Ballet 101

Presents a look at the world of dance; an analysis of ballet movement, music, and history; a close-up look at popular ballets; and a host of performance tips.

Like Opera 101, its successful predecessor, Ballet 101 takes an already popular yet sometimes intimidating subject and makes it accessible and understandable for everyone. Noted dance critic and teacher Robert Greskovic has written an entertaining, reader-friendly book that provides everything the novice needs to learn and to enjoy the ballet.

If you are thinking about taking ballet classes, have a child who is starting to dance, or want to know more about ballet, then HowExpert Guide to Ballet is for you. This book covers many things, such as: - How to find the best studio for you. - Elements to look for in classes from ages 3 to 18. - What to wear to class if you are a child or an adult dancer. - Things to bring to class in your dance bag. - How to make the perfect ballet bun. - Proper ballet etiquette. - How to behave in class, at the barre, and when dancing in the center of the room. - Warm-up exercises to do sitting and standing. - Basic feet and arm positions. - The five major methods of ballet instruction. - Advice and encouragement for adult beginners. - The history of pointe shoes. - How dancers soften or harden their pointe shoes from ripping them apart to baking them in the oven. - What dancers wear inside their pointe shoes to make them comfortable. - How to Identify "dead pointe shoes" and why they are dangerous. - The history of male dancers in ballet. - Information for parents whose sons want to take ballet classes. - What Men's Classes and Partnering Classes are. - Featuring expert advice, tips and tricks, and stories from the barre. About the Author Lauren Dillon is a multifaceted writer who has been dancing classical ballet for over two decades. She has worked as a dance instructor for children and enjoys sharing classical ballet with others. Born and raised in Florida, Lauren was inspired to take ballet classes by her mother, who took ballet classes as an adult. Lauren earned her Bachelor of Arts in Russian & Eastern European Studies from Florida State University (FSU). After moving across the country to California, Lauren earned her Master of Arts in Museum Studies from the University of San Francisco. When she wasn't visiting museums or working in a performing arts archive, she continued to dance at San Francisco Ballet and Alonzo King LINES Ballet. HowExpert publishes how to guides by everyday experts.

The great Russian choreographer Leonide Massine was the most important figure in modernist ballet in the 1930s, known for works such as Gaite Parisienne and The Three-Cornered Hat. His versatility and scope made his choreography the most representative of the century. Whatever period he portrayed, his style flowed freely and unselfconsciously. His character ballets dealt not with stereotypes but individuals, and his symphonic ballets proved how great music could be employed without demeaning it. Like his mentor Diaghilev, he strove to bring music, painting, and poetry to his ballets. Massine was responsible for the first resolutely abstract ballet and the first true fusions of ballet and modern dance. This work provides a biography of Massine and a detailed analysis of his major ballets, including those for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and American Ballet Theatre. The work integrates biographical study with an examination of Massine's works from an array of perspectives. By examining the music and composers, set design, and literary sources, it places the work in the larger context of the dance, opera, major visual art movements, literature and theater of the period. Analyses of ballets include synopses, scenery and costumes, music, choreography, critical survey and summary. The work concludes with an epilogue summarizing Massine's impact on the development of ballet in the twentieth century, and includes both informal and performance photographs.

If you are thinking about taking ballet classes, have a child who is starting to dance, or want to know more about ballet, then HowExpert Guide to Ballet is for you. This book covers many things, such as: - How to find the best studio for you. - Elements to look for in classes from ages 3 to 18. - What to wear to class if you are a child or an adult dancer. - Things to bring to class in your dance bag. - How to make the perfect ballet bun. - Proper ballet etiquette. - How to behave in class, at the barre, and when dancing in the center of the room. - Warm-up exercises to do sitting and standing. - Basic feet and arm positions. - The five major methods of ballet instruction. - Advice and encouragement for adult beginners. - The history of pointe shoes. - How dancers soften or harden their pointe shoes from ripping them apart to baking them in the oven. - What dancers wear inside their pointe shoes to make them comfortable. - How to Identify “dead pointe shoes” and why they are dangerous. - The history of male dancers in ballet. - Information for parents whose sons want to take ballet classes. - What Men’s Classes and Partnering Classes are. - Featuring expert advice, tips and tricks, and stories from the barre. About the Author Lauren Dillon is a multifaceted writer who has been dancing classical ballet for over two decades. She has worked as a dance instructor for children and enjoys sharing classical ballet with others. Born and raised in Florida, Lauren was inspired to take ballet classes by her mother, who took ballet classes as an adult. Lauren earned her Bachelor of Arts in Russian & Eastern European Studies from Florida State University (FSU). After moving across the country to California, Lauren earned her Master of Arts in Museum Studies from the University of San Francisco. When she wasn’t visiting museums or working in a performing arts archive, she continued to dance at San Francisco Ballet and Alonzo King LINES Ballet. HowExpert publishes how to guides by everyday experts.

In this “incredibly rich” (New York Times) definitive history of the Bolshoi Ballet, visionary performances onstage compete with political machinations backstage. A critical triumph, Simon Morrison’s “sweeping and authoritative” (Guardian) work, Bolshoi Confidential, details the Bolshoi Ballet’s magnificent history from its earliest tumults to recent scandals. On January 17, 2013, a hooded assailant hurled acid into the face of the artistic director, making international headlines. A lead soloist, enraged by institutional power struggles, later confessed to masterminding the crime. Morrison gives the shocking violence context, describing the ballet as a crucible of art and politics beginning with the disreputable inception of the theater in 1776, through the era of imperial rule, the chaos of revolution, the oppressive Soviet years, and the Bolshoi’s recent $680 million renovation. With vibrant detail including “sex scandals, double-suicide pacts, bribery, arson, executions, prostitution rings, embezzlement, starving orphans, [and] dead cats in lieu of flowers” (New Republic), Morrison makes clear that the history of the Bolshoi Ballet mirrors that of Russia itself.

An introduction to ballet: the history, styles, and famous dancers and choreographers.

Musicians who work professionally with ballet and dance companies sometimes wonder if they haven’t entered a foreign country—a place where the language and customs seem so utterly familiar and so bafflingly strange at the same. To someone without a dance background, phrases and terms--boy’s variation, pas d’action, apothéose—simply don’t fit their standard musical vocabulary. Even a familiar term like adagio means something quite different in the world of dance. Like any working professional, those conductors, composers, rehearsal pianists, instrumentalists and even music librarians working with professional ballet and dance companies must learn what dance professionals talk about when they talk about music. In Ballet Music: A Handbook Matthew Naughtin provides a practical guide for the professional musician who works with ballet companies, whether as a full-time staff member or as an independent contractor. In this comprehensive work, he addresses the daily routine of the modern ballet company, outlines the respective roles of the conductor, company pianist and music librarian and their necessary collaboration with choreographers and ballet masters, and examines the complete process of putting a dance performance on stage, from selection or existing music to commissioning original scores to staging the final production. Because ballet companies routinely revise the great ballets to fit the needs of their staff and stage, audience and orchestra, ballet repertoire is a tangled web for the uninitiated. At the core of Ballet Music: A Handbook lies an extensive listing of classic ballets in the standard repertoire, with information on their history, versions, revisions, instrumentation, score publishers and other sources for tracking down both the original music and subsequent musical additions and adaptations. Ballet Music: A Handbook is an invaluable resource for conductors, pianists and music librarians as well as any student, scholar or fan of the ballet interested in the complex machinery that works backstage before the curtain goes up.