For many of us, dance – be it classical ballet or modern, or any dance performance onstage and in film – seems a stratified life, beginning with the very young masses of eager wannabes who dutifully show up at weekly (eventually daily) classes, and rising up through endless levels of natural talent, dedicated practice and competition to the top famous, exquisitely privileged, successful few. Dance at this degree is something that we watch. And like the worlds of Olympic athletes or tennis champions or professional musicians, it’s not a world that most of us can imagine. Two new books are out to help us do just that: Apollo’s Angels: A History of Dance by Jennifer Homans and I Was a Dancer by Jacques D’Amboise.

National Dance Institute director Jacques D’Amboise is recognized as one of the finest classical dancers of our time. He now leads the field of arts education with a model program that exposes thousands of schoolchildren to the magic and discipline of dance. In 1976, while still a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, D’Amboise founded the National Dance Institute in the belief that the arts have a unique power to engage and motivate individuals toward excellence. In I Was a Dancer, he takes readers on his journey from beginning classical studies at the age of eight through a magical lifetime of professional performances with some of the greats, like Maria Tallchief, Suzanne Farrell and others. He was the protégé of the master George Balanchine and was taught by other legends. He writes intimately of his childhood and family, and highlights the moment when he realized that his dancing career was over. I Was a Dancer is a riveting memoir, filled with intriguing photo illustrations.

Jennifer Homans’ Apollo’s Angels is a groundbreaking work: possibly the first cultural history of ballet ever written. Homans describes ballet’s origins in the Renaissance and the codification of its basic steps and positions. She takes the reader through the various distinct national styles: the French, Italian, Danish, Russian, English and American traditions, which each have unique expressions, focusing on the 20th-century emigration of Russian dancers who so strongly influenced the way that ballet was practiced in the Western world. Illustrated with numerous photographs and graphic plates, Apollo’s Angels is a rich resource for serious ballet aficionados. A historian and professional dancer who performed with the Chicago Lyric Opera Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet, Homans is the ideal author for such a tome.

D’Amboise and Homans will be hosted by the Village Bookstore & Literary Arts Center for a discussion and book-signing at the Orpheum Theater in Tannersville on Saturday, July 23 at 1 p.m. Admission is $5. Please call (518) 263-2050 for further information.

Also at the Village Bookstore & Literary Arts Center in Hunter:

Saturday, July 2 at 2 p.m. – Meet author Angela Hart, who presents her gripping case in Through Angela’s Eye, the inside story of “Operation Firewall” and the theft of her identity. There is no charge for this event.

Saturday, July 9 at 1 p.m. – Meet author Rebecca McBride, who will discuss and sign copies of her Traveling between the Lines: Europe in 1938, an intriguing tale of the author’s parents, who journaled about their adventures in Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, England and Wales during a notable period in history. The book combines the father’s journal and photographs with the author’s probing historical and personal commentary. Admission is $5.

Sunday, July 31 at 1 p.m. – In River of Words, author Nina Shengold and photographer Jennifer May explore the current crop of Hudson Valley writers, offering intimate portraits of 76 contemporary writers who live and work in this magnificent and storied region. Meet Shengold and May along with five of their subjects: writers Shalom Auslander (Foreskin’s Lament), Helen Benedict (Sand Queen), Wesley Brown (Tragic Magic, Darktown Strutters and Push Comes to Shove), Alison Gaylin and Mikhail Horowitz. Admission is free to this event.

At the Golden Notebook in Woodstock:

Saturday, July 2 at 2:30 p.m. at the Kleinert/James Arts Center – A discussion and celebration of the music of the British Invasion with three experts on British rock of the 1960s to 1970s will feature authors Tony Fletcher (Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon), Jonathan Gould (Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America) and Gordon Thompson (Please Please Me: Sixties British Pop, Inside Out). The panel will be moderated by Doug Grunther of WDST 100.1 FM’s Woodstock Roundtable. There is no charge for this event. Refreshments will be served, and the authors’ books will be available for purchase at the event.

