To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel

Week 8 Graphic Novel
To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel
Written By: Siena Cherson Siegel
Illustrated by: Mark Siegel Published: 2006

This book is for the dreamers. It was beautifully simplicity and elegance made for a quick read that had me smiling the whole way through. Siena Kherson Siegel has crafted a memoir about her journey and experience towards becoming a ballerina in the New York City Ballet. Siena was born in Puerto Rico and spent most of her childhood living there with her family. As the book states, "dancers are young when they first dream of dance". In our main character's case, she was six years old when she started twirling about and dreaming of pink ballet slippers. Her dancing journey continued when the family relocated to Boston for a year. Siena's passion for dance continued to flourish as she saw a production by Bolshoi Ballet, a Russian company, that was on tour in America. After a while, Siena ended up auditioning for a ballet program in America while the rest of her family moved back to Puerto Rico. This is when her career really began at the ripe age of twelve. After being accepted to the American School of Ballet, Siena began to experience the triumphs and hardships that came with becoming a professional dancer. 

The illustrations in the book were just as those of a ballerina book should be: precise and elegant without being too harsh. The pages are connected together by pointe shoe ribbons running through each page. My favorite scenes were the ones where Siena was watching from the wings of the stage during a production. This was when you really got a feel for how passionate Siena was about ballet and how mesmerized she was by the professionals. During these scenes, a majority of the picture was done in dark blues and blacks, but the preforming was depicted in vivid colors. I really felt like I was seeing the ballet world through Siena's eyes. The writing for me was a bit disconnected. In comparison to the other graphic novels I have read, the text didn't compliment the illustrations as seamlessly as the others had. This did not take much away from the experience thought. Siegel writes with such simplicity and brutal honesty that you really do come out of the experience feeling as though you've been through this dream-like journey with her.

While this book probably wouldn't lend itself to an actual lesson, it is a wonderful book to have on hand for all of those dancers out there. While reading this book, I couldn't help but think about my older sister, Jordan. She was a ballerina all through high school. She has never been a huge reader and I couldn't help but wonder if that would be different if this book was around when she was younger. Sometimes all it takes is one book to hook somebody into being a lifelong reader, and I just know that this will be that book for lots of aspiring dancers out there. Four "bare-legged" stars for To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel.