Ballet 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving the Ballet

By Robert Greskovic

Book Overview

Veteran dance writer Robert Greskovic's comprehensive handbook on how to watch and appreciate the ballet is now available in this new edition. It includes a complete analysis of sixteen important and popular ballets, from Swan Lake to Twyla Tharp's Push Comes To Shove., As Mikhail Baryshnikov states in the book's foreword: "All the things that ballet fans talk about at intermission, while newcomers stand there wondering what they mean: those things are here...(Robert Greskovic) has been thinking about ballet --- watching it, reading, writing, and talking about it --- day after day for more than thirty years. He knows it through and through. Now he shares his knowledge."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879103256
• ISBN13: 9780879103255
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Limelight
• Length: 658 Pages
• Weight: 1.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

For newcomers to ballet!

Noted dance writer and critic Robert Greskovic's handbook is a recommended pick for any who would understand ballet; especially for newcomers to dance. BALLET 101: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO LEARNING AND LOVING THE BALLET isn't just an overview of dance: it's a full history of ballet in general, using specific performances to outline key players, techniques, ballet positions, and notable performances and videos alike. Thirty years of background both as a watcher and behind the scenes lends to a critical yet lively commentary on the art and perceptions of performers and audiences alike.

Truly informative and beneficial reading for anyone.

The book includes information from the very beginning of dance through many great ballets and into the present. There is an excellent videography at the end of the book as well as a glossary with all of the ballet terms.

Excellent! and very readable!

Robert Greskovic brings a clarity and readability to a topic that is typically over-written. An excellent book no matter what the background of the reader. Greskovic's references to available videos makes it possible to experience what he is talking about.