"A distinguished dance critic offers an enchanting introduction to the art of ballet As much as we may enjoy Swan Lake or The Nutcracker, for many of us ballet is a foreign language. It communicates through movement, not words, and its history lies almost entirely abroad-in Russia, Italy, and France. In Celestial Bodies, dance critic Laura Jacobs makes the foreign familiar, providing a lively, poetic, and uniquely accessible introduction to the world...

A technical and artistic discussion of ballet, focusing on its history, physical requirements, exercises, and training.

Discover more than 70 of the most famous ballet dances, from The Nutcracker and Swan Lake to The Rite of Spring. Learn the stories behind renowned companies such as The Royal Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet. Explore the lives and achievements of dancers across the centuries, such as Margot Fonteyn, Carlos Acosta, and Darcey Bussell. Meet composers and choreographers, from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to Matthew Bourne. From its origins at court and the...

"Tells the straightforward history of the renowned Ballets Russes troupe from 1929 until its demise in 1962, providing ... commentary, as well as tidbits on ballet aesthetics, backstage gossip and clip after clip of rare footage. It also ... offers portraits of the handful of surviving dancers, most of them in their 80s, who provide its commentary. After a brief review of [the Diaghilev years (1909-29)], it tells the tale of the company after Diaghilev,...