There have been many renditions of the alphabet book, since the first version, A Apple Pie, was published in 1886. However, none of them come even close to the one created recently, by six performance artists from Connecticut's Pilobolus Dance theater in collaboration with photographer, John Kane.

Created to appeal to both adults and children, the book features the dancers contorting their bodies in different ways to create each of the 26 letters. If that isn't enough, each image representing the letter has also been created by these extraordinarily flexible dancers - for example for the letter 'A' they shaped themselves as Ants, while for 'O' they created an 'Octopus' - With no props other than with their bodies.

John says the hardest letters to shape properly were 'C' and 'R', and while he will not reveal how they finally accomplished it, he promises that the final result does not involve any photography tricks. It took John and the dancers, six days to complete the entire alphabet, which was photographed at his studio in Litchfield, Connecticut.

This is not the first time, the fabulous Pilobolus dance troupe have demonstrated their impressive skills. At the 2007 Oscars, they vowed the world by forming silhouetted figures of the nominees for best picture, from behind a translucent screen.

The 44-page hard cover book, entitled Pilobolus, The Human Alphabet, is available at all major book stores and retails for about $12.00 USD. Pretty cool to have around even if you know your alphabet, don't you think?

sources: starcasm.net, telegraph.co.uk