The Joffrey Ballet School's Ballet-Fit
Ballet-Fitis for the adult beginner ballet student, "whether 17 or 70." The authors admit the atmosphere in most ballet studios can be a bit intimidating, but say it needn't be.We concede that if you hang around your local ballet school or dance studio, at first glance, it probably will seem to be filled with long-legged, lean-limbed adolescents, with tight little hair buns, stern little faces, and rumpled leg warmers around their ankles. But ... chances are the 23-year-old stretching on the floor isn't a budding ballerina but a law student who finds beginning ballet a relaxing break from her books. As for the thirty-something woman at the barre, very likely she's a new mother who's thrilled with the stronger, firmer, more flexible body she has developed since she began classes.A combination of confidence-boosting ballet instruction and fitness facts, with plenty of photographs (although all in black and white),Ballet-Fitoffers a multitude of tips for beginners. You'll learn what to wear to class, the best way to break in a new pair of pointe shoes, and how to prevent injuries. And you'll even learn the proper pronunciation of the French dance terms, fromarabesquetotemps de flèche. For folks who don't live near a ballet studio or dancewear store, there's a helpful directory of magazines, catalogs, videos, audiotapes, and Web sites.Ballerinas, as dancer Allegra Kent put it, "have the strongest, most beautiful, and very probably the most envied bodies in the world." WithBallet-Fitand some dedication, you can work your way toward becoming a toned, flexibleballetomane, too.--Erica Jorgensen