Saturday, July 9 at 5 p.m. at Woodstock Artists’ Association Museum – Barbara Hammer, pioneer of avant-garde and queer cinema, will perform readings from her memoir HAMMER! Making Movies out of Sex and Life and show clips of her films spanning four decades.

Saturday, July 9 at 7 p.m. at Oriole 9 Restaurant – Lesley Daniels will read from her new novel Cleaning Nabokov’s House, a funny and moving tale of a woman’s attempt to rebuild her life after divorce.

Thursday, July 14 at 7 p.m. at Oriole 9 Restaurant – Former Woodstock resident singer/songwriter Bar Scott will read from her poignant memoir The Present Giver, an account of the death of her young son in 2002.

At Half Moon Books in Kingston:

Saturday, July 16 at 11 a.m. – Meet Evander Lomke and Martin Rowe, co-authors of Right off the Bat: Baseball, Cricket, Literature and Life, in which Lomke and Martin Rowe explain “their” sport to the other sport’s fans through anecdotes, diagrams, photographs and a curve (or dipper) or two.

At Inquiring Minds Bookstore in Saugerties:

Saturday, July 16 at 4 p.m. – Gregg St. Claire will be reading from his recently published book A Natural Health Companion: An Integral Handbook Using Eastern and Western Techniques.

Sunday, July 24 at 3 p.m. – Glenn Kreisberg will be reading from his recently released book Lost Knowledge of the Ancients: A Graham Hancock Reader, an anthology of articles on alternative science and history and the research and researchers associated with that subject.

At Inquiring Minds Bookstore in New Paltz:

Friday, July 8 at 6:30 p.m. – Come to a book reading and Yoga as Muse™ experience with Catherine Holm, Bhavi Rivais and Tanya Robie. Get in touch with your Muse. This event is free and open to the public.

Saturday, July 23 at 7 p.m. – Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman, authors of The Jersey Sting, will be in-house to read and sign and schmooze. This event is free and open to the public.

At Merritt Books in Millbrook:

Saturday, July 2 at 11a.m. – Eden Unger Bowditch will read and sign her newest Young Adult novel The Atomic Weight of Secrets, a story about the wonders of science and the even-greater wonders of friendship.

At Oblong Books in Rhinebeck:

Friday, July 8 at 7 p.m. In this “Survivor Edition” Hudson Valley YA Society, Oblong hosts Libba Bray (Going Bovine), Michael Northrop (Gentlemen), and E. Archer (Geek Fantasy Novel), with Oblong favorite David Levithan on hand to moderate their discussion. RSVP is required for this free event. RSVP to rsvp@oblongbooks.com.

Saturday, July 9 at 7:30 p.m. Local author Edie Meidav will launch her new title Lola, California. Come meet the author!

At Spotty Dog Books & Ale in Hudson:

Thursday, July 7 at 7 p.m. – A book release celebration will take place for Rebecca Wolff’s debut novel The Beginners, a “meticulous and pitch-perfect fever dream of adolescence.” Wolff is an award-winning poet and founding editor of Fence, a journal of poetry, fiction, art and criticism, which is published in partnership with the New York State Writers’ Institute and the University at Albany. In addition to Wolff, Sarah Falkner will also be reading from her debut novel Animal Sanctuary, scheduled to be released this October. This event is free and open to the public. The Spotty Dog Books & Ale is an independent bookstore, art supply and café serving craft beer situated in the former Evans Firehouse at 440 Warren Street in Hudson. For further information concerning this and other events, call the store at (518) 671-6006.

At Barnes & Noble in Kingston:

Saturday, July 9 at 2 p.m. Author Richard Heppner has served as town historian for Woodstock for the last ten years. He’ll read from and sign copies of his non-fiction book Women of the Catskills: Stories of Struggle, Sacrifice and Hope.

Monday, July 11 at 6:30 p.m. Nova Ren Suma will be on hand to launch her first YA novel, Imaginary Girls.