Recently published by Firefly Books, The Ballet Book: The Young Performer’s Guide to Classical Dance, is a comprehensive guide for serious young ballet students. Clear photos of graceful dancers demonstrate over 100 positions, steps and poses involved in barre work, including attitudes, allegros, batteries, pirouettes and arabesques. The book even has guidance on entering the word of ballet and information on finding a teacher and studio, on clothing, grooming, exercises, and on nutrition.
This second edition of The Ballet Book is stated to improve on the first edition by providing more age appropriate language for its intended audience. However, the language, layout and font still, in our opinion, make the book somewhat more of an instructor`s teaching handbook or a book for older teens rather than a children`s learning tool. The book could benefit from more structured, bullet-ed breakdown of drills and practices to reach the younger audience. An accompanying DVD would also be a useful complement to the instruction in the book.
In any case, The Ballet Book, with a forward by Artistic Director Karen Kain, is a beautiful and elegant hardcover that is sure to be treasured by any student embarking on their Ballet journey.
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