Ballet Book: Learning and and Appreciating the Secrets of Dance

Rating:
Summary: What's Up/Books by Richard Kassel/ Dance Spirit Magazine
Review: "The elegant images that accompany Hanna Rubin's text in THE BALLET BOOK features Amercian Ballet Theatre dancers, as photographed by Nancy Ellison. The pictures which show dance in the studio, during rehearsal and onstage, speak volumes about the artform and will inspire any principal-in-training . The entire span of a ballet career is described in images and words, from the initial dream and the learning process through preparation and performance and even retirement.

Rating:
Summary: What's Up/Books by Richard Kassel/ Dance Spirit Magazine
Review: "The elegant images that accompany Hanna Rubin's text in THE BALLET BOOK features Amercian Ballet Theatre dancers, as photographed by Nancy Ellison. The pictures which show dance in the studio, during rehearsal and onstage, speak volumes about the artform and will inspire any principal-in-training . The entire span of a ballet career is described in images and words, from the initial dream and the learning process through preparation and performance and even retirement.

Rating:
Summary: A must for ABT fans
Review: I agree with the other two reviews that you don't buy this book to learn the " secrets of dance ". However, if you're a fan of ABT, this is a must to own. Nancy Ellison always captures the dancers beautifully, be it in still or movements.Though her best portraits of ABT dancers was the ABT book published in 1995.( very hard to get now ).This book can be a nice reference to have autographs from you favorite dances because there are hundreds of excellent photos of all the current principles, soloists and corpes.The only drawback is that they have a very poorly presented Susan Jaffe farewell on a double page. That actually splits her face in half. I heard they will correct that in the second edition.

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Summary: Showcase of ballet and today's ABT stars
Review: I bought this book because I am a big fan of American Ballet Theater and ballet in general. As the title implies, it does indeed give the reader an inside look and overview of ballet history and technique. More importantly, the photos capture the beauty of ballet and showcases the current generation of ABT's stars. For a book that is supposed to represent the ballet world however, it is disappointing to see errors in ballet terminology and not much insight or depth about ballet. As a showcase of today's stars and upcoming ones, I also wish there were captions naming the dancers on each page more clearly and consistently. Personal interviews with corps de ballet dancers would have been interesting, too. Though this shouldn't serve as a reference or informational book, I think many devoted fans will enjoy seeing the beautiful photos.

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Summary: I Love This Book!!!!!
Review: I just got this book a week ago and I love it! I am a 12 year old ballet dancer looking for new ways to improve myself in technique and choreography and this was definently the book to do that! The Ballet Book is now my favorite book and I read it when I have free time(when I am not dancing). The pictures were beautiful and had everything I needed to know right there! Thank you for this wonderful book!!!!!!!!

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Summary: SO FAR I LOVE THE BOOK, I CAN'T WAIT TO FINISH IT
Review: I love everything about the text, photos. I use do ballet, but I didn't know anything about it when I took ballet. So this book is showing and telling about it. Its defintly a keepsake for me and my kids, grandkids, and so on. Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: SO FAR I LOVE THE BOOK, I CAN'T WAIT TO FINISH IT
Review: I love everything about the text, photos. I use do ballet, but I didn't know anything about it when I took ballet. So this book is showing and telling about it. Its defintly a keepsake for me and my kids, grandkids, and so on. Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Great photos, but not much else
Review: The editorial reviews for "The Ballet Book" tout it as telling all about the fascinating world of ballet: "Readers will learn...how to stretch, stand, dance and perform like professional ballerinas", "...a thorough explanation of each step in a dancer's routine...". The reality, however, is a bit different. This is a gorgeously illustrated book with lots and lots of photos by dance photographer Nancy Ellison. We see the dancers of American Ballet Theatre in the studio, in performance, in costume, and even in some hilarious candid shots. But if you're looking for a book that explains the technical side of ballet in depth, you're going to be disappointed. The book touches on some of the basic elements of ballet such as plies and the positions of the body and shows the dancers demonstrating the finished result, but it doesn't explain how to get there; there is almost no discussion of turnout, placement, or anything of that nature. The book also offers extremely brief (think one paragraph) synopses of several famous and less-famous ballets like "Giselle", "La Fille Mal Gardee", "Apollo" and "The Leaves Are Fading" along with carefully posed studio photographs of dancers in the appropriate costumes. There's a brief section on choreography and, unusually, a short chapter on retirement in which recently retired ballerina Susan Jaffe discusses her farewell. All in all this is a lovely coffee-table book, but if you want a technical manual you should probably look elsewhere.