Books about ballet and famous dancers

[Legseleven]

Thank you oncnp! I see that Curtain Up is now also known as Theatre Shoes. Odd, but not as odd - and just wrong I think - as The Painted Garden also now being known as Movie Shoes. 

There is a point at which things go too far and my view is that Movie Shoes for the truly lovely The Painted Garden represents that point for me! 🙄

Edited March 2, 2023 by Legseleven

[Sim]

13 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

And even worse…. A community dance project called ‘Shimmer & Shine’ ????

Dare say this will all be super inclusive & PC..!
 

'Even worse' than what?  

 

And what is wrong with being inclusive?  This is a book aimed at children and young people, and that is what their world is like.  Surely it's a positive thing to aim ballet at all children and young people?

[Sim]

16 hours ago, alison said:

But seriously: "Dame Clougston-Wilmott"??!!

Have I missed something?  What is wrong with that name, bearing in mind that this is a book aimed at children?

[Peanut68]

6 hours ago, Sim said:

'Even worse' than what?  

 

And what is wrong with being inclusive?  This is a book aimed at children and young people, and that is what their world is like.  Surely it's a positive thing to aim ballet at all children and young people?

I consider myself justly wrist-slapped Sim…my apologies if my comment caused any offence.

I completely agree things should be inclusive - I just groaned at the ‘jazz hands’ sounding name! 

[alison]

On 02/03/2023 at 11:37, Sim said:

Have I missed something?  What is wrong with that name, bearing in mind that this is a book aimed at children?

 

The format's wrong: Dame Ninette, Dame Ninette de Valois, fine - but not Dame de Valois (or Sir Dowell, for that matter).  Dame (or Sir) always goes with the given name, not the surname.

[Sim]

47 minutes ago, alison said:

 

The format's wrong: Dame Ninette, Dame Ninette de Valois, fine - but not Dame de Valois (or Sir Dowell, for that matter).  Dame (or Sir) always goes with the given name, not the surname.

Yes I know that, but this is just children’s fiction, not to be taken literally!  

[Dance*is*life]

On 02/03/2023 at 02:11, Legseleven said:

Thank you oncnp! I see that Curtain Up is now also known as Theatre Shoes. Odd, but not as odd - and just wrong I think - as The Painted Garden also now being known as Movie Shoes. 

There is a point at which things go too far and my view is that Movie Shoes for the truly lovely The Painted Garden represents that point for me! 🙄

Totally agree and yes I loved the Painted Garden too.  Wintle's Wonders is such a good name - it conjures up that era of kids in stage schools dancing as a troupe in panto!  I think they decided that Americans wouldn't understand the references, so made them the Shoe series.  There's an hysterically funny interview with Michael MacIntyre when he explains the differences between American and English terminology.  Apologies to any Americans on here, but it is very gentle humour at their expense!

 

[Fiz]

I loathe all the retitled Noel Streatfeild books. It shows a stunning lack of imagination. “Mrs Wintle’s Little Wonders“ told you exactly what you were getting. “- shoes” is lazy and uninformative. 
 

 

[Guest oncnp]

Coming in September (via @gwdancewriter IG)

 

 

Dynamo, Michael Somes A Life in The Royal Ballet: Amazon.co.uk: Woodcock, Sarah: 9781852731878: Books

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by oncnp

[Odyssey]

Today’s links includes Books to Awaken Your Inner Ballerina which I found to be an interesting list with accompanying reviews of some dance titles. 
 

[Guest oncnp]

 

"Pleasure and pliés: the ballet bonkbusters handling dance’s hot button issues"

 

Pleasure and pliés: the ballet bonkbusters handling dance’s hot button issues | Ballet | The Guardian

[Emeralds]

On 12/07/2023 at 09:55, oncnp said:

 

"Pleasure and pliés: the ballet bonkbusters handling dance’s hot button issues"

 

Pleasure and pliés: the ballet bonkbusters handling dance’s hot button issues | Ballet | The Guardian

A pity the newspaper and Getty Images have been sloppy with their labelling and fact checking....and seem to believe that ABT managed to resurrect their legendary dancer, ballet master and director Frederic Franklin from the grave and turned the clock back too. The photo looks more like ABT soloist Blaine Hoven with Ms Hamrick and Ms Seo in the Swan Lake Act 1 pas de trois, but members across the Atlantic who are regular ABT attendees may be able to confirm/correct this.

Edited July 13, 2023 by Emeralds

[capybara]

Vadim Muntagirov’s autobiography From Small Steps to Big Leaps was published in June and is available from the ROH shop among other retailers.

It is garnering enthusiastic comments on his IG account:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CuqmuxVoytf/?img_index=1

 

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by capybara

[Jan McNulty]

A couple of crime novels - some of them dance related:

 

https://crimereads.com/mysteries-for-performing-arts-lovers/

[baby steps]

I am so happy I read this thread. For years I have been trying to find a book  I read as a young child which helped to inspire my love of dance and theatre. All I could remember was it was a theatre school with Wonders in the title. Reading this, there it is " Wintles Wonders"! I have ordered a copy and will thoroughly enjoy reading it again. Thank you.

[Jan McNulty]

Peter Boal talks about his new memoir Illusions of Camelot:

 

https://www.dancemagazine.com/peter-boal-memoir/

[Geoff]

On 01/03/2023 at 20:03, Dance.Mum said:

This looks like it will be an interesting read.
 

https://pointemagazine.com/alice-robb-chats-about-her-new-book-dont-think-dear-on-loving-and-leaving-ballet/?fbclid=IwAR29GaZFtMNvmKU_dRePnRSc3oOyQHHzmdlVpXVvVvRmgPOmeH1pcG3O-pM

Alice Robb’s excellent recent book Don’t Think Dear has had a few mentions in Links but has not otherwise been highlighted on the Forum. That’s a pity, hence bumping this up now to give her book a bit more visibility.

 

Don’t Think Dear is not (as one might fear) a long moan by an ex-dancer but rather an extremely intelligent and thoughtful personal meditation on what it means to want to dance, to learn to dance, to become a dancer and then to fall away from the profession. It does not require any specialist knowledge yet takes one deep inside the real life of real dancers today. It is as well done as one can hope for, a literary gem, far better written than books by dancers (or, dare I say, many books about dance by dance writers) tend to be. 
 

Robb draws with mature honesty from her own experiences and those of other dancers, as well as memoirs and other writings (in fact her book is far better than many of the works she draws from so one might recommend this over them). 
 

Some of the content (for example on sex, EDs and other “adult themes”) makes the book unsuitable for children although I can imagine an intelligent teen getting a lot from it (and, if a ballet student, perhaps shedding a few dangerous illusions a useful year or so sooner than they otherwise would).
 

As an American book it is unsurprisingly focussed on the US experience and on the influence of Balanchine in particular. But that should not put off the non-US reader: her nuanced account of the business of ballet chimes with what I have learned from dancer friends in Britain and elsewhere.

 

So I would recommend this to just about any reader of the Forum. Look around for reviews (as so often the detail and range of opinions from readers posting on Amazon are most illuminating) and see what you think. Not everyone will like this book but it deserves attention. I read it before the summer but still find myself thinking about it. 

[Fiz]

I enjoyed it.