Olivia Book Joins Ballet West Corps and Expands Ballet’s Body Norms

Olivia Book, from Grimsby, Ontario, has been promoted to the corps de ballet of Ballet West. She is one of the first professional ballerinas with a congenital limb difference: her right arm is smaller than her left. During a 2024 run of Swan Lake, the specificity of her pointe work and the delicate opposition of her shoulders and head made her form stand out among the swans.

Book began dancing at 3 and started pointe at 12. She was spotted by Ballet West’s artistic director, Adam Sklute, while he was judging the 2018 Youth America Grand Prix semifinals and was offered a place in the company’s school. She began training at the Ballet West Academy in 2019 and spent two years as a student, two as a trainee and three in Ballet West II.

Much of her work has involved adapting technique to her body: she has learned to balance with one smaller arm and to dance pas de deux using only one hand for connection. In The Nutcracker, when a role required holding a tapestry with her right hand, she reached her left arm overhead to manage the prop.

Canada, Grimsby, Ontario

olivia book, ballet west, grimsby, limb difference, swan lake, pointe work, adam sklute, grand prix, the nutcracker, ballet training