggests--making crafts, playing checkers, and selling lemonade--goes well with the leaping, spinning, and twirling that Ballet Cat likes to do. When Sparkles's leaps, spins, and twirls seem halfhearted, Ballet Cat asks him what's wrong. Sparkles doesn't want to say. He has a secret that Ballet Cat won't want to hear. What Sparkles doesn't know is that Ballet Cat has a secret of her own, a totally secret secret. Once their secrets are shared, will their friendship end, or be stronger than ever?
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43
A Dream of Sadler's Wells
Lorna Hill, Kathleen Whapham
4.2
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44
Flash Crash: A Trading Savant, a Global Manhunt, and the Most Mysterious Market Crash in History
Liam Vaughan
4.2
For fans of The Big Short, the story of a trading prodigy who amassed $70 million from his childhood bedroom-until the US government accused him of helping trigger an unprecedented market collapse
On May 6, 2010, financial markets around the world tumbled simultaneously and without warning. In the span of five minutes, a trillion dollars of valuation was lost. The Flash Crash, as it became known, represented the fastest drop in market history. When share values rebounded less than half an hour later, experts around the globe were left perplexed. What had they just witnessed?
Navinder Singh Sarao hardly seemed like a man who would shake the world's financial markets to their core. Raised in a working-class neighborhood in West London, Nav was a preternaturally gifted trader who played the markets like a computer game. By the age of thirty, he had left behind London's "trading arcades," working instead out of his childhood home. For years the money poured in. But when lightning-fast electronic traders infiltrated markets and started eating into his profits, Nav built a system of his own to fight back. It worked-until 2015, when the FBI arrived at his door. Depending on whom you ask, Sarao was a scourge, a symbol of a financial system run horribly amok, or a folk hero-an outsider who took on the tyranny of Wall Street and the high-frequency traders.
A real-life financial thriller, Flash Crash uncovers the remarkable, behind-the-scenes narrative of a mystifying market crash, a globe-spanning investigation into international fraud, and the man at the center of them both.
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45
Ballerina
Edward Stewart
4.2
This exciting tale of friendship, dance, rivalry and love centers on Christine and Stephanie, two young women who share the dream of a career in the ballet. A richly authentic story that offers an inside look at the harsh realities of the romantic art of ballet.
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46
A Girl Named Misty: The True Story of Misty Copeland (American Girl: A Girl Named)
Kelly Starling Lyons and Melissa Manwill
4.2
The A Girl Named series tells the stories of how ordinary American girls grew up to be extraordinary American women. Misty Copeland became the first African American Female Principal Dancer for the American Ballet Theatre, but how did she get there? A Girl Named Misty describes the defining moments that made up her childhood and adolescence with full-color illustrations throughout. In addition to stories and facts about Misty's upbringing and accomplishments, the book includes a timeline and a glossary, plus a profile of a noteworthy and contemporary American girl following in Misty's graceful footsteps to lead the way for African American women in the arts.
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47
Emma and Julia Love Ballet
Barbara McClintock
4.2
Emma is little. Julia is big. They both love ballet.
Emma takes ballet lessons. So does Julia. Emma is learning to be a ballerina. Julia is a professional ballerina.
They are both excited about the big performance in the theater tonight. Emma will be watching from the audience. Julia will be dancing onstage! And afterward, Emma will go backstage to meet her ballet hero!
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48
Once a Dancer: An Autobiography
Allegra Kent
4.2
Allegra Kent joined the New York City Ballet at the age of fifteen and, only two years later, inspired Balanchine's unforgettable The Unanswered Question. Beautiful, sensuous, and mysterious, she quickly became an essential Balanchine dancer-and the story of her personal life is as dramatic as they story of her rise to fame. Her account of a bizarre childhood, a magnificent if curious dance career, a charged, complicated domestic life with photographer Bert Stern, and a never-ending struggle with emotional, physical, and financial pressures is fascinating-as are her portraits of the other great dance figures who punctuated her life, from Balanchine to Baryshnikov.
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49
Girl Through Glass
Sari Wilson
4.2
An enthralling literary debut that tells the story of a young girl’s coming of age in the cutthroat world of New York City ballet—a story of obsession and the quest for perfection, trust and betrayal, beauty and lost innocence.
In the roiling summer of 1977, eleven-year-old Mira is an aspiring ballerina in the romantic, highly competitive world of New York City ballet. Enduring the mess of her parent’s divorce, she finds escape in dance—the rigorous hours of practice, the exquisite beauty, the precision of movement, the obsessive perfectionism. Ballet offers her control, power, and the promise of glory. It also introduces her to forty-seven-year-old Maurice DuPont, a reclusive, charismatic balletomane who becomes her mentor.
Over the course of three years, Mira is accepted into the prestigious School of American Ballet run by the legendary George Balanchine, and eventually becomes one of “Mr. B’s girls”—a dancer of rare talent chosen for greatness. As she ascends higher in the ballet world, her relationship with Maurice intensifies, touching dark places within herself and sparking unexpected desires that will upend both their lives.
In the present day, Kate, a professor of dance at a Midwestern college, embarks on a risky affair with a student that threatens to obliterate her career and capsizes the new life she has painstakingly created for her reinvented self. When she receives a letter from a man she’s long thought dead, Kate is hurled back into the dramas of a past she thought she had left behind.
Told in interweaving narratives that move between past and present, Girl Through Glass illuminates the costs of ambition, secrets, and the desire for beauty, and reveals how the sacrifices we make for an ideal can destroy—or save—us.
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50
Up to This Pointe
Jennifer Longo
4.2
She had a plan. It went south.
Harper is a dancer. She and her best friend, Kate, have one goal: becoming professional ballerinas. And Harper won’t let anything—or anyone—get in the way of The Plan, not even the boy she and Kate are both drawn to.
Harper is a Scott. She’s related to Robert Falcon Scott, the explorer who died racing to the South Pole. So when Harper’s life takes an unexpected turn, she finagles (read: lies) her way to the icy dark of McMurdo Station . . . in Antarctica. Extreme, but somehow fitting—apparently she has always been in the dark, dancing on ice this whole time. And no one warned her. Not her family, not her best friend, not even the boy who has somehow found a way into her heart.
