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  • Being a Ballerina

  • The Power and Perfection of a Dancing Life
  • By: Gavin Larsen
  • Narrated by: Lexi Mae
  • Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

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Being a Ballerina

By: Gavin Larsen
Narrated by: Lexi Mae
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Summary

Inspiring, revealing, and deeply relatable, Being a Ballerina is a firsthand look at the realities of life as a professional ballet dancer. Through episodes from her own career, Gavin Larsen describes the forces that drive a person to study dance; the daily balance that dancers navigate between hardship and joy; and the dancer's continual quest to discover who they are as a person and as an artist.

Starting with her arrival as a young beginner at a class too advanced for her, Larsen tells how the embarrassing mistake ended up helping her learn quickly and advance rapidly. In other stories of her early teachers, training, and auditions, she explains how she gradually came to understand and achieve what she and her body were capable of.

Larsen then re-creates scenes from her experiences in dance companies, from unglamorous roles to exhilarating performances. Working as a ballerina was shocking and scary at first, she says, recalling unexpected injuries, leaps of faith, and her constant struggle to operate at the level she wanted-but full of enormously rewarding moments.

An ideal listen for aspiring dancers, Larsen's memoir will also delight experienced dance professionals and fascinate anyone who wonders what it takes to live a life dedicated to the perfection of the art form.

©2021 Gavin Larsen (P)2022 Tantor
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What listeners say about Being a Ballerina

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Ballerina

Good enough book even if you’re like me and are not into ballet. Went to the nutcracker years ago and hated it. But if that’s what you like you’d love it

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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I loved this

I loved this, beautifully written and read. an absolute treasure. An insight I to being a professional ballerina which would be interesting to dancers and non dancers alike.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

an immersive foray into the ballet world.

Well written and evocative. An insightful account of life in the ballet world. Not entirely convinced by the narrator, however - a sometimes choppy difficult flow to the sentences and some irritating mispronounciations, especially of ballet terminology.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Heartfelt, modest and totally captivating

I just loved Gavin’s account of everything. I do read a lot of dancers’ autobiographies and some of them turn into lists of achievements and events. This was compulsive listening throughout and I feel I know and really adore her now.

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