Dance
For many years Whistlestop Bookshop has been a strong supporter of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, from its original genius-dreamer Marcia Dale Weary to the dazzling and dynamic institution that it is today. Cumberland County is now home to several studios of dance, and we welcome and support all of them. I particularly admire dance for a counter-intuitive reality: it is a bookish art even as it abstracts beauty and grace from physics and human movement. Great writing about dance surrounded it from the beginning, great photography is drawn to it, and artwork for both adults and children celebrates it. We welcome dancers throughout the year, we welcome their brave and heroic families, and we welcome the opportunity to stock wonderful books about the art.
The Ballerina Mindset: How to Protect Your Mental Health While Striving for Excellence
The Ballerina Mindset: How to Protect Your Mental Health While Striving for Excellence
Learn how to thrive in intense, competitive environments with these secrets from one of America’s premiere ballerinas–and get a sneak peek at what her life is really like.
Ballet may look glamorous and effortless to audience members, but it requires grueling discipline. It’s a competitive and physically and mentally demanding career that combines elite athleticism, artistry, and performance. Not only do dancers rehearse for six to eight hours a day before performing at night, but they also must make it all look easy!
As a principal ballerina with New York City Ballet and a one-time Broadway star–not to mention a mother of three and an MBA student–Megan Fairchild is all too familiar with these challenges. In The Ballerina Mindset, she shares all the wisdom she’s learned from her nearly two-decade career, drawing upon her own experiences to show us how she learned to overcome challenges ranging from stage fright to negative feedback to a packed calendar to weight management–and how we can do the same. Inspiring, warm, and revelatory, The Ballerina Mindset is the perfect how-to guide for dancers, athletes, artists, and anyone struggling to stay sane in a high-pressure environment.