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51
Girl in Motion
Miriam Wenger-Landis
4.2
At the School of Ballet New York, the most prestigious ballet school in the country, aspiring ballerina Anna becomes friends with her talented roommate, Hilary, a French exchange student, Marie, a down-to-earth mid-westerner, Jen, and one of the cutest guys in school, Tyler. The competition is intense and Anna works hard to understand her famous teachers and navigate her ups and downs with her friends.
Some of the dancers struggle with eating disorders, injuries, and depression. Everyone's goal is a contract with a professional ballet company, and as graduation nears, the pressure intensifies. Although Anna goes to all the ballet companies' annual auditions, she receives not a single offer.
Falling for Tyler complicates things, but with the lead in the annual workshop performance, Anna gets one last chance to make her dreams come true.
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52
The Ballet Book: The Young Performer's Guide to Classical Dance
Deborah Bowes, Karen Kain, et al.
4.2
"This comprehensive guide... helps youngsters who love ballet to understand the hard work and commitment involved in classical dance training." -- School Library Journal (of the first edition)
"A detailed, practical guide for serious ballet students... To balance collections heavy on colorful ballet books for browsers with stars in their eyes, here's a guide for ballet students who are ready to get down to work." -- Booklist (of the first edition)
Prepared in conjunction with Canada's National Ballet School, The Ballet Book is the definitive instructional resource for children who are beginning to explore the possibilities and delights of ballet.
The Ballet Book is an inspirational motivator, an exceptional teaching aid, and an ideal companion for students. Now it has all-new photographs in color and a text more suited to contemporary young dancers.
The book illustrates in meticulous detail -- and through more than 100 photographs -- every position, step and pose involved in barre work, pointe work, alignment, classical ballet poses, attitudes, allegros, batteries, pirouettes and arabesques. Age-appropriate and comprehensive, it is a motivational guide, with information on deciding to dance; finding a teacher; musical accompaniment; finding the ideal studio; what to wear and grooming; positions, steps and poses; and exercises and nutrition. Historical highlights and modern opportunities complete this comprehensive book.
The Ballet Book is a strong guide for both boys and girls.
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53
Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet
Jane O'Connor, Robin Preiss Glasser
4.2
Fancy Nancy is ready for the spotlight! Fancy Nancy and her best friend, Bree, couldn't be more excited about their upcoming dance show. After all, it's all about mermaids, and who knows how to be a fancy, glamorous mermaid better than Fancy Nancy herself?
But when another ballerina wins the coveted role of the mermaid, Nancy is stuck playing a dreary, dull tree. Can Nancy bring fancy flair to her role, even though it isn't the one she wanted? And when disaster strikes right before the big ballet, who will step into the spotlight?
Perfect for fans of the Eloise and Olivia books.
Ooh la la! Fancy Nancy is starring in her own fabulous TV show on Disney Junior. READ THE BOOKS THAT STARTED IT ALL!
Fancy Nancy
Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy
Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly
Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas
Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique
Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet
Fancy Nancy: Fanciest Doll in the Universe
Fancy Nancy and the Wedding of the Century
Fancy Nancy 10th Anniversary Edition
Fancy Nancy: Saturday Night Sleepover
Fancy Nancy: Oodles of Kittens
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54
A Body of Work: Dancing to the Edge and Back
David Hallberg
4.2
David Hallberg, the first American to join the famed Bolshoi Ballet as a principal dancer and the dazzling artist The New Yorker described as “the most exciting male dancer in the western world,” presents a look at his artistic life—up to the moment he returns to the stage after a devastating injury that almost cost him his career.
Beginning with his real-life Billy Elliot childhood—an all-American story marred by intense bullying—and culminating in his hard-won comeback, Hallberg’s “moving and intelligent” (Daniel Mendelsohn) memoir dives deep into life as an artist as he wrestles with ego, pushes the limits of his body, and searches for ecstatic perfection and fulfillment as one of the world’s most acclaimed ballet dancers.
Rich in detail ballet fans will adore, Hallberg presents an “unsparing…inside look” (The New York Times) and also reflects on universal and relatable themes like inspiration, self-doubt, and perfectionism as he takes you into daily classes, rigorous rehearsals, and triumphant performances, searching for new interpretations of ballet’s greatest roles. He reveals the loneliness he felt as a teenager leaving America to join the Paris Opera Ballet School, the ambition he had to tame as a new member of American Ballet Theatre, and the reasons behind his headline-grabbing decision to be the first American to join the top rank of Bolshoi Ballet, tendered by the Artistic Director who would later be the victim of a vicious acid attack. Then, as Hallberg performed throughout the world at the peak of his abilities, he suffered a crippling ankle injury and botched surgery leading to an agonizing retreat from ballet and an honest reexamination of his entire life.
Combining his powers of observation and memory with emotional honesty and artistic insight, Hallberg has written a great ballet memoir and an intimate portrait of an artist in all his vulnerability, passion, and wisdom. “Candid and engrossing” (The Washington Post), A Body of Work is a memoir “for everyone with a heart” (DC Metro Theater Arts).
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NYC Ballet Workout
Peter Martins
4.1
New York City Ballet Workout is a revolutionary fitness program that will help you begin to develop lean abs, firm buttocks, a contoured waist, sculpted legs, slim thighs, strong arms, perfect posture, flexbility you never thought possible--and grace and poice of a dancer. More than three hundred stunning step-by-step and other photographs throughout make this the most beautiful and easy-to-use exercise book ever created.This elegant book is unlike any exercise book ever published. Graced with more than 300 instructional exercise photographs and extraordinary duotone portraits of New York City Ballet dancers, The New York City Ballet Workout explores the company's philosophy of balancing art, life, and fitness.By combining elements of New York City Ballet's balletic regimen with practical strength-building exercises, The New York City Ballet Workout can help people achieve a strong, graceful, and flexible body--one that displays the impeccable poise that is the trademark of New York City Ballet dancers.
