Lessons

Ballet Practice and History is a complete, inclusive resource on ballet training and history for the beginning teen-adult reader. Unique in its balanced discussion of technique and history, this book guides readers through an accessible methodology of training while also presenting ballet's historical development through a culturally inclusive lens. Part One presents a progression of study guiding the reader through a series of eight scaffolded lessons, including terminology, descriptions, learning guides and lessons. Methods of learning ballet are presented in a healthy and anatomically sound approach for diverse audiences. Each chapter has a dedicated ballet class to reinforce terminology and concepts, available as a video lesson for readers to follow. Part Two presents a global survey of ballet's historical development expanding on the traditional European context to include histories in Mexico, Cuba, South America, South Africa and East-Asia. It also discusses cultural issues assoc

‘A love story and a domestic horror story’ Michael CunninghamStefan Merrill Block was nine when his mother pulled him from school in Plano, Texas, certain that his teachers were ‘stifling his creativity’. Years before homeschooling became a nationwide movement in the US, Stefan vanished from the system and into his mother’s increasingly eccentric theories and projects – including her quest to bleach her 12-year-old son’s hair to recapture his earliest years, and to make him crawl not walk. Beyond his formal lessons in maths, he was largely left to his own devices academically, leaving vast gaps in his knowledge.When, after five years away from the outside world, he re-entered the school system, he was in for a jarring awakening. At once a novelistic portrait of mother and son, and an illuminating window into an overlooked corner of the US education system, Homeschooled is a moving, funny and ultimately inspiring story of a son’s battle for a life of his own choosing, and the price of a