DANCERS OF TOMORROW

As British as cricket and crumpets, this is a book for the child with special interest in Ballet. It is the fictionalized story of Ann Blake and her life at the Royal Ballet School in London (formerly Sadler's Wells). The photographs are very beautiful. There are some full page portraits of prima ballerinas, and other candid shots of the young girls at school. Ann is a very credible likeable girl of ten as the story opens, in a believable family. Her father is skeptical of dancing as a career and of Ann's scholastic training at the school. With Ann and her classmates one experiences the hopes which are often dashed because of physical limitations -- the arch of a foot, the turn of a knee, a sudden spurt in growth. Ann's acceptance at the school, the years of effort, of physical and emotional strain which try her before she becomes not a star, but a useful member of the corps de ballet, provide a very real reader experience. Not every child cares about the dance. But some do intensely. For those children this should be a fulfilling book. The author has been a BBC television producer and was responsible for many successful ballet programs.