The Young Person’s Guide to the Ballet: With Music from The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty

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.