Many exercises of The New York City Ballet Workout were once confined to the world's elite rehearsal studios. Now, as refined by Peter Martins and his company, these exercises have been designed as a comprehensive, holistic approach to the body that can be used by anyone from the out-of-shape to the serious athlete, to attain a lean, hard, beautiful body. From flexibility to endurance, this is a complete exercise program for men and women.
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56
Second Position (District Ballet Company #1)
Katherine Lock
4.1
Four years ago, a car accident ended Zedekiah Harrow’s ballet career and sent Philadelphia Ballet principal dancer Alyona Miller spinning toward the breakdown that suspended her own. What they lost on the side of the road that day can never be replaced, and grief is always harshest under a spotlight...
Now twenty-three, Zed teaches music and theatre at a private school in Washington, D.C. and regularly attends AA meetings to keep the pain at bay. Aly has returned to D.C. to live with her mother while trying to recover from the mental and physical breakdown that forced her to take a leave of absence from the ballet world, and her adoring fans.
When Zed and Aly run into each other in a coffee shop, it’s as if no time has passed at all. But without the buffer and escape of dance—and with so much lust, anger and heartbreak hanging between them—their renewed connection will either allow them to build the together they never had... or destroy the fragile recoveries they've only started to make.
Book One of the District Ballet Company
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57
Drina's Dancing Year
Jean Estoril
4.1
Drina and her new friend Rose successfully audition for the Dominick School in London, and thus begin their first year of proper ballet training.
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58
The Pointe Book: Shoes, Training & Technique
Janice Barringer, Sarah Schlesinger, David Howard
4.1
The Pointe Book is the only book to include an extensive explanation of pointe shoe fitting, preparing, and maintenance. Interviews with dancers Larissa Ponomarenko, Paloma Herrera, and Marisa Soltis reveal different personal and highly evolved methods of breaking in and taking care of pointe shoes. One will find, as well, a complete discussion of the foot's anatomy, of the pointe shoe itself, pointe-related injuries and their remedies, and an historical review of the pointe shoe. The Pointe Book, Revised Edition lays out the basics of teaching pointe, comparing proven teaching methods. All levels of pointe technique classes are sampled from schools around the US to create an authoritative syllabus for teachers and students alike.
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59
Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins
Michelle Meadows, Ebony Glenn
4.1
A lyrical picture book biography of Janet Collins, the first African American principal dancer at the Metropolitan Opera House.
Janet Collins wanted to be a ballerina in the 1930s and 40s, a time when racial segregation was widespread in the United States. Janet pursued dance with a passion, despite being rejected from discriminatory dance schools. When she was accepted into the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as a teenager on the condition that she paint her skin white for performances, Janet refused. She continued to go after her dreams, never compromising her values along the way. From her early childhood lessons to the height of her success as the first African American prima ballerina in the Metropolitan Opera, Brave Ballerina is the story of a remarkable pioneer as told by Michelle Meadows, with fantastic illustrations from Ebony Glenn.
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60
Brontorina
James Howe, Randy Cecil
4.1
From the sure-footed duo of James Howe and Randy Cecil comes a hugely endearing new character in a humorous, heart-warming tale about holding on to your dreams. Brontorina has a dream. She wants to dance. But Brontorina is rather large too large to fit in Madame Lucille s dance studio. Brontorina does not have the right shoes, and everyone knows you can t dance without the proper footwear. Still, Brontorina knows, deep in her heart, that she is meant to be a ballerina. James Howe introduces a lovable dinosaur whose size is outmatched only by her determination, and whose talent is outmatched only by her charm. Accompanied by Randy Cecil s beguiling illustrations, here is an irresistible story that proves that no problem is too big when the heart and imagination know no bounds."
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61
Dancing Shoes
Noel Streatfeild
4.1
Wintle's Little Wonders When Cora Wintle goes to pick up her orphaned niece, Rachel, she discovers that Rachel's adopted sister, Hilary, would be perfect for her dancing troupe. The only problem is that Hilary might be as good as her own precious daughter, Dulcie. Still, she's determined to take sulky Rachel and sprightly Hilary and make them into Little Wonders. But Rachel doesn't want to be a Little Wonder. She can't dance, and she'd rather die than wear the ruffly costume. Not only that, she doesn't want Hilary to be a Little Wonder either. She had promised her mother that she would make sure Hilary danced with the Royal Ballet. Nothing seems to be going as planned, until Rachel discovers her talent for acting. . . .
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62
The Rite of Spring in Full Score
Igor Stravinsky
4.1
Jean Cocteau labeled this revolutionary work "a pastorale of the prehistoric world" at its premiere in Paris in 1913, when interest in primitivism was at its zenith among the avant-garde. These "Scenes of Pagan Russia" did indeed inspire primitive reactions among their opening night audience, who were so vociferous in their protests that the dancers could scarcely hear the music. Yet this powerful work, with its novel rhythms and hitherto unheard-of chordal combinations and orchestral effects would change forever the elements of musical language and exert an enormous influence on three generations of composers. Once a scandal, it is now perhaps the most famous orchestral work of the twentieth century. It is reprinted here from the full-score Russian edition published in 1965. Like Stravinsky's scores for The Firebird and Petrushka, The Rite of Spring was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes. Choreographed by Nijinsky, it is still a favorite of ballet audiences, and the score is one of the most performed and recorded modern works in the orchestral repertoire. Now music lovers can enjoy every note of this brilliant and stirring landmark of twentieth-century music, faithfully reproduced in this inexpensive, high-quality edition — ideal for study and for following both live and recorded performances.
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63
I, Maya Plisetskaya
Maya Plisetskaya
4.1
Maya Plisetskaya, one of the world’s foremost dancers, rose to become a prima ballerina of Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet after an early life filled with tragedy and loss. In this spirited memoir, Plisetskaya reflects on her personal and professional odyssey, presenting a unique view of the life of a Soviet artist during the troubled period from the late 1930s to the 1990s.
