I can't tell you how many times I've had someone ask "which ballet books are the best?" So I figured I'd put them all in a list for you, and tell you which are my favorites and why! 

These are just 5 of my favorites - hopefully, I can do a full roundup post soon!

For Ballet Stories - Balanchine's Complete Stories of the Great Ballets

I love this book! It' about three inches thick and loaded with ballet stories, photographs, and really interesting details about the ballets.

Each ballet is in alphabetical order, and has a paragraph explaining how many acts/scenes, who wrote the music and did the original choreography, where it was performed, who danced it etc. and other interesting facts for all you history buffs out there. Then each act and scene is explained. If the ballet has multiple different versions or variations of the plot, (like Swan Lake or The Nutcracker) each different version of the story is explained too! This is great for Artistic Directors who are trying to pick which version to go with, or dancers who want to know all the different variations of the same story.

This is a great book. I have the Revised and Enlarged edition. I found it years ago at my local library and I checked it out constantly. Only recently did I decide to buy it for myself.

For Visualization - Anything by Eric Franklin

I have 4 of Eric Franklin's books, and I love these two the most. They are such powerful and useful tools! Dr. Franlin has great knowledge on visualization techniques and body kinesthetics.

For Teaching Technique- Advanced Principles in Teaching Ballet

I love this book because it's a no-nonsense guide written directly to teachers in a very readable format. One of my go-to's!

For Understanding Anatomy and Physiology - The Concise Book of Muscles

the newer editions

I used the first edition in school.

This is the textbook I use in college - only it's not priced like a normal textbook! It's surprisingly affordable. It covers each bone and muscle (and exercises/stretches for each one), has great photos, and covers anatomy basics of movement like flexion, circumduction, etc, planes of movement, makeup and build of muscles,  and tons more.

For Vocabulary - Gail Grant's Classic (newest version)

You need this book. Just get it.