Degas, Painter of Ballerinas by Susan Goldman Rubin

"Drawing is not what one sees, but what one can make others see." 

Degas, Painter of Ballerinas is an exquisite biography for young readers of this famous artist, known for his sketches, paintings and sculptures of dancers.From 1852 to 1912, Degas produced over a thousand dance pictures. While many artists were part of the Impressionist movement, Degas' interest was much different. Impressionists painted landscapes outdoors. Degas spent hours indoors at the Paris Opera observing dancers.The dancers were known as petits rats or "little rats" because they were always hungry. The petits rats would practice different ballet moves over and over to perfection. Degas would sketch their poses as they stretched, rested on a bench or worked at the barre.

Because he spent so much time at the Paris Opera, Degas was very familiar with the different ballet moves and would sometimes do a pirouette or an arabesque. He formed a fatherly friendship with many of the dancers whom he treated as if they were his own children. He saw how hard they worked and  how difficult the art of ballet was.

Degas did his sketching in the ballet studio or his own studio where the dancers were invited to pose. Afterwards he would combine these sketches into his paintings which were done when he was alone.

As time passed, Degas' art changed and developed. He explored different techniques,  and as his eyesight deteriorated, Degas moved to creating sculpture. The result was art that is timeless, beautiful and now considered very valuable.

Discussion

Degas, Painter of Ballerinas is an fascinating exploration into the process and technique of this famous artist.  Rubin keeps younger readers engaged with her simple explanations and with the many wonderful colour plates of Degas' paintings, drawings and sculptures, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Rubin informs her readers on some of the different techniques Degas applied to his work. For example, he often used a single color to create an accent, making a canvas "come to life" or mixed pastels with charcoal and tempera paint. He even used bleach and steam to create different effects in his paintings.The layout of the book is such that there is a bit of text on each page accompanied by many wonderful pictures of Degas' artwork. Rubin mentions Degas poor eyesight, something that plagued him even as a young man and how he tried to preserve his eyesight by wearing blue tinted glasses. As his eyesight worsened, Degas turned to sculpture, creating incredible wax sculptures of dancers in certain poses.

While the first part of the book focuses more on Degas art. Rubin also includes a fairly detailed biography of the artist in a separate section at the back of the book. This gorgeous edition with the beautiful cover and the pink satin spine would make a lovely gift for either a young aspiring dancer or someone interested in art and artists.


Book Details:

Degas, Painter of Ballerinas by Susan Goldman Rubin
New York: Abrams Books For Young Readers    2019
60 pp.

DVD: First Position

For students and those who love dance, especially ballet, First Position is a must see. This revealing documentary gives us a peek into the mysterious world of ballet by following seven young dancers from around the world as they seek to win the coveted prizes and scholarships of the Youth America Grand Prix, one of the world's most prestigious ballet competitions.

The documentary opens with the semifinals and introduces us to the seven dancers who will be followed; tall, elegant and beautiful Rebecca Houseknecht, graceful Miko Fogarty and her younger brother Jules Jarvis Fogarty, the quiet and determined Aran Bell, handsome Juan Sebastian Zamora, the athletic Michaela DePrince and the lyrical Gaya Bommer Yemini.

Through the camera lens we experience the sacrifices each dancer's family makes so that he or she can develop their talent to the fullest. There are sequences showing the damage done to bodies and feet especially. Other scenes show the devastation that follows after a poor performance. Not everyone can win.

Some of the dancers featured in the documentary are especially engaging. Michaela DePrince was living in an orphanage in Sierra Leone when she was adopted by an American couple, Charles and Elaine DePrince. Her best friend, Mia was also adopted by the DePrinces. Michaela began taking lessons at age four and studied at The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia. Her interest in ballet began though back when she was a small child in Africa and she found a picture of a ballerina in a magazine. Michaela's powerful dancing and beautiful leaps make her enthralling to watch! Michaela DePrince's professional debut was in 2012 with the South African Manszi Ballet Company. Michaela DePrince is living proof of what we have always known - that black women can dance ballet with beauty and grace. You can read about Michaela from this BBC article, Michael DePrince: The War Orphan Who Became A Ballerina. Michaela's website is http://www.michaeladeprince.com/

It's also fascinating to see how some of the young dancers featured in this documentary from four years ago are faring now. As this video demonstrates, Miko Fogarty who is now sixteen has continued to develop into a beautiful dancer with amazing technique:



Bess Kargman, Director, Producer and Editor of First Position, studied ballet at the Boston Ballet School, but never entered ballet competitions. According to the documentary website, Kargman set out to make the documentary she wished had existed. The crew traveled all over the world to film the dancers, who were chosen based on their unique stories and who reflected the social, cultural and economic diversity of students in ballet.

