The Magic of Dance

[Guest pavlovadancer]

I recently bought the book, The Magic of Dance by Margot Fonteyn, from this second hand bookstore. It cost around 12 pounds and I was wondering if anyone else who has read it thinks it's a good book. I'm also curious to know what are must-have dance books. I already know Classical Ballet Technique by Warren Ward and the Pointe Book.

[Victoria Leigh]

It's a good book, pavlovadancer, but it is not exactly chronological, which makes it a bit hard to follow in terms of historical timeline. There was a TV series, 6 hours long, from this book, which was quite good and very interesting, although also not chronological. But Dame Margot is such a delight that anything she does, written or videotaped, is worth reading and seeing

[Mel Johnson]

Another Must-Have book, I think, is The Classic Ballet with a foreword by Lincoln Kirstein, technical text by Muriel Stuart, and artwork by Carlus Dyer.

[Juliet]

The lack of chronological progression is not detrimental to Magic of Dance (the author states at the onset that she is using a different recipe) and it is one of the best one volume sources for illustrations.

 

I reread it this summer and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Guest pavlovadancer]

Thanks for your opinions. I'll look for the Classic Ballet at amazon.com and see if I can get it at a bookstore at Singapore. They have the Classical Ballet Technique book at the bookstore, but it costs about $85, which is 85/2.7 for pounds. I don't know about US dollars.