Journal 5: The Battles of Ballet

This week I started reading my book Bunheads for my first portfolio piece. While reading this I realized the protagonist Hannah lives in a world that is surrounded by the life of ballet. As I read through the first few chapters I noticed the different obstacles Hannah and I go through since she is a top ballerina and I am not. To understand terminology and the hardships they have to go through more clearly, this week I focused on researching the evolution of ballet dancing.

Summary of Book:

As a dancer with the ultra-prestigious Manhattan Ballet Company, nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward juggles intense rehearsals, dazzling performances and complicated backstage relationships. Up until now, Hannah has happily devoted her entire life to ballet. But when she meets a handsome musician named Jacob, Hannah's universe begins to change, and she must decide if she wants to compete against the other "bunheads" in the company for a star soloist spot or strike out on her own in the real world. Does she dare give up the gilded confines of the ballet for the freedoms of everyday life?

Source of Summary:

"Bunheads." Goodreads. Web.2016.

I was very successful by achieving websites with primary source experience in the genre to explain concepts. Some of these website links are included below:

http://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/training/summer-school/student-experiences/

http://www.gohballet.com/

www.rwb.org/​

https://national.ballet.ca/

With this information I created a Venn diagram to compare the more technical genre of ballet to a more free spirited genre that I am more familiar with like hip hop. New things I learned was that even though they are polar opposites in the terms of types of dance, they share the similar overall objective to tell a story through body movement.

I’ve been working on creating a folder to keep notes of similarities and differences of this type of dance as I continue reading. My timeline goal to finish the book is by March 20th with these notes so I have enough time to review them and use them in my portfolio piece of my book review. I also think this will help with my documentary to explore why my past experiences with other genres of dance were more successful than ballet.