| Description |
224 pages ; 21 cm |
| Summary |
A lyrical and meditative memoir on the damage we inflict in the pursuit of perfection, the pain of losing our dreams, and the power of letting go of both.With a promising career in classical ballet ahead of her, Ellen O'Connell Whittet was devastated when a misstep in rehearsal caused a career-ending injury. Ballet was the love of her life. She lived for her moments under the glare of the stage-lights--gliding through the air, pretending however fleetingly to effortlessly defy gravity.Yet with a debilitating injury forcing her to reconsider her future, she also began to reconsider what she had taken for granted in her past. Beneath every perfect arabesque was a foot, disfigured by pointe shoes, stuffed--taped and bleeding--into a pink, silk slipper. Behind her ballerina's body was a young girl starving herself into a fragile collection of limbs. Within her love of ballet was a hatred of herself for struggling to achieve the perfection it demanded of her. In this raw and redemptive debut memoir, Ellen O'Connell Whittet explores the silent suffering of the ballerina--and finds it emblematic of the violence that women quietly shoulder every day. For O'Connell Whittet, letting go of one meant confronting the other--only then was it possible to truly take flight. |
| Subject |
O'Connell Whittet, Ellen.
|
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Ballet dancers -- United States -- Biography.
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Ballets.
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Ballet dancers. (OCoLC)fst00826041
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Ballets. (OCoLC)fst00826066
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United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
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| Genre/Form |
Autobiographies.
|
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Autobiographies. (OCoLC)fst01919894
|
| ISBN |
9781612198323 paperback |
|
1612198325 paperback |
|
