The Ballet Lover's Companion

The Ballet Lover's Companion is a richly informed, up-to-date performance guide to more than 140 favourite ballets, spanning from the classical era to the present day. This engaging book serves as a welcome guide to the most successful and beloved ballets seen on stage today.

Dance writer and critic Zoe Anderson focuses on 140 ballets, forming a core international repertory that includes works from the ethereal world of romantic ballet to the edgy, muscular pieces of modern choreographers. She offers a wealth of facts and insights, including information familiar only to dance world insiders. Anderson considers recent works such as Alexei Ramansky's Shostakovich Trilogy and Christopher Wheeldon's The Winter's Tale, alongside older ballets once forgotten but now returned to the repertory, such as Sylvia. To enhance enjoyment of each ballet, Anderson provides tips on what to look for during a performance.

Each chapter introduces a period of ballet history and gives an overview of innovations and advancements in the art form. In the individual entries that follow, Anderson includes essential facts about each ballet’s themes, plot, composers, choreographers, dance style, and music. The author also discusses the circumstances of each ballet’s creation and its impact in the theatre, while recounting anecdotes that illuminate performance history and reception.

Reliable, accessible, and fully up to date, The Ballet Lover's Companion will delight anyone who attends the ballet, participates in ballet, or simply loves the art form and wants to know much more about it.