Ballet Matters

Part memoir, part dance history, this critical study explores ballet’s power to inspire and to embody ideas about politics, race, women’s agency, and spiritual development. Women who dance offer perspectives on such questions as: How do dancers deal with lingering stereotypes and new opportunities? How do dancers embody heritages from around globe? What do images projected by ballerinas say to their admirers? The author argues that dance relates to life in powerful, individual ways, and suggests societal shifts. Although ballet can appear (and sometimes is) elite and exclusionary, it also has revolutionary potential, seen here through the eyes of women who experience it.