The Young Person's Guide to the Ballet: With Music from The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty (Book & CD) [Paperback]

Anita Ganeri (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 1998

In this sumptuous volume, readers will learn everything about the rich and varied art of ballet, from dance steps and their meanings to the evolution of the ballet slipper and the tutu and more. Following the history of the dance from the first ballets in the French court of Louis XIV to the modern productions of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Young Person's Guide to the Ballet introduces the greats of ballet - Fonteyn, Baryshnikov, Balanchine - as well as the choreographers, costume designers, and composers who together create a unique work of art every time a ballet is performed. Photographs from the world of dance illustrate the book, and the scores of Tchaikovsky's classic ballets - The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty, performed by the Munich Symphony Orchestra - are featured on the accompanying CD.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-An overview that is simplified to the point of being misleading and inaccurate. Brief sections touch on technique, famous dancers, choreographers, composers, and other topics. Although the black-and-white and full-color photographs are clear, they are sometimes poorly placed or randomly chosen. For example, two kinds of arabesques are described, but the four photos show only the simple arabesque. The introduction promises readers "ballet's history, from the early Romantic period to the Dance Theatre of Harlem's modern productions" but delivers only a quick survey. For example, an unidentified photo of Dance Theatre of Harlem's production of "Giselle" and a line in Arthur Mitchell's brief biography stating that he formed the company do not provide any meaningful information about it. The section on choreographers includes five people, only three of whom are historically important. No one who is still active today is profiled. Two precious pages are given over to "Dance of the World," which includes three sentences about modern dance that are simplistic and irrelevant in the context. An inordinate amount of space is devoted to Tchaikovsky's ballet music, possibly to justify the inclusion of a CD with selections from his work. For information on ballet and its history, try Darcey Bussell's The Young Dancer, (Houghton, 1994), Trudy Garfunkel's On Wings of Joy (Little, Brown, 1994), and Leslie Spatt's Behind the Scenes at the Ballet (Viking, 1995).
Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Similar in format to Ganeri's Young People's Guide to the Orchestra (1996), this book also comes with a compact disc in its front cover. The CD includes Munich Symphony Orchestra recordings of music from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty. Highlighting many facets of ballet in quick succession, the book touches on topics such as ballet history, technique, famous dancers, choreographers, composers, stories, and world dance. Each two-or four-page section is illustrated with a number of small pictures, including period paintings and engravings as well as many full-color photos of scenes from stage productions. As an introduction to ballet, the book/cassette kit presents an odd combination of shallow breadth and narrow depth; there's a smattering of many subjects in the book and a single composer heard on the recording. Still, most children intrigued by ballet will find something of interest here. For larger collections. Carolyn Phelan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (October 14, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152011846
• ISBN-13: 978-0152011840
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,581,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ballet, December 24, 2008

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B. A. Tellez "BT" (Marietta, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Young Person's Guide to the Ballet: With Music from The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty (Book & CD) (Paperback)

My daughter loves it. We missed the CD when her teacher gave it as a Christmas Gift !!!