Being Ballerina by Gavin Larsen is a memoir about Gavin's life as a professional ballet dancer in the United States. The story is told over several short chapters, and covers her entire career from just 8 years old when she first began ballet to when she retired at 35. The ins and outs of the dance world are covered through a variety of perspectives and themes as well as life as a ballerina from injuries to the intense training program to the rise and fall of a star.
Throughout the novel the narration and writing varies, at times it is in third person describing an unnamed ballet dancer, at others it is Gavin sharing her perspective and describing her day to day life, and in others it is written as letters, thoughts, dreams, editorials and other forms. I'm not sure why the author chose to alternate writing styles, and at times I felt it worked well, while at other times I would have preferred one consistent style. Additionally, the time line did skip around a fair amount. It was generally in chronological order, especially near the beginning, but at times when it was more theme-based, a chapter may cover several years. For example, a chapter on her love interest and pet took place over 4 years and even within that chapter jumped around a little bit. The chapters before and after were both early on in that 4 year period or before it, so it wasn't a quick 4 year lapse in one chapter, it was based on those two themes and they happened to take place later in her career. Anyway, if you're hoping for a linear timeline there will be times when things get out of order.
As a former dancer (and as a current French speaker), the terminology such as arabesque, pique, plie etc. was fairly easy for me to follow or understand, however, if readers are not as familiar with this terminology there would be long periods of time throughout the story that would likely be very difficult to picture and may be a bit boring. I think that if you are planning to read a book about ballet you would likely have some level of interest in dance, but that being said, I enjoy a good medical drama and have no clue what it means when they order a bunch of things as the person is coding. Anyway, hopefully if you choose to read this book you will have some level of understanding about the many dance moves, but if you don't then you might want to find a copy of a "dance moves for dummys" type book with images and step-by-step guides otherwise you will miss out on quite a bit of the story.
I had recently read (and did not create a blog post on because it was boring and I didn't finish) Forever on Pointe by Agota Gabor which was not really about being a life long ballerina, as the title beginning with "forever" made me think. Being Ballerina was everything that I hoped for and did not find when reading Forever on Pointe. I have a slight fascination with professional gymnasts and dancers, probably because I wish that I had been able to be part of a more competitive dance scene growing up, and so I often am searching for memoirs written by (former) professionals in these areas, such as Fierce by Aly Raisman. I want to know what my life might have been like if I had committed myself to one of these demanding sports. Being Ballerina allows the reader to follow a ballet dancer from the very beginning of her career all the way to retirement and that in itself checked off most of my boxes for dance memoir. The hard moments were not sugar coated. The fear, exhaustion, pain and despair are present throughout the story.
I so appreciate having the opportunity to read and review this story through Netgalley and the publisher. It was a great book and I would definitely recommend it to other former dancers!
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