Thursday, February 9, 2012

a very young dancer

a very young dancer
Do you remember A Very Young Dancer? I love my copy and have held onto it all these years.. Recently I got it out and read it to the boys and they liked it too. As a child I was so into ballet and loved this book for all its wonder-- I wanted to be Stephanie and have that life. As an adult I'm loving all the 1970's awesomeness and appreciate the incredible talent of the photographer.

a very young dancer


a very young dancer
Oh, that picture of Stephanie and her sister trying on toe shoes! And those awesome school uniforms!

a very young dancer
I adore this shot of Stephanie's mom buttoning her cardigan. And her 70's era bedroom.

a very young dancer
I was super interested to read this follow-up article on the New York Times website. It is so easy to idealize Stephanie, and to assume that with all her talent, beauty, and wealth that her life would be easy. But it turns out that she had her struggles too (like most of us) and took a long time to find her way. It just goes to show once again, that you can't really tell about someone from looking on from the outside.

Did you have this book? Did you love it?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was obsessed with A Very Young Rider.....same author, but followed a young equestrian.

Jacqueline said...

Thank you so much for this book reminder and link to the NYT article. Our daughter is a professional ballet dancer and attended The School of American Ballet. I forwarded the article on to her.

Jen said...

I loved this book when I was young and like you saved it for my own children. My daughter loves looking at it and imagining herself as Stephanie. She has been inspired to audition and perform for a local Nutcracker production several times.

Thanks so much for the link to the article!

Wasabi Honey Bee said...

Thanks for this post!!! I did have that book when I was a kid . . . I was very interested to read the article. I have know a fair amount of girls who were so right there and then quit, or just never really took their ballet career all the way. I quit at fifteen to expand my life in other directions. I have always felt a little nostalgic about it all, but am glad to have a broader life. Ballet is so narrow when it really comes down to it. A tough world.
Anyway, thanks again,
Marica

elli said...

Oh my goodness! i had the entire series she did! I read them obsessively! Sadly, I didn't keep mine -- I am passionate about books and reading in general, but have been through a couple of thorough purges ... Ah well.

Nicola said...

Oh! I loved this book and still have it as well! And A Very Young Gymnast (still have that one, too). Thanks for the link!
Nicola

Amy from VA said...

Oh yes. I had this book and would pour over it for hours, examining the photographs just as you seemed to have done. My friend also had a spoof of A Very Young... series called A Very Young Housewife. It was a hoot.