dspoja

Thank you all very much for all the suggestions. Interestingly enough I was reading about Clara Webster last night in an old textbook from college. :-)

Thank you very much rg. This will be a great start for me. Most of the books I looked at so far cover the history of ballets and dancers accomplishments, but not what was behind the scenes so I was not sure where else to look.

Danja

Hello,

I am doing some research on the life of ballerinas in the 2nd half of XIX century in Western Europe and Russia, and I would like to learn about their daily routine in terms of preparation for a performance.

The main questions are:

1. Did ballet dancers take a daily ballet class? How long was the class? Did it occur in the morning?

2. What kind of attire did they wear for the class?

3. Were there any women teachers at that time?

4. Did principal ballerinas take class with the rest of the company?

5. How long did the schooling of a young dancer last before becoming a professional dancer?

Could anyone recommend a good resource which provides answers to these types of questions?

Many thanks,

Danja