![]() ![]() ![]() You can’t be a professional ballet dancer if you only play at it. Girl is rewarded for her ambition and dedication.ĭance is a discipline, and the women who wrote these books knew that. Girl becomes young woman while devoting herself unstintingly, joyously and ferociously to her art. But what was the story, repeated in almost every book, with minor variations in what dances were being performed and how many horses were ridden while on holidays? Not directly – the word ‘feminist’ was never mentioned. Because ballet books are inherently subversive to a patriarchy. So feminine! So appropriate! And yet…I learnt more about being a feminist from those books than from anything else I read. My mother, who hated to see me reading the fantasy and science fiction stories I also loved, would smile approvingly at the ballet books. I read everything, but I had a particular love for ballet books, especially the Sadler’s Wells series by Lorna Hill. When I was a little girl, I was a voracious reader (no surprise). ![]()
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