Basic Ballet

All the basic movements in classical ballet, illustrated with 275 detailed photographs.

This unique handbook shows all the basic positions, steps, and movements in classical ballet, arranged in the sequence of lessons usually followed over six years of training. An invaluable practice manual for dance students, it is also a wonderful companion to the dance for ballet enthusiasts or anyone who wants a better understanding and appreciation of the art.

Joyce Mackie was born in 1920 and went to the City of London School. She started as a pupil at the Cone School of Dancing at the age of nine, and the Arts Educational School, as it is now called, was to command a large part of her life for more than 40 years. She briefly performed as a dancer, but her main contribution to the dancing profession was as a teacher, and she was on the staff of the Arts Educational School for 32 years, during the latter part of which she was also head of vocational studies. Mackie’s knowledge of dance covered a wide range of techniques, but she held a unique position in the ballet world; she had passed the advanced teachers’ examination of the Royal Academy of Dancing and was a fellow of the Imperial Society Ballet Branch. Joyce Mackie died in 1978.