Scan barcode
draculaura21's review
informative
inspiring
3.5
Definitely worth it for the illustrations. Absolutely stunning.
sparklelys's review
5.0
It's like a collection of Degas... but in color! Salena Barnes' ink and watercolor illustrations capture the strength and grace of these powerhouse women. I love Misty Copeland, to be sure, but too often it seems like she's the only representative of all black ballerinas. Let it not be so! Misty has here gathered bios of dozens of her sheroes, telling both their stories and how they have personally impacted her. I'm particularly glad she included the one whose career I have watched since we were in elementary school together, the current director of Julliard School's Dance Division, the one whose physics-defying pose was on Dance Theater of Harlem posters all over NYC the year Misty first attended ABT's Summer Intensive, Alicia Graf Mack.
bridgeca2's review
4.0
I'm so grateful to be able to learn about other Black Ballerinas. I shamefully was wholly unaware of this extensive history, though Copeland herself points out how little was documented making the history hard to celebrate. While there are so many names that I'd never heard of, the companies these talented ballerinas had careers at were often shared. Therefore I'm not sure why the acronyms of these companies (such as American Ballet Theater "ABT" and Dance Theatre of Harlem "DTH") were repeated in each dancer's profile - it made reading this book feel disjointed and repetitive.
kibbles15's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
This is an illustrated collection of mini ballet biographies of some of the black dancers that inspired Misty Copeland. First off, the illustrations are gorgeous! That being said, it was a bit tedious to read because the author chose to focus on only the ballet stats of each individual. It was interesting, but it got a bit repetitive. I would have loved to get a little more insight into the actual lives of the amazing dancers represented in this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
kits_little_library's review
5.0
I learned so much from this one children’s book. I’m in awe of how little I knew about these amazing people.