The Brainy Ballerina Book Club
For as long as I can remember, I have loved to read. I dreamed of growing up to be either a ballerina or a librarian. When I was young, I set up my own personal library, each book meticulously labeled by the Dewey Decimal System, and demanded kindly invited my family members to come check out books.
Even though I didn’t end up pursuing library science professionally, reading is still one of my greatest loves. A lifelong learner, I crave new challenges, ideas, and experiences. I am fascinated by other’s stories and am always applying the lessons I learn in books to my own life, both personally and professionally. I truly believe that an insatiable curiosity is one of the hallmark traits of a truly “brainy ballerina”.
Whether you are an avid reader or looking to get into the habit, The Brainy Ballerina® Book Club welcomes you with open arms! We are a community of dance lovers who are eager to expand our knowledge, feed our souls, and make meaningful connections.
There are two ways to get involved. Check out the options below, then choose one or the other or go all in and sign up for both! Either way, I’m happy you’re here!
💛 Caitlin, CEO & Founder of The Brainy Ballerina®
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May 2024 Book of the Month
Astonish Me
by Maggie Shipstead
Astonish Me is the irresistible story of Joan, a young American dancer who helps a Soviet ballet star, the great Arslan Rusakov, defect in 1975. A flash of fame and a passionate love affair follow, but Joan knows that, onstage and off, she is destined to remain in the background.
After her relationship with Arslan sours, Joan plots to make a new life for herself. She quits ballet, marries a good man, and settles in California with him and their son, Harry. But as the years pass, Joan comes to understand that ballet isn’t finished with her yet, for there is no mistaking that Harry is a prodigy. Through Harry, Joan is pulled back into a world she thought she’d left behind—back into dangerous secrets, and back, inevitably, to Arslan.
Gripping, dramatic, and brilliantly conjured, Astonish Me raises provocative questions about the nature of talent, the choices we must make in search of fulfillment, and how we square the yearning for comfort with the demands of art.
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Past Book Club Picks
2024
2023
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December 2022 Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
November 2022 Winter Season: A Dancer’s Journal by Toni Bentley
October 2022 Soar: A Life Freed by Dance by David McAllister
September 2022 More Than A Body: Your Body Is an Instrument, Not an Ornament by Lindsay Kite, PhD & Lexie Kite, PhD
August 2022 Raising the Barre: Big Dreams, False Starts & My Midlife Quest to Dance the Nutcracker by Lauren Kessler
July 2022 Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski, Ph.D. & Amelia Nagoski, D.M.A.
June 2022 Turning Pointe: How a New Generation of Dancers Is Saving Ballet from Itself by Chloe Angyal
May 2022 Final Bow For Yellowface: Dancing Between Intention & Impact by Phil Chan with Michele Chase
April 2022 The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self Love by Sonya Renee Taylor
March 2022 The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life by Twyla Tharp
February 2022 Life In Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland