Customer Reviews

Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First published in 1950, this ballet reference guide has stood the test of time. Who's it for? Ballet students and teachers, choreographers, or any ballet enthusiast. Here's what the book covers:

-descriptions and definitions of over 1100 ballet steps (in alphabetical order)
-how to say the darn words (worth the price of the book alone!)
-illustrations showing you body positions for the more common ballet steps and movements
-cross-references to other names for similar steps/positions that vary from the Russian, French and Italian schools

A must have book that can easily be toted around, I doubt most readers will regret buying it. Other ballet resources I recommend include The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution for practitioners who have trouble with their feet.

Before ordering, I've already borrowed the older version of this very same book from local library (published by "Dover Books on Dance").
After checking the content out, I want to buy this book. On Amazon, there are two books w/ the same title and author, one is $4.95, i.e. the same edition as the one from local library (3rd revised edition published 1982) and the other one is $9.95 with nicer/newer cover artwork (published by BN publishing).

Hoping for more updated information (somewhat mislead by the modern looking cover artwork and higher price), I ordered the $9.99 one.

Just got this book yesterday. What a disappointment and rip off it is!!

Actually, I won't be upset enough to write this review if the $9.99 version were to be the same as $4.95 one.

There is no updated information as far as I can tell. Oh-well, a little disappointed but no biggie if there are no changes.

What turns this into a rip-of is that:
THE PRINTS ARE BLURRY/FUZZY IN THE $9.99 edition. It's as if someone scanned the pages of the original book and then printed them out into a book. The letters aren't nicely printed as in the "Dover Books on dance" $4.95 edition.

DON'T SPEND THE EXTRA MONEY ON A SCANNED VERSION!!

The book arrived in perfect condition and was exactly what I needed for class. It has drawings of the ballet moves and a dictionary in the back for each vocab word. It's a great manual to have for first time dancers. It's also very small, easy to be placed in a dance bag.

Great book.Really handy and easy to understand if you are related with ballet terms. It's also very explicit describing steps and it includes drawings in case you are begining to get aqcuentade with ballet. I highly recomended it.

As a young dancer my Mom bought this book to help further my understanding of ballet. This book proved to be the most valuable dance book I have ever bought or received. From being a professional dancer to studio manager, I have used this book every step of the way. In fact, this is my second one. I fully recommend this book to all ballet enthusiast interested in learning or improving their terminology.

This is an excellent and informative book, with clear definitions and pronunciation guides for the French, Italian, and Russian methods of ballet. It even "translates" names of steps from one method to the others!

The one drawback I can see is that this will probably not be as good a resource for someone who is not already familiar with the basic steps of ballet. The illustrations are helpful, but it would be impossible to illustrate all the steps and still have the book be easily portable; as a result, the reader must rely on his/her own ability to envision the steps described.

I really like this book. It tells you the meaning of the terms and how the moves are done. But it helps to have some ballet experience. Fast shipping, great packaging.

This book is a wonderful book for any dancer. I purchased this book for my daughter who is a dancer and it is full of the correct info that she need for her baller classes. It's a timeless book full of info for any aspiring dancer. Highly recommended.

I recently purchased this book along with The Ballet Companion for my 11 yr old daughter who is in her second year of pointe. I found both books to be invaluable reference guides and they go together perfectly as a gift. This book is an amazing resource for ballet definitions. The pronunciation guide is extremely helpful, especially for those of us who never took French. The wealth of information in this book is just wonderful, and its low price makes it a bargain. If you're shopping for a ballet reference guide, look no further. I don't think any ballet students should be without this book.