Author Description

Surveying The State Of American Ballet In A 1913 Issue Of Clure's Magazine, Author Willa Cather Reported That Few Girls Expressed Any Interest In Taking Ballet Class And Those Who Did Were Hard-pressed To Find Anything Other Than Dingy Studios And Imperious Teachers. 100 Years Later, Ballet Is Everywhere. There Are Ballet Companies Large And Small Across The Us; Ballet Is Commonly Featured In Film, Television, Literature, And On Social Media; Professional Ballet Dancers Are Spokespeople For All Kinds Of Products; And, Most Importantly, Millions Of American Children Have Taken Ballet Class. Beginning With The Arrival Of Russian Dancers Like Anna Pavlova, Who First Toured The Us On The Eve Of Wwi, This Text Explores The Growth Of Ballet From An Ancillary Part Of 19th-century Musical Theatre, Opera, And Vaudeville To The Quintessential Extracurricular Activity It Is Today. Melissa R. Klapper. Also Issued In Print: 2020. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.