Plisetskaya recounts the execution of her father in the Great Terror and her mother’s exile to the Gulag. She describes her admission to the Bolshoi in 1943, the roles she performed there, and the endless petty harassments she endured, from both envious colleagues and Party officials. Refused permission for six years to tour with the company, Plisetskaya eventually performed all over the world, working with such noted choreographers as Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart. She recounts the tumultuous events she lived through and the fascinating people she met—among them the legendary ballet teacher Agrippina Vaganova, George Balanchine, Frank Sinatra, Rudolf Nureyev, and Dmitri Shostakovich. And she provides fascinating details about testy cocktail-party encounters with Khrushchev, tours abroad when her meager per diem allowance brought her close to starvation, and KGB plots to capitalize on her friendship with Robert Kennedy. Gifted, courageous, and brutally honest, Plisetskaya brilliantly illuminates the world of Soviet ballet during an era that encompasses both repression and cultural détente.
Still prima ballerina assoluta with the Bolshoi Ballet, Maya Plisetskaya also travels around the world performing and lecturing. At the Bolshoi’s gala celebrating her 75th birthday, President Vladimir Putin presented her with Russia’s highest civilian honor, the medal for service to the Russian state, second degree. Tim Scholl is professor of Russian language and literature at Oberlin College. Antonina W. Bouis is the prize-winning translator of more than fifty books, including fiction, nonfiction, and memoirs by such figures as Andrei Sakharov, Elena Bonner, and Dmitri Shostakovich.
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64
Hope in a Ballet Shoe: Orphaned by war, saved by ballet: an extraordinary true story
Michaela Deprince
4.1
Orphaned by war, saved by ballet.
Growing up in war-torn Sierra Leone, Michaela DePrince witnesses atrocities that no child ever should. Her father is killed by rebels and her mother dies of famine. Sent to an orphanage, Michaela is mistreated and she sees the brutal murder of her favourite teacher.
But there is hope: the Harmattan wind blows a magazine through the orphanage gates. Michaela picks it up and sees a beautiful image of a young woman dancing. One day, she thinks, I want to be this happy.
And then Michaela and her best friend are adopted by an American couple and Michaela can take the dance lessons she's dreamed of since finding her picture.
Life in the States isn't without difficulties. Unfortunately, tragedy can find its way to Michaela in America, too, and her past can feel like it's haunting her. The world of ballet is a racist one, and Michaela has to fight for a place amongst the ballet elite, hearing the words "America's not ready for a black girl ballerina".
And yet...
Today, Michaela is an international ballet star, dancing for The Dutch National Ballet at the age of 19.
A heart-breaking, inspiring autobiography by a teenager who shows us that, beyond everything, there is always hope for a better future.
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65
Ballerina: Sex, Scandal, and Suffering Behind the Symbol of Perfection
Deirdre Kelly
4.1
Throughout her history, the ballerina has been perceived as the embodiment of beauty and perfection-- the feminine ideal. But the reality is another story. From the earliest ballerinas in the 17th century, who often led double lives as concubines, through the poverty of the corps de ballet dancers in the 1800's and the anorexic and bulimic ballerinas of George Balanchine, starvation and exploitation have plagued ballerinas throughout history.
Using the stories of great dancers such as Anna Pavlova, Isadora Duncan, Suzanne Farrell, Gelsey Kirkland, and Evelyn Hart, Deirdre Kelly exposes the true rigors for women in ballet. She rounds her critique with examples of how the world of ballet is slowly evolving for the better. But to ensure that this most graceful of dance forms survives into the future, she says that the time has come to rethink ballet, to position the ballerina at its center and accord her the respect she deserves.
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66
Ballet for Drina
Jean Estoril
4.1
Ten-year-old Drina becomes obsessed with ballet and wonders why her grandmother is so disapproving.
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67
Zombelina
Kristyn Crow, Molly Idle
4.1
Zombelina loves to dance. She moonwalks with mummies and boogies with bats. She spins like a specter and glides like a ghost and loves to dance for her family the most. When Zombelina enrolls in a ballet class for real girls, her dancing gives everyone the chills! But when her first recital brings on a case of stage fright, her zombie moans and ghoulish groans scare her audience away. Only her devoted family's cheers, in their special spooky way, help Zombelina dance the ballet debut of her dreams.
Introducing the most adorable zombie to ever grace the dance floor, Kristyn Crow's pitch-perfect rhyme and Molly Idle's charmingly spook-tacular illustrations will make every reader want to sway and sashay in their own zombie trance.
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68
Fancy Nancy: Budding Ballerina
Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser
4.1
What starts out as dancing school just for Dad quickly turns into a ballet class for Nancy's whole family. Fans of Fancy Nancy will delight in learning to plie, pirouette, and jete with Nancy as she demonstrates all of the positions she's learned in ballet class.
From the New York Times bestselling team Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser, who have entertained millions of girls and boys with the Fancy Nancy series.
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69
First Position
Melissa Brayden
4.1
Anastasia Mikhelson is the rising star of the New York City Ballet. She’s sacrificed creature comforts, a social life, as well as her own physical well-being for perfection in dance. Even her reputation as The Ice Queen doesn’t faze her. Though Ana’s at the peak of her career, competition from a new and noteworthy dancer puts all she’s worked for in jeopardy.
While Natalie Frederico has shown herself to be a prodigy when it comes to ballet, she much prefers modern dance and living on her own terms. Life is too short for anything else. However, when the opportunity to dance with the New York City Ballet is thrust upon her, it’s not like she could say no. Dealing with the company’s uptight lead is another story, however. When the two are forced to work side-by-side, sparks begin to fly onstage and off.
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70
Inside Ballet Technique: Separating Anatomical Fact from Fiction in the Ballet Class
Valerie Grieg, Naomi Rosenblatt
4.1
A Dance Book Club main selection, this guide offers a general explanation of anatomy, kinesiology, and technique for ballet dancers, students, and teachers.
