Ballet Basics

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 224 pages
• Published by: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
• Edition: 5th Edition August 6, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0072557141
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0072557145
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.4 inches
• Weighs: 14.1 ounces

Product Description
Written for the adult beginner, Ballet Basics is a well-illustrated introduction to the basics of ballet technique. The text also provides an overview of the history of ballet and introduces students to the world of ballet.

About The Author
Sandra Noll Hammond trained in ballet in New York at the Juilliard School, the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and the School of Ballet Repertory. Among her teachers were Antony Tudor, Margaret Craske, Thalia Mara, and Arthur Mahoney. She has performed with the Ballet Repertory Dancers, Connecticut Opera, Arizona Dance Theatre, and Pacific Ballet. She also has worked as a free-lance artist, performing and staging Baroque ballet repertory reconstructed from her own research. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, Hammond's teaching career has focussed on ballet in higher education. She was instrumental in developing a dance major at the University of Arizona, Tucson, where she served as Coordinator of Dance. Later, she served as Director of Dance in the Theatre and Dance Department of the University of Hawaii. Hammond is recognized internationally for her research, lectures, and publications on the history of ballet technique. In addition to Ballet Basics, her publications include Ballet: Beyond the Basics (also published by McGraw-Hill) and numerous articles in dance journals and in ballet encyclopedias and dictionaries. She is a frequent guest artist on university campuses, where she enjoys introducing students to earlier forms of ballet technique and repertory from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Ballet Basics (Paperback) Finally a good ballet instruction book that's encouraging and doesn't talk down to adult beginners. The more ballet classes I take, the more I realize how well this book distills the important aspects of ballet. Sketches and photos showing correct (and incorrect) body positioning are appropriately used. When I started ballet, I picked up a handful of books, and I always reached for this one when I had ten minutes to learn a new tidbit. The brief history of ballet in the final chapter is added bonus. If you're an adult beginner, start with this book and the David Howard videos, plus a good teacher once or twice a week. You won't be auditioning for the American Ballet Theatre, but you'll become a proficient dancer pretty quickly.