author
(Mock Cover)
Grace Andersen
unpublished
Camille Carter thought ballet was everything—until her best friend sabotaged her debut and disappeared without a trace. Now, at an elite conservatory where patrons wield power and silence is mandatory, she must confront a crime, a cover-up, and an impossible choice between her career and her conscience.
Once regarded as prodigious, twenty-year-old ballerina Camille Carter has spent the past year unraveling after her best friend, Lila, sabotaged her career-making, debut performance then disappeared without a trace. Weeks before this year’s Gala, a sudden casting crisis hands Camille—who’s secretly desperate for a new beginning—a second chance at the spotlight. Out of form and estranged from her peers, she must decide whether to seize the role that could salvage her career—or walk away from the world she has already sacrificed everything to enter.
Set in present-day New York City, Capitol Interdisciplinary Performing Arts Academy is an elite, patron-funded conservatory housing one hundred of the country’s most promising young artists—talent cultivated for the stage and for those who bankroll it. Behind closed doors, students endure demanding rehearsals, private patron meetings disguised as mentorship, relentless press scrutiny, and a culture that rewards silence as much as talent. As rumors about Lila’s disappearance begin to resurface, Camille starts to suspect it wasn’t just a breakdown or a runaway act—but the result of a crime the institution worked quickly to bury.
When Camille returns to the stage, the administration corners her with a binding contract that promises sponsorship, coveted roles, and industry placement—an offer that doubles as a threat of being blacklisted if she refuses. Meanwhile, the students are plotting rebellion: they will secretly rewrite the Gala’s choreography to expose the patrons’ corruption and the institution’s hidden abuses. If their plan succeeds, they could reveal the truth of the academy—but it could also mean public disgrace, expulsion, or worse. Camille must decide whether to join them and risk everything she’s worked for—or protect her future and remain complicit in the system that drove her best friend to ruin.
LES PETITS RATS is monikered by the nickname given to the exploited young ballerinas in Degas’ paintings of the Paris Opera House. At Capitol, Camille and her peers confront a modern version of the same economy: grueling expectations, blurred boundaries, and exploitation disguised as prestige.
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Worry Alexandra Tanner
Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro
Bunny Mona Awad
They’re Going To Love You Meg Howrey
film + tv
Black Swan Darren Aronofsky
Whiplash Damien Chazelle
Suspiria Luca Guadagnino
Moulin Rouge Baz Luhrmann
Dance Moms C.A. Productions