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71
Ella Bella Ballerina and Cinderella
James Mayhew
4.1
Ella Bella loves her ballet class, which is conducted by the kindly Madame Rosa at an old theatre that seems touched by magic. One day, when Ella loses one of her slippers, Madame Rosa lends her another pair for dancing--and is then reminded of Cinderella and her story of the lost slipper. Madame Rosa recounts the tale to her students, and Ella Bella listens with heightened interest. When their day's lesson has ended Ella lingers at the theatre, then opens Madame Rosa's music box and listens as it plays melodies from the Cinderella ballet. Suddenly, Cinderella's fairy godmother magically appears, and Ella Bella is transported into the beloved story of Cinderella. This delightful book's final page describes the ballet Cinderella, with music by the great Russian composer, Sergei Prokofiev.
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72
The Nutcracker
Susan Jeffers
4.1
New York Times bestselling artist Susan Jeffers has created a Nutcracker unlike any that has gone before, with a lovely spare text based on the ballet.
This is the perfect gift to share with children before they see The Nutcracker. Everyone who has seen the ballet will cherish it--as will anyone who enjoys stories where love triumphs.
Come, take a front-row seat. The world's most beloved holiday fairy tale is about to begin.
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73
Tallulah's Tutu
Marilyn Singer
4.1
Tallulah just knew she could be a great ballerina, if only she had a tutu. So she starts ballet class. When she does not receive a tutu, she quits. But everywhere she goes, things keep reminding her of ballet. Her neighbor’s basset hound always stands in second position. The kitchen clock performs perfect ronds de jambe. And Tallulah can’t seem to stop doing ballet, either. A park bench makes a perfect barre, and what better way to pet the dog than with a graceful plié? This well-told, funny story with a smart new character will satisfy girls’ cravings for pretty and pink, but also shows that ballet is about more than just the tutu.
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74
Ellie's Chance to Dance (Royal Ballet School Diaries, #1)
Alexandra Moss
4.1
Ten-year-old Ellie Brown is an American girl living in London. For Ellie, ballet isn't just a dream, it's become a way of life. She's danced for almost as long as she can remember and started ballet lessons when she was four. Now Ellie is presented with the opportunity of a lifetime-a chance to audition for a spot to dance with the Royal Ballet. But Ellie knows that even if she won a place, it would mean moving to London and leaving her ill-stricken mother behind with no one to care for her. When the day of the audition finally arrives, Ellie must decide between pursuing her dreams or sacrificing her goals of joining the Royal Ballet to be with her mother. What will Ellie do?
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75
I Was a Dancer
Jacques D'Amboise
4.1
“Who am I? I’m a man; an American, a father, a teacher, but most of all, I am a person who knows how the arts can change lives, because they transformed mine. I was a dancer.”
In this rich, expansive, spirited memoir, Jacques d’Amboise, one of America’s most celebrated classical dancers, and former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet for more than three decades, tells the extraordinary story of his life in dance, and of America’s most renowned and admired dance companies.
He writes of his classical studies beginning at the age of eight at The School of American Ballet. At twelve he was asked to perform with Ballet Society; three years later he joined the New York City Ballet and made his European debut at London’s Covent Garden.
As George Balanchine’s protégé, d’Amboise had more works choreographed on him by “the supreme Ballet Master” than any other dancer, among them Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux;Episodes; A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream; Jewels;Raymonda Variations.
He writes of his boyhood—born Joseph Ahearn—in Dedham, Massachusetts; his mother (“the Boss”) moving the family to New York City’s Washington Heights; dragging her son and daughter to ballet class (paying the teacher $7.50 from hats she made and sold on street corners, and with chickens she cooked stuffed with chestnuts); his mother changing the family name from Ahearn to her maiden name, d’Amboise (“It’s aristocratic. It has the ‘d’ apostrophe. It sounds better for the ballet, and it’s a better name”).
We see him. a neighborhood tough, in Catholic schools being taught by the nuns; on the streets, fighting with neighborhood gangs, and taking ten classes a week at the School of American Ballet . . . being taught professional class by Balanchine (he was “small, unassuming, he radiated energy and total command”) and by other teachers of great legend: Anatole Oboukhoff, premier danseur of the Maryinsky Theatre (“Such a big star,” said Balanchine, “people followed him, like a prince with servants”); and Pierre Vladimiroff, Pavlova’s partner (“So light on feather feet”). Vladimiroff drilled into his students, “You must practice, practice, practice. Onstage, forget everything! Just listen to the music and dance.”
D’Amboise writes about Balanchine’s succession of ballerina muses who inspired him to near-obsessive passion and led him to create extraordinary ballets, dancers with whom d’Amboise partnered—Maria Tallchief; Tanaquil LeClercq, a stick-skinny teenager who blossomed into an exquisite, witty, sophisticated “angel” with her “long limbs and dramatic, mysterious elegance . . .”; the iridescent Allegra Kent; Melissa Hayden; Suzanne Farrell, who Balanchine called his “alabaster princess,” her every fiber, every movement imbued with passion and energy; Kay Mazzo; Kyra Nichols (“She’s perfect,” Balanchine said. “Uncomplicated—like fresh water”); and Karin von Aroldingen, to whom Balanchine left most of his ballets.
D’Amboise writes about dancing with and courting one of the company’s members, who became his wife for fifty-three years, and the four children they had . . . On going to Hollywood to make Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and being offered a long-term contract at MGM (“If you’re not careful,” Balanchine warned, “you will have sold your soul for seven years”) . . . On Jerome Robbins (“Jerry could be charming and complimentary, and then, five minutes later, attack, and crush your spirit—all to see how it would influence the dance movements”).
D’Amboise writes of the moment when he realizes his dancing career is over and he begins a new life and new dream teaching children all over the world about the arts through the magic of dance.
A riveting, magical book, as transformative as dancing itself.
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76
Complete Piano Concertos in Full Score
Ludwig van Beethoven
4.1
The five Beethoven piano concertos have long been staples of the pianist's repertoire and are perennial favorites of concert audiences. Here in one convenient volume are all five, reproduced directly from the authoritative Breitkopf and Härtel edition, including most of the composer's own cadenzas. These concertos reveal the steady development of Beethoven's mastery of pianistic and orchestral resources through his early and middle periods. The first two, No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15 (1795), and No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19 (before 1793), reflect the youthful exuberance of Beethoven's earlier style. No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37 (1800), is "one of the most successful embodiments of Beethoven's "C Minor mood'" (New Grove Dictionary) and No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58 (1805–1806), is considered a milestone in concerto development. No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 ("Emperor," 1809), clearly illustrates Beethoven's further innovations in concerto structure. Pianists, musicians, conductors, and students seeking to learn more about Beethoven's impact on musical history, and lovers of music in general, will appreciate having these concertos in one handy, inexpensive edition.
