I recently started an online ballet book club — it’s a warm and welcoming space for anyone who loves reading and loves ballet and wants to chat about it in good company.
To me, a ballet book club makes perfect sense.
For years, I have felt that the type of people who are drawn to ballet are very often thoughtful, smart, and considerate — just the sort of people I’d like to join in a book club.
How does an online book club work?
I created a Facebook group, which anyone may join after answering three quick questions. I felt a Facebook group would give us a nice, cozy corner of the internet where we could freely discuss our thoughts and geek out together over all things books and ballet.
Here's how the book club works:
- Within the group, each month, members are encouraged to vote in a poll that includes a selection of book titles.
- After the poll closes, I announce the winning book, which we read the following month.
- For the selected book, I create a reading guide with chapters for each week.
- We hold weekly discussions, and everyone is welcome to share their thoughts.
Please take note: there are no hard and fast rules about participation. This club is meant to be a fun and inspiring place. After all, it’s a book club, not a college course!
Members may participate at their leisure.
Can’t afford to buy the book, or perhaps you aren’t interested in the current selection? No worries, you are welcome to skip months as needed.
Don’t have time to finish your chapters for the week? No worries. (But you may want to steer clear of discussions to avoid spoilers!)
Everyone is welcome to participate in the Ballet Book Club at their leisure. Our lives are stressful enough; my vision is for the club to be a relief and solace from day-to-day happenings.
What will we be reading first?
Our members have voted and our first selection is Joanna Marsh's debut novel Cantique, which tells the story of eager, dedicated adult ballet student Colette Larsen.
(I have already read Cantique, but I am honestly just as excited to read it the second time as I was the first.)
Cantique won our poll by a landslide, which isn’t surprising, considering most of our members are adults who do ballet — I simply cannot think of any other novel in which the main character is an adult ballet student.
In fact, Cantique may be the only such book in the whole world.
And that makes it pretty special.
Every adult ballet student should read this novel, because...
Colette Larsen is every adult ballet dancer.
We all crave characters we can relate to, who make us nod our heads fervently, as we think to ourselves, “This. This is me. Now, THIS I understand.”
That is what adult ballet students have found in Colette Larsen.
Both completely overcome by but also at odds with her love of ballet, Colette helps adult ballerinas and danseurs everywhere feel a little bit less alone in their pursuit of dance.
She is the protagonist the adult ballet community sorely needed and one for whom we will be forever grateful.
I happen to know the author Joanna personally — we take ballet class together, we perform together, and we even attended a summer intensive together — so I know she understands the adult ballet experience firsthand.
And that is why her book resonates so deeply with adult ballet students.
Joanna, and her book, are a gift to the adult ballet world.
Join us for the first month of Ballet Book Club!
(Helpful hint: if you live somewhere where shipping for Cantique is unavailable or prohibitively expensive, consider purchasing the Kindle ebook! Even if you do not have a Kindle, you can download the Kindle app and read the book on your phone or tablet.)
I simply cannot wait to dive into this novel and have thoughtful discussions with people who love ballet as much as I do. Hope to see you at the Ballet Book Club!
