Go to Hachette Book Group home

Search

Site Preferences

Show prices in:

Promotion

Use code CYBER2024 for 30% off sitewide + free shipping over $30

By clicking “Accept,” you agree to the use of cookies and similar technologies on your device as set forth in our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy. Please note that certain cookies are essential for this website to function properly and do not require user consent to be deployed.

Raising the Barre

Big Dreams, False Starts, and My Midlife Quest to Dance the Nutcracker

Raising the Barre Open the full-size image

Contributors

By Lauren Kessler

Formats and Prices

Price

$15.99

Price

$20.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. Trade Paperback $15.99 $20.99 CAD
  2. ebook $9.99 $12.99 CAD

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around November 14, 2017. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

Also available from:

Like generations of little girls, Lauren Kessler fell in love with ballet the first time she saw The Nutcracker, and from that day, at age five, she dreamed of becoming a ballerina. But when she was twelve, her very famous ballet instructor crushed those dreams — along with her youthful self-assurance — and she stepped away from the barre.

Fast forward four decades. Lauren — suddenly, powerfully, itchingly restless at midlife — embarks on a “Transcontinental Nutcracker Binge Tour,” where attending a string of performances in Chicago, New York, Boston, and San Francisco reignites her love affair with the ballet–and fuels her girlhood dream.

What ensues is not only a story about The Nutcracker itself, but also an inside look at the seemingly romantic — but oh-so-gritty — world of ballet, about all that happens away from the audience’s eye that precedes the magic on stage. It is a tale told from the perspective of someone who not only loves it, but is also seeking to live it. Lauren’s quest to dance The Nutcracker with the Eugene Ballet Company tackles the big issues: fear, angst, risk, resilience, the refusal to “settle in” to midlife, the refusal to become yet another Invisible Woman. It is also a very funny, very real look at what it’s like to push yourself further than you ever thought you could go — and what happens when you get there.

Genre:

On Sale
Nov 14, 2017
Page Count
272 pages
Publisher
Da Capo Press
ISBN-13
9780306903274

You May Also Like

Turning Pointe
Turning Pointe $18.99 $23.99 CAD
Celestial Bodies
Celestial Bodies $27.00 $35.50 CAD
The Art of Movement
The Art of Movement $65.00 $82.00 CAD
No Intermissions
No Intermissions $25.99 $33.99 CAD
Diaghilev's Ballets Russes
Diaghilev's Ballets Russes $25.99 $33.99 CAD

Lauren Kessler

About the Author

Lauren Kessler is the author of nine nonfiction books, including Counterclockwise: My Year of Hypnosis, Hormones, Dark Chocolate, and Other Adventures in the World of Anti-aging, as well as My Teenage Werewolf: A Mother, a Daughter, a Journey Through the Thicket of Adolescence. Her journalism has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, O, the Oprah Magazine, Ladies’ Home Journal, Woman’s Day, Prevention, and Salon. An international speaker and workshop leader, she is the creator of two graduate programs in narrative journalism.

Learn more about this author