Getting Started in Ballet

Book excerpt: In Getting Started in Ballet, A Parent's Guide to Dance Education, authors Anna Paskevska and Maureen Janson comprehensively present the realities that parents can anticipate during their child's training and/or career in ballet. It can be daunting and confusing when parents discover their child's desire to dance. Parental guidance and education about dance study typically comes from trial by fire. This book expertly guides the parental decision-making process by weaving practical advice together with useful information about dance history and the author's own memoir. From selecting a teacher in the early stages, to supporting a child through his or her choice to dance professionally, parents of prospective dancers are lead through a series of considerations, and encouraged to think carefully and to make wise decisions. Written primarily as a guide book for parents, it is just as useful for teachers, and this exemplary document would do well to have a place on the bookshelf in every dance studio waiting room. Not only can dance parents learn from this informative text, but dance teachers can be nudged toward a greater understanding and anticipation of parents needs and questions. Getting Started in Ballet fills a gap, conveniently under one cover, welcoming parents to regard every aspect of their child's possible future in dance. Without this book, there would be little documentation of the parenting aspect of dance. Dance is unlike any other training or field and knowing how to guide a young dancer can make or break them as a dancer or dance lover.