A review by bookbrig
The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History by Karen Valby

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I learned so much reading this! I love watching ballet, but I only knew the names of a small handful of dancers, including Misty Copeland and Michaela DePrince. It was fascinating to read about these dancers, Arthur Mitchell, and the Dance Theater of Harlem, and I particularly loved the audiobook as several of the ballerinas narrated some of their portions of the story. Each dancer was painted so vividly that I feel like I really got to know them and so much of their remarkable hard work and exceptional talent comes across in these pages. It's just a wonderful book, and I'm glad I know so much more now about the Black dancers who carved out a place in ballet before the dancers I've been more familiar with. 

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