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77
Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring
Jan Greenberg, Sandra Jordan, Brian Floca
4.1
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.
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78
Off Balance (Ballet Theatre Chronicles, #1)
Terez Mertes Rose
4.1
Alice thinks she’s accepted the loss of her ballet career, injury having forced her to trade in pointe shoes onstage for spreadsheets upstairs. That is, until the day Alice's boss asks her to befriend Lana, a pretty new company member he’s got his eye on. Lana represents all Alice has lost, not just as a ballet dancer, but as a motherless daughter. It’s pain she’s kept hidden, even from herself, as every good ballet dancer knows to do.
Lana, lonely and unmoored, desperately needs some help, and her mother, back home, vows eternal support. But when Lana begins to profit from Alice’s advice and help, her mother’s constant attention curdles into something more sinister.
Together, both women must embark on a journey of painful rediscoveries, not just about career opportunities won and lost, but the mothers they thought they knew.
OFF BALANCE takes the reader beyond the glitter of the stage to expose the sweat and struggle, amid the mandate to sustain the illusion at all cost.
From the Publisher
Advance Praise for OFF BALANCE
"Any readers who have ever grappled to find the courage to strengthen or to soften, to embrace a dream or to let go of one, will find themselves rooting for the two willful, yet wounded, protagonists in Terez Mertes Rose's edgy debut, OFF BALANCE. I loved this exquisitely written, fast-paced novel from the first page to the last." -- Sandra Kring, bestselling author of The Book of Bright Ideas
“The demands of the stage—or memories of it—bring two lifelong dancers into an unlikely friendship that helps them face their respective breaking points. Powerfully rendered, sensuously artistic and hauntingly beautiful, OFF BALANCE is on track to become one of my favorite reads of the year.” -- Tara Staley, author of Need to Breathe and Conditions are Favorable
"... A realistic and gripping account of the grittier side of ballet." -- Grier Cooper, author of Wish
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79
The Sugarless Plum: A Ballerina's Triumph over Diabetes
Zippora Karz
4.0
It started as the perfect story. Zippora Karz was a member of the famed New York City Ballet by the age of eighteen. By twenty she was starring as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, dancing roles created by Jerome Robbins, and traveling the world.
It was the stuff dreams are made of until, at age twenty-one, Karz became exhausted, dizzy and excessively thirsty. Heavy pancake makeup covered the sores under her arms that would not heal, but she neglected to go to the doctor. When she finally did, she was diagnosed with diabetes, and learned that if she continued to ignore her symptoms, she risked heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputation of her toes, feet and legs. She struggled to get the correct diagnosis and treatment, first thinking she had Type-2 diabetes, when in fact she had Type 1, juvenile diabetes. Once placed on an insulin regimen to regulate her blood sugar, she would inject herself with unsafe doses before going on stage in misguided attempts to obtain peak performance. The potentially fatal result of Karz's self-experimentation became all too real when she nearly lost consciousness. Her weight dropped and she became dangerously ill.
Balancing ballet and her blood sugar would be a long and difficult struggle for Karz, but eventually she learned to value her body and work with it, rather than rage at its limitations. In The Sugarless Plum, Karz shares her journey from denial, shame and miseducation about her illness to how she led an active, balanced and satisfying life as an insulin-dependent diabetic and soloist with one of the world's most famous ballet companies. Through her fascinating story, those struggling with diabetes and other serious illnesses can find encouragement and inspiration as well as practical advice on achieving physical and emotional wellness.
After sixteen years with the New York City Ballet, Karz retired and took her passion and skills into a whole new arena as a diabetes educator and advocate, where today she inspires people to not just manage their illness, but to thrive and fulfill their passions. The Sugarless Plum takes readers deep into the heart and soul of a young dancer, and is a remarkable testament to determination and perseverance.
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80
Marie, Dancing
Carolyn Meyer
4.0
Marie van Goethem, a fourteen-year-old ballet dancer in the famed Paris Opéra, has led a life of hardship and poverty. For her, dancing is the only joy to counter the pain inflicted by hunger, her mother's drinking, and her selfish older sister. But when famed artist Edgar Degas demands Marie's presence in his studio, it appears that her life will be transformed: He will pay her to pose for a new sculpture, and he promises to make her a star.
As Marie patiently stands before Mr. Degas each week, she dreams about supporting her family without being corrupted like most young dancers. She dreams about a life as a ballerina on the stage of the Opéra. And she dreams about being with her true love.
In this deeply moving, historically based account, Carolyn Meyer examines the life of the model for Edgar Degas's most famous sculpture, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.
Includes an author's note.
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81
Requiem in Full Score
Gabriel Fauré
4.0
Among the most widely performed choral works in the repertoire, the Fauré Requiem is generally considered the greatest achievement of its highly influential French composer. Written in memory of Fauré's father, the work was first performed at La Madeleine in 1888. Although it did not attain immediate popularity, the Requiem's clarity, balance, serenity, and ethereal beauty eventually won it many admirers. Critics have been especially impressed by the way in which the score conveys great emotional power with scrupulous economy of means. Today, Fauré's Requiem enjoys enormous popularity with concert-goers and lovers of sacred music all over the world. Now you can enjoy the complete masterpiece in this attractive, inexpensive volume, reprinted from an authoritative French edition. It offers musicians and all music lovers an opportunity to study and appreciate Fauré's uncommon mastery of the choral genre.
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82
Petals on the Wind (Dollanganger, #2)
V.C. Andrews
4.0
They were such brave children to withstand such suffering. Such clever children to escape such terror!
For Carrie, Chris and Cathy, the attic was a dark horror that would not leave their minds, even while they built bright, promising new lives. Of course mother had to pretend they didn't exist.
