Ballet And Then

A reckoning with one of our most beloved art forms, whose past and present are shaped by gender, racial, and class inequities—and a look inside the fight for its future Every day, in dance studios all across America, legions of little children line up at the barre to take ballet class. This time in the studio shapes their lives, instilling lessons about gender, power, bodies, and their place in the world both in and outside of dance. In Turning Pointe, journalist Chloe Angyal captures the intense love for ballet that so many dancers feel, while also grappling with its devastating shortcomings: the power imbalance of an art form performed mostly by women, but dominated by men; the impossible standards of beauty and thinness; and the racism that keeps so many people of color out of ballet. As the rigid traditions of ballet grow increasingly out of step with the modern world, a new generation of dancers is confronting these issues head on, in the studio and on stage. For ballet to survive the twenty-first century and forge a path into a more socially just future, this reckoning is essential.

Find everything your child needs to know to improve their ballet in this book and DVD from Director of the English National Ballet School, Jane Hackett. From first position to en pointe, the book shows detailed step-by-step photographs of how young ballerinas can improve on each position whatever their age or stage; making it enjoyable and easy to perfect their style. Discover the best things to wear to class, how to combine positions and even how to choreograph a ballet. Watch the DVD together and see the ballet steps and individual dances in motion, then have fun helping your child to practise as they watch.

When an alligator shows up to class one day, Mrs. Iraina and her ballet students are very suprised. But she is able to follow along, so they decide it's okay for her to join. The class starts calling her Tanya and even creates a new dance to showcase her larger-than-life talents and big, swishy tail: "The Legend of the Swamp Queen." Tanya has the starring role.

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.

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child. We three Fossils vow to try to put our name into history books, because it's our very own, and nobody can say it's because of our grandfathers. Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil are sisters - with a difference. All three were adopted as babies by Great Uncle Matthew, an eccentric and rich explorer who then disappeared, leaving them in the care of his niece Sylvia. When Sylvia starts to run out of money they hit on an inspired idea: Pauline, Petrova and Posy will attend Madame Fidolia's Children's Academy of Dance and Stage Training - and take to the stage. But it's not long before the Fossils learn that being a star isn't as easy as they first thought... Ballet Shoes is the magical, warm-hearted and much loved classic tale of three very different girls who work hard to master their talents.

Early Days, Early Dancers documents the first decade of the National Ballet, focusing on the dancers of the 1950s, especially principal dancers Lois Smith, David Adams, Angela Leigh, Donald Mahler, and Celia Franca, herself a dancer and later the Company's Artistic Director. With an enthusiastic foreword by Karen Kain, and a moving afterword by Veronica Tennant, the book includes pieces by twenty-two dancers, plus memorial tributes to dancers who have passed away. Contributions explore the dancer's journey through St. Lawrence Hall, summer school, rehearsal, and life on tour, as well as life after a career in dance. Portraits includes comments by the dancers on such figures as Celia Franca, Betty Oliphant, and Kay Ambrose among others, and memorial tributes to those dance figures who have died are written by well-known writers contemporaries such as Michael Crabbe, John Fraser, Vanessa Harwood, and Veronica Tennant. These memories of the Company's early dancers provide a unique impression of the origins of the National Ballet, and the history of dance in Canada, and highlight the way the present dances on the shoulders of those who have gone before.

What becomes of ballet dancers when they finally leave the stage, when their last curtain falls? Maja Langsdorff, journalist, writer and a former ballet dancer, interviewed 27 former dancers and recorded their life stories from their first ballet steps to their lives after dance. At the time of their interviews they were between 21 and 62 years old, their careers had ended from three months to 34 years ago. Dancers give a lot, if not everything, in the performances. They live their lives in the limelight. In ballet, profession and calling are united: passion and suffering are often close to each other. For most dancers, their time is up at thirty, thirty-five. They disappear from view. One doesn't hear anything about them anymore; as if they were swallowed up by the earth. This book investigates their fates. These short biographies show what formed them, what moved them, what influenced them. And the portraits leave no doubt, that dancers are special people; even if they no longer dance.

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, Evelyn Hart, Marie Camargo, and Misty Copeland, 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.