An Invitation to the Ballet Theatre

By Author / Illustrator

Charlotte Guillain, Helen Shoesmith

Genre

Non Fiction

Age range(s)

Publisher

Welbeck Children's Books

ISBN

9781913519162

Format

Hardback

Published

15-09-2022

Synopsis

Grab your very own VIP access pass and enter the wonderful world of the ballet theatre.... Have you ever wondered how ballet dancers stay strong and avoid injury? Or how the magical scenes on stage are created by the set department? Step behind the scenes of the ballet theatre with your very own access-all-areas invitation to find out.

Discover how stunning costumes are designed and see the thousands of shoes stored in the shoe room. Watch the dancers put on dramatic makeup, elaborate wigs and headdresses to create their characters. Discover the magic and wonder of performance night as the dancers prepare to dance Swan Lake. As you turn the pages you'll read the stories of other famous ballets such as The Nutcracker and The Firebird.

With beautifully intricate illustrations, you'll discover more wonderful details each time you return.

Reviews

Natalie J

An Invitation to the Ballet Theatre, like the other title in the series, An Invitation to the Botanic Gardens, is a beautiful, ingenious, informative behind-the-scenes guide to a world that is hidden from public view.

Going behind the scenes at the theatre with the English National Ballet, Guillain and Shoesmith take us from the theatre's foyer to the backstage door via areas such as the costume and lighting departments, shoe room, canteen and healthcare suite, and rehearsal studio for ballet class.

With snippets of clear concise information positioned around the colourful, detailed, engaging illustrations, each page is one to savour and pore over. The details about how the dancers customise their pointe shoes, the different ballet positions and movements, and their fitness routines with emphasis placed on their nutritional and mental wellbeing, are all included as are more specific occupational roles such as what lighting designers, prop creators, costume creators, and wig makers do.

The stand-out feature of these books are the fold out pages, effectively making two doublepages into six. The first doublespread is an impressive bird's eye view of looking down to the stage from high up in the lighting gallery with a view of the audience and the orchestra pit below. Open these pages from the centre and it is like you have raised the stage curtain as they become a four-page scene of a ballet in performance. It's a very clever, interactive feature which brings this atmospheric and absorbing book to life.

48 pages / Reviewed by Natalie J McChrystal Plimmer