A Celebration of Dance and Degas
Young readers learn all about what happens in ballet class in this charming picture book published with the support of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Inside, the much-loved paintings of French impressionist Edgar Degas are juxtaposed with illustrations of modern boys and girls practising ballet positions and steps, delightfully drawn in pencil-and-watercolour by former dancer-turned-illustrator Rachel Isadora.
Written by Carolyn Vaughan, this lovely book provides brief histories of ballet’s origins and major artists, descriptions of famous ballets and bits of trivia (“A ballet company’s tutus are stored upside down to keep them fluffy”). Complete with a biography of Edgar Degas, Invitation to Ballet is sure to delight every child who dreams of one day becoming a world-class dancer. It’s also sold in a gift-box set with silk tutu!
“In Degas’s scenes of dancers at the barre, adjusting their tutus, stretching their legs and ‘floating above the stage’, young dancers will no doubt recognize themselves, and come away with a deeper sense of ballet’s long tradition.’ New York Times
Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2012. Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN: 978-1419702600
