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Loading... Raising the Barre: Big Dreams, False Starts, and My Midlife Quest to Dance the Nutcracker (edition 2015)by Lauren Kessler (Author)
Work InformationRaising the Barre: Big Dreams, False Starts, and My Midlife Quest to Dance the Nutcracker by Lauren Kessler
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Once again, a People Magazine , December, pick of the “Best New Books”. Their review wrote: “ Kessler’s book is eloquent, funny and so inspiring that readers might want to attempt the impossible too”. In this memoir, Kessler says that her father nicknamed her Laurisa Kesslova when she was 6 because he said all great dancers were Russian and since she wanted to be a great dancer she needed a Russian name. At the age of 12 she was crushed when her ballet instructor said she was not ballerina material. Now, many decades and three children later, she embarked on a journey to join a professional company to perform in The Nutcracker. This is a story about shaking things up, taking risks, ignoring good sense, and forgetting how old you are and how you are supposed to act. It’s about testing limits and raising the bar(re) on your own life. no reviews | add a review
An award-winning author's journey to break out of the expectations of midlife and reclaim the daring of her girlhood by dancing in the world's most popular ballet, The Nutcracker, with a professional company. Like generations of little girls, Lauren Kessler fell in love with ballet the first time she saw The Nutcracker, and from that day, at age five, she dreamed of becoming a ballerina. But when she was twelve, her very famous ballet instructor crushed those dreams-along with her youthful self-assurance-and she stepped away from the barre. Fast forward four decades. Lauren-suddenly, powerfully, itchingly restless at midlife-embarks on a "Transcontinental Nutcracker Binge Tour," where attending a string of performances in Chicago, New York, Boston, and San Francisco reignites her love affair with the ballet-and fuels her girlhood dream. What ensues is not only a story about The Nutcracker itself, but also an inside look at the seemingly romantic-but oh-so-gritty-world of ballet, about all that happens away from the audience's eye that precedes the magic on stage. It is a tale told from the perspective of someone who not only loves it, but is also seeking to live it. Lauren's quest to dance The Nutcracker with the Eugene Ballet Company tackles the big issues: fear, angst, risk, resilience, the refusal to "settle in" to midlife, the refusal to become yet another Invisible Woman. It is also a very funny, very real look at what it's like to push yourself further than you ever thought you could go-and what happens when you get there. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)792.8The arts Recreational and performing arts Stage presentations, Theatre Ballet and modern danceLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I hoped for more insight into a ballet company and I was annoyed by the receptiveness of the story. Pages and pages of "I went to barre3 class" and little else. By the time performances arrive I have grown to dislike the author and find little joy in her success. ( )