And Grandmother was convinced they had the devil in them.
But that wasn't their fault. Was it? Cathy knew what to do.
She now had the powers she had learned from her beautiful mother. She knew it in the way her brother still yearned for her, in the way her guardian touched her, in the way all men looked at her.
She knew it was time to put what she knew to the test. To show her mother and grandmother that the pain and terror of the attic could not be forgotten... Show them.
Show them—once and for all. --back cover
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83
I Wanna Be Where You Are
Kristina Forest
4.0
When Chloe Pierce’s mom forbids her to apply for a spot at the dance conservatory of her dreams, she devises a secret plan to drive two hundred miles to the nearest audition. But Chloe hits her first speed bump when her annoying neighbor Eli insists upon hitching a ride, threatening to tell Chloe’s mom if she leaves him and his smelly dog, Geezer, behind. So now Chloe’s chasing her ballet dreams down the east coast—two unwanted (but kinda cute) passengers in her car, butterflies in her stomach, and a really dope playlist on repeat.
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84
On Pointe
Lorie Ann Grover
4.0
Our feet slipinto satin shoes
with stiff shanks,
hard boxing,
tight elastic,
and slippery ribbons
that wrap and end
in hard knots.
The frayed edges
are crammed
out of sight.
We stand.
A row of bound feet
rises
to its toes.
For as long as she can remember, Clare and her family have had a dream: Someday Clare will be a dancer in City Ballet Company. For ten long years Clare has been taking ballet lessons, watching what she eats, giving up friends and a social life, and practicing until her feet bleed -- all for the sake of that dream. And now, with the audition for City Ballet Company right around the corner, the dream feels so close.
But what if the dream doesn't come true? The competition for the sixteen spots in the company is fierce, and many won't make it. Talent, dedication, body shape, size -- everything will influence the outcome. Clare's grandfather says she is already a great dancer, but does she really have what it takes to make it into the company? And if not, "then" what?
Told through passionate and affecting poems in Clare's own voice, "On Pointe" soars with emotion as it explores what it means to reach for a dream -- and the way that dreams can change as quickly and suddenly as do our lives.
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85
Drina Dances in Italy
Jean Estoril
4.0
Drina goes to Italy to meet her father's family. While there, she ends up dancing with the Dominick, along with Emilia from Chalk Green and Igor Jr.
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86
Tallulah's Nutcracker
Marilyn Singer, Alexandra Boiger
4.0
It’s Christmastime, and Tallulah finally gets what she’s been wishing for—a part in a real ballet, a professional production of The Nutcracker. She’s only a mouse, but she works as hard as if she had been cast as the Sugar Plum Fairy.
On the night of the show, everything is perfect. But then disaster strikes! Does Tallulah have what it takes to become a real ballerina?
A well-told story, gorgeous illustrations, and a beloved character conspire to make a positively magical Christmas book.
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87
Reasonable Doubt: Volume 1 (Reasonable Doubt, #1)
Steven Smit
4.0
My cock has an appetite.
A huge and very particular appetite: Blonde, curvy, and preferably not a fucking liar... (Although, that's a story for another day.)
As a high profile lawyer, I don't have time to waste on relationships, so I fulfill my needs by anonymously chatting and sleeping with women I meet online.
My rules are simple: One dinner. One night. No repeats.
This is only casual sex. Nothing more. Nothing less.
At least it was , until "Alyssa"...
She was supposed to be a 27 year old lawyer, a book hoarder, and completely unattractive. She was supposed to be someone I shared law advice with late at night, someone I could trust with details of my weekly escapades.
But then she came into my firm for an interview—a college-intern interview, and everything fucking changed...
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88
Isabelle's Perfect Performance (The Royal Ballet School Diaries, #3)
Alexandra Moss
4.0
Ellie Brown is so excited to be returning to The Royal Ballet Lower School for her second term. She can’t wait until classes start—she and her fellow classmates are finally learning to dance on pointe! But a new girl, Isabelle Armand, throws everyone off. Isabelle is from France and believes that the French way is the only way—when it comes to clothing, food…and especially ballet. Isabelle is a flawless dancer, but she’s terribly unfriendly. How can Ellie and her friends warm to Isabelle when she keeps giving everyone the cold shoulder?
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89
Maria Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina
Larry Kaplan, Maria Tallchief
4.0
The definitive autobiography in a new paperback edition! "Maria Tallchief and American ballet came of age in the same moment. . . . Her story will always be the story of ballet conquering America. It was and is an American romance."--The New Yorker "Tallchief's autobiography provides us with many stories, insights, even passing remarks that shed light on both this crucial moment in dance history and Balanchine's elusive personality. Tallchief has now given us her definitive and convincing account of Balanchine as choreographer, teacher, husband, friend."--New York Times Book Review
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90
Dancing for Degas
Kathryn Wagner
4.0
In the City of Lights, at the dawn of a new age, begins an unforgettable story of great love, great art—and the most painful choices of the heart.
With this fresh and vibrantly imagined portrait of the Impressionist artist Edgar Degas, readers are transported through the eyes of a young Parisian ballerina to an era of light and movement. An ambitious and enterprising farm girl, Alexandrie joins the prestigious Paris Opera ballet with hopes of securing not only her place in society but her family’s financial future. Her plan is soon derailed, however, when she falls in love with the enigmatic artist whose paintings of the offstage lives of the ballerinas scandalized society and revolutionized the art world. As Alexandrie is drawn deeper into Degas’s art and Paris’s secrets, will she risk everything for her dreams of love and of becoming the ballet’s star dancer?
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91
When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky: Two Artists, Their Ballet, and One Extraordinary Riot
Lauren Stringer
4.0
The Russian artists Igor Stravinsky and Vaslav Nijinsky were popular in their time: Stravinsky for music, Nijinsky for dance. When their radically new ballet, The Rite of Spring, was first performed in Paris on May 29, 1913, the reaction was so polarized, there were fistfights and riots! Brilliant or disastrous, the performance marked the birth of modern music and dance. Stringer’s rhythmic text and gloriously inventive, color-rich paintings capture the wild and imaginative collaboration of composer and choreographer. The fascinating author note includes photos of the dynamic duo and TheRite of Spring dancers.
