The Classic Ballet: Basic Technique and Terminology

by Muriel Stuart

A warm welcome back to this beloved classic! For decades the standard text for ballet technique, this book--first published in 1952--presents a beginner's guide to basic movements, steps, and terminology. Written by the staff of the School of American Ballet, it builds on the Russian tradition of Anna Pavlova and reflects the dance style of George Balanchine.

The 800 masterful drawings by Carlus Dyer demonstrate proper body position, balance point, movement, and attitude of each position and step in the basic classical repertoire. As Balanchine points out in his preface, the illustrations are more accurate than photographs could possibly be because they have been corrected and recorrected until they approximate the ideal.

243 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Muriel Stuart (1885 - 1967), née Irwin, was a poet and gardening writer. Her first collections of poetry appeared in 1916 and 1918, and three more were published in the early 1920s. In the 1930s she published two books on gardening, Fool's Garden and Gardener's Nightcap.

Reviews

[Ronan Tanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel, "The Classic Ballet: Basic Technique and Terminology," starts with an incredible preface by the late and great George Balanchine. This sets up the rest of the novel to show illustrations and explanations for different positions and movements in ballet as a whole. In addition, this novel's illustrations are minutely detailed to show exactly how you would perform these moves. Each of these drawings is given a detailed description for preparation, practice, and definition of the magical illustrations. Overall, this novel is about the love and devotion for the art of ballet.

I gave the novel "The Classic Ballet: Basic Technique and Terminology" four stars because of the vivid descriptions, the gorgeous illustrations, and the way that the novel portrayed ballet as a whole. To start, the vivid descriptions of this novel are some of the most well-worded and helpful descriptions I have ever seen in a ballet book. The book defines hundreds of ballet terms and puts them into simple terms so those who do not even dance ballet can understand. This is an especially impressive task given the exclusivity of ballet and this book just makes it more accessible to everyone, by sharing the art form and educating those who would like to know more about it.

Additionally, this book has some wonderful illustrations. I am not the biggest fan of illustrations in books because I feel like they are added a lot of the time without any purpose and they do not add any substance to the book. I was pleasantly surprised by the pictures in this book because although there are quite a lot, it never feels so overwhelming and you can tell that every single one of the pictures is necessary to tell the story of the novel. Dance in general is hard to explain in words and you need to have pictures to express it.

Furthermore, this book deserves four stars because of the way that it portrays the art form of ballet as a whole. This book shows the many beautiful aspects of ballet from the arabesques to the écarte devant and the many other beautiful poses and moves of ballet. The only thing that is keeping this book from a perfect 5-star rating in my book is that it does not mention the downsides of ballet. As a ballet student, I love ballet and have so much respect for the art form. However the ballet world is not perfect, there are many issues such as injuries and eating disorders that are just left out of the book as a whole. I understand why the author did this because it would not fit with the tone of the book to include these things, but it can create the false narrative of ballet being the most perfect thing in the entire world. Overall, I enjoyed this book and if you like this book I would also recommend reading the "Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet" by Gail Grant. Both books serve the function of educating about ballet, however, the latter has a more traditional layout.

My favorite quote from this book comes from the great George Balanchine who says, "There are no shortcuts to great dancing, but what is necessary to remember and unalterable in its instruction may be found in this book," (Balanchine). What makes this quote so incredible is the many different layers that it carries. It starts by admitting that this book will not make you a great dancer by itself and that you cannot take any shortcuts to becoming a great dancer. This quote, especially coming from a ballet master like George Balanchine protects the legacy and tradition of ballet. Additionally, this quote gives the book as a whole credibility by showing that you need a lot of background knowledge to be a dancer. Classical Ballet has well over a thousand terms that many students learn while in the studio, so this book although not a shortcut to being a great dancer is a shortcut to learning more about the ballet world as a whole.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully illustrated and correctly demonstrated ballet techniques. It is in my collection of dance books.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest books ever.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be sure to buy this book - it's a need for every dancer. The pictures and diagrams are wonderfully illustrated and it shows you so much more than you think. One of the best ballet terminology books out there.