Ballet Lessons

- from the back cover -

The Ballet and the Sonnet are two artistic forms that originated in the Italian Renaissance. In the meticulous techniques of these forms, artists have found a boundless potential for expression that poignantly and profoundly touches upon the essence of human nature.

Garrett Buhl Robinson composed his first sonnet for ballet on the 25th of March 1998. Twenty-five years later, for his third book of poetry for dance, he presents 98 of his new sonnets celebrating the art of ballet.

Through this cycle of sonnets, the strict metrics of the lyrical lines trace the precision of ballerinas' intricate steps, the poems' clean concision depicts the rigorous discipline of formal technique and the fluency of verse evokes the exhilaration of dance as the expressions transform through a myriad of metaphors to convey the majestic ways ballet moves through the world as the elegant dancers move through ballet.

Foremost, the sonnets illustrate how the lessons of ballet can inspire and guide everyone as we all move through the demands of society and strive to liberate our lives with the grace of the enchanting dancers who have devoted themselves to master the excellence in the art of ballet.