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92
White Swan, Black Swan
Adrienne Sharp
4.0
“Adrienne Sharp writes with breathtaking perception about the needs and desires of the body, its resilience and its vulnerabilities. Art, passion, history intersect with burning immediacy in this beautifully crafted book.” –CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI Author of The Mistress of Spices
The world’s most famous choreographer becomes infatuated with a talented young dancer who proves both siren and muse . . . A rising star plunges into an affair with a principal but finds that the ecstasy on the stage cannot be matched in the bedroom . . . A dying legend reflects on the fading beauty of a life in motion, lost to everything but memory. In this beguiling collection, Adrienne Sharp captures the essence and passion of ballet and its fleeting world and translates them into unforgettable stories. White Swan, Black Swan heralds the arrival of a unerringly graceful new voice in American fiction.
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93
Breaking Pointe: A Ballet Novel
Miriam Wenger-Landis
4.0
"The people, the excitement, and the beauty of dancers were the story of my life...."
When eighteen-year-old dancer Anna Linado began her professional ballet career with the prestigious Los Angeles Ballet Theatre, she thought all of her dreams had come true. Company life offered glamorous colleagues, exhilarating performances, and the chance to become a prima ballerina.
Then she finds an older dancer's diary hidden in her theater case, and the contents unravel her preconceptions about life in the company.
Just as Anna reaches the cusp of stardom and the beginning of a promising love affair, the realities of the ballet world will change her life forever.
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94
Symphonies Nos. 5, 6 and 7 in Full Score
Ludwig van Beethoven
4.0
Beethoven's symphonies are among this greatest works — in the opinion of many, the greatest orchestral compositions in the history of music. Perfect in their fusion of emotion and form, filled with drama and great beauty, they are among the best-known and best-loved works in all classical music. This volume contains complete scores for Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67; Symphony No. 6 in F Major ("Pastoral"), Op. 68; Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. Meticulously reproduced from the authoritative Litolff edition, each score features large, clear noteheads and wide margins for ease of use in studying and following the music. Far less expensive than comparable full-score editions, this volume belongs in the library of any music lover who wishes to study the masterly innovation and creativity Beethoven brought to the symphonic form.
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95
Three Great Orchestral Works in Full Score: Prélude a l'après-midi d'un faune, Nocturnes, La Mer
Claude Debussy
4.0
"It may be in fact that I have taken on a task that is too much for me: there is no precedent, so I am obliged to invent new forms." — Claude Debussy. Unquestionably one of the most influential of modern composers, Claude Debussy (1862–1918) overturned traditional concepts of form, harmony, and coloring in creating a body of music characterized by innovation, individuality of style, and perfection of workmanship. Among his most popular, most performed, most recorded works are the three compositions reprinted in this volume: the revolutionary Prélude à l'aprés-midi d'une faune, which, in a sense, "awakened" modern music; the exquisite Nocturnes, shimmering models of delicate impressionism; and La Mer, complex, suggestive, a masterpiece of orchestral texture. This Dover volume presents the complete scores of all three works — reproduced from early French editions — in one convenient source. Musicians and music lovers will appreciate this inexpensive edition of a trio of orchestral favorites: pieces that mark not only key points in the composer's personal progress but also in the progress of modern music as well.
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96
Tallulah's Solo
Marilyn Singer, Alexandra Boiger
4.0
Tallulah is certain she will have a solo in her dance school’s upcoming performance of The Frog Prince. After all, she is now an excellent ballerina. And she’s proud that her little brother, Beckett, has started taking ballet too, even though he spends most of his time goofing off. But then Tallulah gets an unexpected surprise . . . and not the good kind. What’s a ballerina to do when everything does not go as planned? Ballet and sibling rivalry meet head-on in this fabulous follow-up to Tallulah’s Tutu.
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97
The Joffrey Ballet School's Ballet-Fit
Allison Kyle Leopold, Dena Simone Moss
4.0
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98
Raising the Barre: Big Dreams, False Starts, & My Midlife Quest to Dance The Nutcracker
Lauren Kessler
4.0
Like generations of little girls, Lauren Kessler fell in love with ballet the first time she saw The Nutcracker, and from that day, at age five, she dreamed of becoming a ballerina. But when she was twelve, her very famous ballet instructor crushed those dreams—along with her youthful self-assurance—and she stepped away from the barre.
Fast forward four decades. Lauren—suddenly, powerfully, itchingly restless at midlife—embarks on a “Transcontinental Nutcracker Binge Tour,” where attending a string of performances in Chicago, New York, Boston, and San Francisco reignites her love affair with the ballet—and fuels her girlhood dream.
What ensues is not only a story about The Nutcracker itself, but also an inside look at the seemingly romantic—but oh-so-gritty—world of ballet, about all that happens away from the audience's eye that precedes the magic on stage. It is a tale told from the perspective of someone who not only loves it, but is also seeking to live it. Lauren's quest to dance The Nutcracker with the Eugene Ballet Company tackles the big issues: fear, angst, risk, resilience, the refusal to “settle in” to midlife, the refusal to become yet another Invisible Woman. It is also a very funny, very real look at what it's like to push yourself further than you ever thought you could go—and what happens when you get there.
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99
Drina Dances Again
Jean Estoril
4.0
A sprained ankle at the start of term forces Drina to stop dancing for a month. However, this gives her the opportunity to play the role of Margaret in the play Dear Brutus for a short run in the West End.
Over summer, Drina and Rose are chosen to dance in The Nutcracker as 'Little Clara' with the Dominick Company at the Edinburgh Festival. Igor Dominick Snr. and Marianne Volanaise also finally discover Drina's secret, but they agree to keep the news private.
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100
Ballet Lesson (Peppa Pig)
Elizabeth Schaefer
4.0
Peppa Pig goes to her very first ballet lesson where she learns a graceful dance routine. But when Peppa decides to teach Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig how to dance, too, she finds out they might just have some dance moves of their own! Includes a poster of Peppa and friends!
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