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    An Aspiring Ballerina's Guide to: Stories From The Ballet
    An Aspiring Ballerina's Guide to: Stories From The Ballet
    An Aspiring Ballerina's Guide to: Stories From The Ballet
    Ebook127 pages2 hours

    An Aspiring Ballerina's Guide to: Stories From The Ballet

    By Gemma Pearce

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    About this ebook

    Step in to a world of medieval knights, mischievous fairies and beautiful bayaderes within this book of tales from eleven of the worlds most favored ballets. The timeless themes of these classic ballets resonate so strongly with audiences that they are still performed to this day.

    These enduring ballet favorites, expressively told, will ignite your imagination! Ballet lovers of all ages will enjoy the enchanting tales and illustrations carefully compiled in this book. Next time you have the opportunity to see your favorite ballet on the stage, you will delight in a deeper understanding of the plot and characters, and an insight into the origins of each ballet.

    Stories include:
    * Swan Lake
    * La Sylphide
    * The Nutcracker
    * The Sleeping Beauty
    * Don Quixote
    * Giselle
    * And more....

    This is the third book in the 'Aspiring Ballerina's Guide' best-selling series.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGemma Pearce
    Release dateAug 4, 2014
    ISBN9781311736109
    An Aspiring Ballerina's Guide to: Stories From The Ballet

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      Book preview

      An Aspiring Ballerina's Guide to - Gemma Pearce

      An Aspiring Ballerina's guide to...

      Stories from the Ballet

      Gemma Pearce

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2013 Gemma Pearce

      ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this eBook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to your favorite eBook retailer to discover other works by Gemma Pearce. Thank you for your support.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      About the Author

      Contact the Author

      Foreword

      La Bayadère

      Don Quixote

      Giselle

      Swan Lake

      La Sylphide

      Onegin

      Coppelia

      The Nutcracker

      Romeo & Juliet

      Manon

      Sleeping Beauty

      OTHER TITLES

      About the Author

      Gemma Pearce has danced professionally for the Queensland Ballet in Australia, Universal Ballet in South Korea, and is currently a Soloist of the Staatsoper Hannover in Germany. She has performed throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the USA.

      Repertoire highlights include, in François Klaus' productions: Aurora and Bluebird from The Sleeping Beauty, Odile from Swan Lake, Princess from The Little Mermaid, Stella from A Street Car Named Desire; in traditional classical repertoire: Nutcracker and le Corsaire pas de deux as well as many well-known contemporary works from choreographers such as Nils Christie, Jӧrg Mannes, Nacho Duato, Mario Schroder, Young Soon Hue, and Gareth Belling.

      Photos & videos of Francois Klaus' extensive collection of original and reworked ballets can be viewed on his website here.

      Author - Gemma Pearce

      Photo by Ken Sparrow

      More of Ken's work can be viewed here

      Contact the Author

      If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact Gemma at:

      ballerinasguide@gmail.com

      If you’ve enjoyed this book and the others in the series, please return to where you purchased them and review them so other dancers can enjoy the world of ballet as much as ourselves.

      Happy dancing!

      Foreword

      The themes of many of these stories are centuries old, but because they resonate so strongly with audiences, they are still lauded today. They have inspired many variations and spawned innumerable productions over the years.

      Often when attending a ballet performance, the audience will be given a vague outline of the plot and characters. What we are presenting in this book is the original theme of each story while providing a little more depth, imagination, and hopefully more enjoyment

      Welcome to the world of ballet, where there is always a certain flair for the tragically dramatic, an abundance of charming princes and more romance than a Twilight film!

      Enjoy

      La Bayadère

      The odds were stacked against choreographer Marius Petipa when his new ballet, La Bayadere opened in St Petersburg in 1877. The lead up to the premiere was wrought with trials such as extremely limited rehearsal time, and arguments over choreography between Petipa and his leading ballerina Ekaterina Vazem. On top of that, being Vazem's final performance, ticket prices were even higher than usual. Petipa needn't have worried. La Bayadere not only opened to a full house but also received applause for over half an hour. Lev Ivanov was cast opposite Vazem as the warrior Solor, but due to his age, his more difficult solos were danced by Pavel Gerdt. Evidently this did not seem to matter to the audience.

      La Bayadere continued to triumph in Russia but still remained unheard of in the West. It was not until nearly 80 years after its premiere that the Kirov Ballet performed the second act in Paris, sparking wide spread interest in the ballet that led to full length versions eventually being introduced. Known as the Kingdom of the Shades, this famed second act features a seemingly endless corps de ballet of women in white tutus who descend a ramp one by one, repeating an arabesque and two steps forward until all of the dancers are on stage. With the added backdrop of Himalayan mountains at night and Minkus' haunting melody, the effect can be mesmerizing. This act is based solely on classical technique with next to no dramatic elements, and is often performed alone on its own merits.

      While the plot of La Bayadere shares some striking resemblances to other ballets of the same era (namely Giselle), it's exotic setting allowed for a plethora of dramatic differences that could only be imagined in far-away places. Things such as having a live elephant on stage!

      Act I

      Solor, exhibiting great courage and determination, led his young warriors in their quest to take down a mighty tiger. Among these young warriors was the fakir Magedaveya. Solor shared whispers with him before entering the forest in pursuit of the tiger.

      I must ask a favour of you, young Magedaveya, Solor murmured seriously. I need you to tell Nikia that I will await her arrival near the temple.

      Magedaveya nodded his agreement. I will deliver the message.

      Thank you, Solor said, as they pushed on after the tiger.

      Solemnly, the High Brahmin left the temple with the priests following closely behind him and began the feast of worshipping fire. Fakirs and votaries of the temple, the bayadères; gracefully performed the sacred dances, their audience looking on with delight. Among these graceful bayadères adoring the festival was the beautiful Nikia. The High Brahmin was so captivated by the sight of such a beautiful woman that his ordination and vow of celibacy was wiped from his mind in an instant. Watching her dance, he waited for the opportune moment to confess his love to her.

      When the opportunity finally presented itself, the High Brahmin declared to the gorgeous youth, Precious bayadère, I hope you’ll allow me to display my love to you by placing all the riches of India at your feet!

      The bayadère confidently responded, I will do no such thing, as I will never love you in return.

      Leaving the High Brahmin to nurse his disappointment, Nikia and her fellow bayadères fetched water from the sacred pool to offer to the fakirs. As she presented Magedaveya with water, Magedaveya murmured, voice barely audible:

      Solor will wait for you by the temple.

      The corners of Nikia’s lips turned upward imperceptibly.

      A curtain of night began to fall over the land. With darkness approaching, Nikia knew the time had come to unite with her beloved. The fakir was so kind as to guard the surrounding area during the forbidden and secret rendezvous.

      My dear, Nikia sighed into Solor’s embrace. How I have missed you these past days.

      Oh, and me too, Solor agreed. Every day spent without you is agony.

      I love you, Nikia confessed. Her voice when she said it was as if every time

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