<i>Bunheads</i> (review)
2011; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 65; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2011.0941
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Diversity and Impact of Dance
ResumoReviewed by: Bunheads Deborah Stevenson Flack, Sophie . Bunheads. Poppy/Little, 2011. 294p. ISBN 978-0-316-12653-3 $17.99 R* Gr. 7-12. For nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward, being a dancer is "the most amazing, wonderful, and crazy life that I could have imagined," and she's been a part of the prestigious Manhattan Ballet Company (clearly a fictionalized New York City Ballet) ever since she was invited to join its school when she was fourteen. She's hoping to be promoted from the corps de ballet to soloist, so she thrills when she receives any indication of favor from the magisterial director and aches when his attention turns to other girls, especially her friend and keenest competitor, Zoe. The route to being a ballerina has started to become complicated, though: she's fallen for Jacob, a young musician and NYU student; she's also being pursued by Matt, the worldly son of one of the ballet's major patrons; and, agonizingly, her body is filling out in ways that diminish her suitability for the ballet aesthetic, forcing her to redouble her physical commitment to keep on track. This is absolute ballet-lovers' catnip, filled with intimate, credible details of the daily grind of a dancer's life ("Pointe shoes, Band-Aids, and Advil: if we had to pay for these three things, we'd barely be able to afford our rent") and the pure joy of doing what you love ("There's always something magical about the snow and the music, and about dancing with your friends"). It's crystal-clear that the level of commitment required is simply out of most mortals' ken, so that Hannah not only can't manage a relationship with a non-dancer if she's dancing as she wishes, she can't know the city she lives in or talk regularly to her parents. Flack nonetheless presents a measured, vibrant, un-melodramatic account of the possibilities, with a lively cast of literary soloists and corps de novel who present possible ways to survive, or not, as a dancer. Even the ballet-neutral will understand the conflict between career and personal life explored here, but this book will be absolutely irresistible to those who've always felt just one pirouette and years of ferocious training away from Margot Fonteyn. [End Page 203] Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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