Audio only
Length7h 36m
About this audiobook
An incisive exploration of ballet’s role in the modern world, told through the experience of the author and her classmates at the most elite ballet school in the country: the School of American Ballet.
Growing up, Alice Robb dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer. But by age fifteen, she had to face the reality that she would never meet the impossibly high standards of the hyper-competitive ballet world. After she quit, she tried to avoid ballet—only to realize, years later, that she was still haunted by the lessons she had absorbed in the mirror-lined studios of Lincoln Center, and that they had served her well in the wider world. The traits ballet takes to an extreme—stoicism, silence, submission—are valued in girls and women everywhere.
Profound, nuanced, and passionately researched, Don’t Think, Dear is Robb’s excavation of her adolescent years as a dancer and an exploration of how those days informed her life for years to come.
As she grapples with the pressure she faced as a student at the School of American Ballet, she investigates the fates of her former classmates as well. From sweet and innocent Emily, whose body was deemed thin enough only when she was too ill to eat, to precocious and talented Meiying, who was thrilled to be cast as the young star of the Nutcracker but dismayed to see Asians stereotyped onstage, and Lily, who won the carrot they had all been chasing—an apprenticeship with the New York City Ballet—only to spend her first season dancing eight shows a week on a broken foot.
Theirs are stories of heartbreak and resilience, of reinvention and regret. Along the way, Robb weaves in the myths of famous ballet personalities past and present, from the groundbreaking Misty Copeland, who rose from poverty to become an icon of American ballet, to the blind diva Alicia Alonso, who used the heat of the spotlights and the vibrations of the music to navigate space onstage. By examining the psyche of a dancer, Don’t Think, Dear grapples with the contradictions and challenges of being a woman today.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Audiobook details
GenreOther, Biography and Memoir, Education and Learning
Length7 hrs 36 mins
Narrated byAlice Robb
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateFeb 28, 2023
LanguageEnglish
The Book of Proverbs (2020 Edition)Brian Simmons4h 48m1 (1)$10 · $0.00
The Holy Bible - 1 SamuelKing James2h 13m$3 · $0.00
KJV Holy BibleBroadStreet Publishing Group LLC96h 16m$10 · $0.00
Book of ColossiansUnknown Author16m$8
The American Standard Bible — The Gospel of MatthewMatthew3h 56m$2 · $0.00
Everyday Chanakya | Time Management S01E08Radhakrishnan Pillai42m$4
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m$24 · $0.00
The King James Audio Bible New Testament CompleteChristopher Glyn20h 2m5 (1)$12 · $0.00
Faiths CheckbookCharles Spurgeon12h 44m$11 · $0.00
Be Wild Be FreeAmber Fossey26m$7 · $0.00
My Favorite Husband, Vol. 1Hollywood 360, CBS Radio5h 40m$14
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m$20 · $0.00
The Chosen Book OneAmanda Jenkins, Kristen Hendricks, Dallas Jenkins3h 8m$10 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m$29 · $0.00
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the HorseCharlie Mackesy58m$11 · $0.00
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeJ.C. Ryle27h 13m$18 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m$29 · $0.00
Brain Training for RidersAndrea Monsarrat Waldo5h 56m$19 · $0.00
My Effin' LifeGeddy Lee17h 11m5 (1)$40 · $0.00
Matters of the HeartJacinta Nampijinpa Price9h 35m$29 · $0.00
How to Test Negative for StupidJohn Kennedy8h 13m$28 · $0.00
Defying JihadEsther Ahmad8h 50m$20
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m$24 · $0.00
Frederick Douglass: All 3 Memoirs in One VolumeFrederick Douglass42h 36m$1 · $0.00
Send MeMarty Skovlund, Joe Kent8h 10m$26 · $0.00
Ulysses S. Grant: Life of the Fearless General & Commander-in-Chief (Complete Edition - Volumes 1&2)Ulysses S. Grant30h 34m$2 · $0.00
Left for DeadEbony Canion5h 34m$17
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m$29 · $0.00
A Bridge Not Too FarDeepak Ohri4h 55m$15
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m$24 · $0.00
A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings With George Müller (The Complete Four-Volume Edition)George Müller43h 39m$2 · $0.00
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m$29 · $0.00
WitnessAriel Burger8h 1m$20 · $0.00
EducationEllen G. White9h 44m$2 · $0.00
Start Here Start NowLiz Kleinrock4h 20m$20
Children Under FireJohn Woodrow Cox10h 17m$29 · $0.00
En ComunidadCarla España, Luz Yadira Herrera6h 10m$23
Textured TeachingLorena Escoto Germán4h 25m$20
The State Must ProvideAdam Harris7h 15m$24 · $0.00
Parents and ChildrenCharlotte Mason9h 17m$1 · $0.00
The Freelance WayRobert Vlach19h 48m$40 · $0.00
Race to the BottomLuke Rosiak9h 20m$29 · $0.00
We Got ThisCornelius Minor6h 28m$23
They Came for the SchoolsMike Hixenbaugh9h 5m$8 · $0.00
Find Me UnafraidKennedy Odede, Jessica Posner11h 11m$29 · $0.00
A Novel ApproachKate Roberts5h 22m$20
Being the ChangeSara K. Ahmed5h 27m$20
Asking for ItKate Harding8h 55m$20 · $0.00
When Kids Can't Read—What Teachers Can DoKylene Beers12h 31m$25
Defining Moments in Black HistoryDick Gregory7h 37m$26 · $0.00
The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the AtlanteanMaurice Doreal3h 4m$6 · $0.00
You may also like
DemianHermann Hesse5h 45m$20
Reaching NinetyMartin Duberman12h 57m$23
The Dream BearerWalter Dean Myers3h 46m$18 · $0.00
The Complete Autobiographical Works of S. T. Coleridge (Illustrated Edition)Samuel Taylor Coleridge, May Byron, William Hazlitt, James Gillman60h 52m$2 · $0.00
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManJames Joyce9h 1m$24 · $0.00
What Doesn't Kill You Makes You BlackerDamon Young8h 12m$26 · $0.00
A Very Irregular HeadRob Chapman13h 41m$23 · $0.00
Screen SaverNat Segaloff7h 26m$17
My PrideAlton Fitzgerald White6h 30m$20
The Humble PieJory John11m$4 · $0.00
TimestampMarcus Granderson2h 6m$15
The Matter of Black LivesJelani Cobb, David Remnick30h 2m$53 · $0.00
That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell YouElyse Myers5h 32m$24 · $0.00
Emile, Confessions & The Social Contract (3 Books in One Edition)Jean-Jacques Rousseau62h 46m$1 · $0.00
e-Pedia: Marilyn MonroeWikipedia contributors278h 44m$2 · $0.00
Radio ProJoe Martelle22h 3m$30
People in Glass HousesTanya Levin10h 32m$20
Veronika Decides to DiePaulo Coelho5h 30m$24 · $0.00
A Personal OdysseyThomas Sowell10h 56m$21
Gilbert Keith ChestertonMaisie Ward25h 46m$2.30