Celebrity autobiography readings nycb

Farrell's autobiography was our August Ballet Book Club book of the month, and Kirkland's is our September book.
The book provides interesting insights into NYCB and Balanchine's life, as well as portraits of major dancers of the time.
Allegra Kent joined the New York City Ballet at the age of fifteen and, only two years later, inspired Balanchine's unforgettable The Unanswered Question.

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Reflecting on One Year of Ballet Book Club

I launched Ballet Book Club last year, and since then, it has grown into a cozy group of ballet loving readers from all over the world...

In February of 2020, when I shared my idea for Ballet Book Club on Instagram, I had no idea that in March, the entire world would shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than ever before, people turned to the internet to maintain a sense of community as we sheltered at home to keep ourselves and others safe.

Starting Ballet Book Club gave me focus and purpose in a year full of loss and sadness: loss of in-person ballet classes, loss of holiday gatherings, and so much more.

Reading books and planning discussions kept me from wallowing. (Well, okay, there was some wallowing.) But the fact that we have weekly discussions in our Facebook group meant that no matter what, I was always reading, writing, and thinking about something beyond my own circumstances.

Our book selections were sometimes dark, sometimes hopeful, sometimes bewildering. (I think we all have complicated feelings about Geor

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Celebrating the art forms of ballet and fashion, this beautiful book explores the creative collaborations between New York City Ballet and the top fashion designers of our age, including Virgil Abloh, Christopher John Rogers, Anna Sui, and Valentino, among others.

Featuring more than thirty contemporary fashion designers, New York City Ballet Choreography & Couture highlights their distinctive work for ballet. From the shorts suits of Thom Browne accommodating the movement of dancers, and the leather harness detailing of Prabal Gurung to the baroque flounces of Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen or the jewel-encrusted slip dresses of Carolina Herrera, this enchanting volume highlights how fashion design is adapted for dance to amplify movement and music.

The stunning photography by Pari Dukovic features breathtaking images of the dancers in motion, along with detail shots highlighting the couture elements of the costumes. Author Marc Happel, NYCB’s Director of Costumes, has collected the designers’ original sketches along with quotes discussing their process

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Dancing on My Grave

April 9, 2009

I think I might have liked this book IF...

#1 I knew who Gelsey Kirland was. Apparently she was a very famous ballerina and even danced with Baryshnikof (yes, I totally made up how to spell that). But she was pretty famous a few years before I was born...so I missed out.

#2 my thighs were not flabby and did not touch each other when I stand normally. My dream is to have those strong, muscular ballet thighs. Or, if I could have the really thin kind that have a space between them. Man, my jeans would wear out WAY less often if there was space instead of rubbing when I walked.

Anyways, I was under the impression that this book was about the lurid life filled with anorexia and cocaine. Not that I particularly support either of those things, but they sure would have made for an interesting book. Instead, the book briefly mentioned those two interesting things and decided to focus instead on boring stuff, like contract disputes and whining by the author. There were a couple days that she didn't eat. I think that was the anorexia part. And about 20