Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars in this book set in an elite New York ballet school, perfect for readers who love ballet and high school drama. Soon to be a major NETFLIX series, don’t miss the next big drama series!
Being a dancer at New York’s most elite ballet school isn’t easy. Everyone wants to be the prima ballerina, and sometimes you have to play dirty. With the competition growing fiercer with every performance and harmless pranks growing ever darker, Bette, June and Gigi find themselves battling it out to stay at the top. And it’s only a matter of time before one small spark ignites…
and even the best get burned…
Featuring a cast of diverse characters, plenty of gossip, lies and scandal, join Bette, June and Gigi as they battle it out to stay at the top.
One of my earliest memories is my parents taking me to the Opera House to see Swan Lake. I think I was about 5. I am pretty sure I was one of the only children in the audience because apart from being exited about interval ice cream I remember a lot of serious grown up faces looking at me, ranging from bemusement to irritation.
It’s worth noting that I didn’t disrupt the performance. I was mesmerised. I love shows. Musicals, Dance, Plays. Artists on stage have a power over their audience, when executed well they can ensure that the people watching them forget the world around them. I have always been intrigued by the challenges and sacrifices people make when choosing this as their profession and Netflix has done some pretty good adaptations lately, so who’s watching with me?
Also –
Hooked on Ballet books, check these out:
Pointe, by Brandy Colbert
Theo is better now.
She’s eating again, dating guys who are almost appropriate, and well on her way to becoming an elite ballet dancer. But when her oldest friend, Donovan, returns home after spending four long years with his kidnapper, Theo starts reliving memories about his abduction—and his abductor.
Donovan isn’t talking about what happened, and even though Theo knows she didn’t do anything wrong, telling the truth would put everything she’s been living for at risk. But keeping quiet might be worse.
The Walls around Us, by Nova Ren Suma
On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.
On the inside, within the walls of the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom.
Tying their two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries…
What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve—in this life or in another one?
In prose that sings from line to line, Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and of innocence, and of what happens when one is mistaken for the other.
Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova, by Laurel Snyder and Julie Morstad
The world is big.
Anna is small.
The snow is
everywhere
and all around.
But one night . . .
One night, her mother takes her to the ballet, and everything is changed. Anna finds a beauty inside herself that she cannot contain.
So begins the journey of a girl who will one day grow up to be the most famous prima ballerina of all time, inspiring legions of dancers after her: the brave, the generous, the transcendently gifted Anna Pavlova.
Dancing in the Dark, by Robyn Bavati
Ditty Cohen is passionate about ballet–she loves how it feels to stand en pointe, to rise and spin across the room. But her Orthodox Jewish parents want Ditty to focus on the teachings of the Torah and to marry at a young age according to their religious tradition. Although her parents forbid her to take dance lessons, Ditty secretly signs up for ballet and becomes entangled in a web of deceit. As one lie leads to another and another, Ditty knows she must stop dancing, but she can’t abandon the one thing that gives her freedom. She begins to question her faith and everything her parents have taught her, realizing just how much is at stake as her two worlds collide.
Audition, by Stasia Ward Kehoe
When high school junior Sara wins a coveted scholarship to study ballet, she must sacrifice everything for her new life as a professional dancer-in-training. Living in a strange city with a host family, she’s deeply lonely-until she falls into the arms of Remington, a choreographer in his early twenties. At first, she loves being Rem’s muse, but as she discovers a surprising passion for writing, she begins to question whether she’s chosen the right path. Is Rem using her, or is it the other way around? And is dancing still her dream, or does she need something more? This debut novel in verse is as intense and romantic as it is eloquent.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton met while attending the New School’s acclaimed Writing for Children MFA programme. Sona is a journalist and Dhonielle is a former teacher and middle school librarian. Together, the pair co-founded CAKE Literary, a boutique book packaging company with a diverse slant. You can find them online at: www.cakeliterary.com. They are also heavily involved in the We Need Diverse Books Campaign, which can be found at: https://diversebooks.org/
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