Ballerina: My Story: Ballerina: My Story [Paperback]

Darci Kistler (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

Fairy Tales Can Come True

From the time she was eight, Darci Kistler knew she wanted to be a ballerina. At thirteen she was on her own in New York City, attending one of the most famous ballet schools in the world. at seventeen she became the youngest principal ballerina in the history of the New York City Ballet.

How did Darci make her dream come true? In her own words, she tells about her amazing career, from her first pink tutu to her starring role in The Nutcracker ballet. Here is the fairy tale story of what it's really like to become a ballerina.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Scheduled to coincide with the release of the movie George Balanchine's The Nutcracker , Kistler's sunny autobiography is presented as a fairy tale come true. It doesn't quite "tell you all about what it's like to be a ballerina," but it provides a rose-colored-glasses look at her astonishing career. Growing up in awe of four champion-athlete older brothers, Kistler recalls that she determined to become a dancer when, at age five, she saw Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev perform at the Hollywood Bowl. Young balletomanes will appreciate the inside look at ballet studios and, in particular, at New York's prestigious School of American Ballet, in which Kistler enrolled at 14, leaving her family in California. She plays down her own talent, loudly praising all her teachers, especially "Mr. B.," and emphasizing the importance of hard work and sacrifice. But although she supplies a few particulars (feeling like a wallflower in an adagio class where the girls drastically outnumber the boys; her embarrassment at some onstage mistakes), she never quite conveys the fabric of her life. Her love of ballet ultimately defies her ability to articulate it: "Ballet is about beauty, and . . . the ballerina, her partner, and the other dancers make beauty come to life." Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

Fairy Tales Can Come True

From the time she was eight, Darci Kistler knew she wanted to be a ballerina. At thirteen she was on her own in New York City, attending one of the most famous ballet schools in the world. at seventeen she became the youngest principal ballerina in the history of the New York City Ballet.

How did Darci make her dream come true? In her own words, she tells about her amazing career, from her first pink tutu to her starring role in The Nutcracker ballet. Here is the fairy tale story of what it's really like to become a ballerina.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin (December 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671644378
• ISBN-13: 978-0671644376
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,651,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book!!, May 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ballerina: My Story: Ballerina: My Story (Paperback)

This book by Darci Kistler is her wonderful story of her life. In it she talks about her childhood all the way to her life today.I like the book because it dosen't go on and on like some biography's. i would recomnd it for all ages and not just those who want to be dancers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Darci Kistler, April 25, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Ballerina: My Story: Ballerina: My Story (Paperback)

Some people think of ballerina's as "dancing on their tip toes in little tutu's". Ballerinas are much more than that. IN the biography Darci Kistler, Darci tells about her life as a young ballerina.
Darci started dancing at the School of American Ballet when she was only 13 years old, and she started dancing in the New Yourk City Ballet Company when she was 16 years old. In this biography, Darci goes through a timeline of her life and tells how she became a ballerina at such a young age, and the responsiblility that goes with being one.
The story of Darci's life starts out when she was born in 1963, till now. People of any age would love this book, especially teenage girls, because it takes you through the hard times of being a young girl with a lot of responsibility and passion for what you love.
"...I'll neer walk past that bubbler without remembering what happened there..." That is what Darci said after the mistress of the NYCB (New York City Ballet) told her that she was officially accepted into the NYCB. THis book has a lot of voice in it, along with a lot of show and tell. Darci really puts a lot of passion into what she's doing and you can tell that from what she puts into this book. I finished this book in about 2 days, and I'm not that much of a reader, so that must say something. The book kept me hooked and made me want to read more and more about her life.
Darci was an amazing young girl, with lots of dreams...That eventually came true. Her book, Darcy Kistler, shows everyone how young people can achieve huge dreams, like becoming a ballerina in one of the world's top ballet schools. Darci tells you what it's like to be a teenage girl with lots of responsibility and passion for what they do or want to do!