Dance of Shadows Blog Tour - "The Beauty of Ballet"

Hi everyone! Today I have Yelena Black, author of Dance of Shadows on the blog to share her thoughts on ballet and its beauty. You can check out my review here. I used to take ballet lessons and I sure loved it, particularly that moment when I first wore my pointe shoes! I would also like to thank Sonia from Bloomsbury for putting this blog tour together!

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I can still remember the very first time I saw The Nutcracker when I was a little girl. I was eight years old, and my parents took me and my brother into Manhattan to see the New York City Ballet. The entire city was lit up with lights and decorations, but the real magic happened inside the theatre—when the stage came to life and I was thrilled by the wondrous flurry of dancing before my eyes. The Nutcracker, choreographed by the legendary George Balachine with music by Tchaikovsky, is still one of my favorite ballets. There is nothing like the snowstorm of ballerinas that grace the stage, sweeping the audience away to exotic and fanciful locales in the Land of Sweets. With beautiful costumes and talented performers, this ballet is what made me fall in love with dance in the first place.

Since I’ve grown older, I have had the privilege of studying dance myself and seeing many performances. My favorite ballerina—Margot Fonteyne—thrilled me with her performance in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. (Granted, I saw it online and not in person, but it was still unbelievable. If you haven’t seen her dance this with incredible Rudolf Nurejev, you must look up clips online. It will stop your heart.) Swan Lake is a tale of doomed, forbidden love and is one of my favorite ballets, and I had the privilege of seeing Matthew Bourne’s modern interpretation of this classical piece twice—once on Broadway, and most recently at City Center. This is more of a ballet-influenced piece of contemporary dance, which takes the basic premise of the Russian ballet and turns it on its head by having all of the swans portrayed by male dancers, who bring a certain ferocity to the creatures that I’d never before seen onstage. It has the distinction of being the longest running ballet on Broadway and in the West End, and its star, Adam Cooper is (in my opinion) one of the best male dancers working today.

I could go on and list dozens more of my favorite ballets (which include Cinderella, Don Quixote, and Romeo and Juliet) but really is the art of ballet that thrills me: the timeless stories, the incredible, soaring music, and the grace and power of the dancers that make a night out at the ballet so thrilling and so worthwhile. This is also what inspires my characters, especially my protagonist Vanessa Adler. I hope you enjoy all of the dancing in my debut novel, Dance of Shadows, and if you haven’t recently … go out and see a dance performance!

  

Add the book: 

Goodreads 

Where to buy? 

Fishpond / The Book Depository / Amazon

Find Yelena Black at:

Twitter / Facebook

Check out the book trailer!

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How I adore Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Definitely two of my all-time favourite ballet performances! Which reminds me, just like how Yelena recommended, I might need to go out and see a dance performance soon! Hope you guys enjoyed the guest post and if you haven't read Dance of Shadows, be sure to check it out. Thank you Yelena for the guest post and Sonia for the putting the blog tour together!

#174 Book Review: Dance of Shadows [ARC]

Dance of Shadows [ARC]
Release Date: February 2013
Author: Yelena Black
Publisher: Bloomsbury Australia
Source: Publisher for Review
Format: Paperback
Where to Buy:  Fishpond
More Info: Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads:

Dancing with someone is an act of trust. Elegant and intimate; you're close enough to kiss, close enough to feel your partner's heartbeat. But for Vanessa, dance is deadly – and she must be very careful who she trusts . . .

Vanessa Adler attends an elite ballet school – the same one her older sister, Margaret, attended before she disappeared. Vanessa feels she can never live up to her sister's shining reputation. But Vanessa, with her glorious red hair and fair skin, has a kind of power when she dances – she loses herself in the music, breathes different air, and the world around her turns to flames . . . 

Soon she attracts the attention of three men: gorgeous Zep, mysterious Josh, and the great, enigmatic choreographer Josef Zhalkovsky. When Josef asks Vanessa to dance the lead in the Firebird, she has little idea of the danger that lies ahead – and the burning forces about to be unleashed . . .

Cover:
Absolutely gorgeous. First up, I like the smoky and firey background. I love how eye-catching the girl's red dress is, how flower petals seem to fly up from the dress and how her pose is very enticing. The girl looks similar to how I imagine Vanessa looks like!

Story:

Welcome to New York Ballet Academy, an elite ballet school for the talented ones...

It is every ballet dancer's dream to attend New York Ballet Academy. It's where people from different places come together; to enhance their ability to dance and fully let themselves immerse into the art of ballet. However, mysteries surround the Academy and Yelena Black's dark and enticing story brings you a tale of deadly dance with a touch of paranormal...

Dance of Shadows is a dark, taunting yet somehow an eerily gorgeous story. Reading this book allows me to reminisce my memories of learning how to dance ballet and all the hard work in training. I can really connect with the experience of dancing ballet in this book. Yelena captures the intense and beautiful feeling of dancing ballet and the 'sacrifice' needed to bond with the dance. What makes this book intriguing is the touch of paranormal and mystery. Ballet is no longer just a beautiful art but it is also dark and terrifying. Through Yelena's writing, she magnifies ballet as though it is a living thing. The book also explores the life of a ballerina and how tough it can be for them. What I particularly adored from this book is actually Yelena's descriptive explanation of ballet. It is detailed and thorough that I can imagine myself dancing in this elite Academy.

Characters:
I have to admit, the characters in this book are not very likeable. Vanessa is alright. I understand what she's feeling but I find it hard to connect with her. I sometimes hated how she acts and the decisions she made throughout the story. Although, when she dances, I forget my issues because Vanessa is a very talented dancer. Her dance makes the dance itself alive and I can't help but be entranced by it. As you can read from the summary, she 'attracts' 3 men; Zep, Justin and Josef. The main love interest in the beginning is Zep and although he is described as this gorgeous, beautiful dancer, I did not like him. His charms did not appeal to me at all and his relationship with Vanessa is so sudden and strange. Justin himself is similar to Zep. He carries this aura of mysteriousness and I can't understand why he acts that way around Vanessa. Josef is at first, interesting although when we discover his story, it feels flat to me. However, Vanessa's friends are all okay and they are pretty enjoyable to read about in this book!

Overall:
Can you imagine attending an elite Ballet Academy, only to discover that something truly mysterious is hidden beneath its reputation? Dance of Shadows is an enticing mixture of the art of ballet, darkness, romance and paranormal. While the characters are not very enjoyable to me, what I thought stood out most from this book is Yelena's descriptive exploration of ballet and its beauty. If you love books about dancing, then this book might just be for you!

4 Forget-Me-Not flowers for Dance of Shadows!

Thank you Bloomsbury Australia for the review copy!

Check out the book trailer below!