This remarkable and award winning documentary is a must-see for anyone interested in the performing arts.

First Position

First Position is a documentary that follows six ballet dancers as they prepare for the Youth America Grand Prix, an annual international student ballet and contemporary dance competition. The competition which was begun in 1999 by dancers, Larissa and Gennadi Saveliev of the Bolshoi Ballet, is open to students aged 9 to 19. Winners go on to dance with many prestigious companies throughout the world. Likewise, dancers come from all over the world to compete.

Miko Fogarty

This amazing documentary is a must see for those who love the arts, especially dance. Viewers are taken on a year long journey around the world, meeting six dancers; Jules Jarvis Fogarty, age 10; Aran Bell, age 11; Gaya Bommer Yemini, age 11; Miko Fogarty, age 12; Michaela DePrince, age 14; Joan Sebastian Zamora, age 16; and Rebecca Houseknecht, age 17.

Their passion for dance transcends almost all obstacles including war. First Position describes the beauty, pain and triumph of the art of dance in a way few of us have ever experienced. The film makers, Bess Kargman and Nick Higgins, were given unprecedented access to the Youth America Grand Prix venues and dancers.

This outstanding documentary which premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival will be released to theatres in May 2012.

Bunheads by Sophie Flack

Sophie Flack's debut novel, Bunheads tells the story of nineteen year old Hannah Ward, a member of the corps du ballet in the prestigious Manhattan Ballet company and her internal struggle to determine the direction of her life.

Hannah, who always wanted to be a ballet dancer, left home at age fourteen to train at the company's school and is now a senior corps member, performing three to four ballets in an evening. Other members of the corps include Beatrice (Bea)Hall, Daisy, and the highly competitive, Zoe Mortimer. Otto Klein, the director of the Manhattan Ballet, is the one who chooses the ballets the company will perform and who will dance the solos. Each dancer in the corps du ballet dreams of promotion, working hard to attain this goal, often at great personal sacrifice.

One evening after being selected to understudy a solo part, Hannah decides to have dinner at her cousin, Eugene's West Village restaurant. There she meets Jacob, an NYU student who is still struggling to find his groove in life and who is also a singer at the restaurant. As her on-again, off-again relationship with Jacob develops, Hannah begins to reconsider her life and her goals. Jacob has opened her eyes to the world outside of ballet.

At the same time Hannah is also being pursued by a handsome wealthy balletomone, Matt Fitzgerald, whose jet-set lifestyle intrigues her. While Matt opens Hannah's eyes to the lifestyle of the rich and famous that ballet dancers sometimes step into, Jacob is more down to earth and relevant to Hannah's background and life.

But Hannah faces a difficult choice; to put everything into dance. "Don't think, just dance." or to step outside the only world she has known to do some of the things she as an adult would now like to do.

Discussion

Bunheads is definitely one of the better teen reads for 2011.This novel succeeds because the author knows her subject. The majority of readers will not have any concept of what it is like to be a ballet dancer in a major company; the long exhausting hours of practice, the pain endured in pushing the body to its limits, the exhilaration of performing on stage and obtaining the recognition so dearly desired, the complex relationships that exist within a major dance company and the difficulty of having any semblance of a normal life outside of training and performing. But Sophie Flack is able to take the reader into that world, fill it out and make it real and comprehensible to her readers.

Hannah is a believable character who struggles to discover just what it is she wants for her life; the insular world of ballet or to discover more about the world around her. Despite her driven, high-achieving nature, when Hannah begins to see the cost of success in the world of ballet, she begins to rethink her priorities and her goals.

Bunheads is a nice change from the usual young adult fare and will appeal to those teens who are involved in the arts world, especially the world of dance. It gives them the opportunity to both the positive and negative aspects of a dance career. The novel touches on issues prevalent in the ballet world; dieting and anorexia, injuries and the social world of ballet.

Book Details:
Bunheads by Sophie Flack
New York: Little, Brown and Company 2011
294pp.