Possibly the best-loved of all ballets are &ldquo;Giselle,&rdquo; &ldquo;La Bayadère,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Swan Lake.&rdquo; Known as the White Ballets, they each tell stories of ethereal maidens costumed in floating white, who seem to be lovely creatures suspended somewhere between heaven and earth.<br><br>It is every ballerina&rsquo;s dream to dance &ldquo;Giselle.&rdquo; Despite being frail, the simple peasant girl, Giselle, can&rsquo;t give up dancing. She is afraid that if she dies before she weds, she will become a <i>Wili, </i>a spirit maiden who haunts the forests seeking revenge on young men. Though she can&rsquo;t change her own fate, she finds a way to save the one she loves.<br><br>Nikiya is a beautiful temple dancer, a bayadère. She fights tradition when she falls in love with the warrior Solor. Solor has already been promised to a well-born girl, but he risks everything for Nikiya.<br><br>&ldquo;Swan Lake&rdquo; is also about recognizing true love and risking everything for it. Prince Siegfried meets Odile by the shores of a mysterious lake and he vows to marry her. But Odile is under a curse: she must spend every day in the form of a swan and is only human for a few hours during the night. If they are to spend eternity together, Siegfried has to find a way to lift the curse.<br><br>Rajka Kupesic, herself a dancer, has retold the stories and set them against her breathtaking art to create a book to cherish. Notes about the ballets are included.