Fromacclaimed author Evan Fallenberg, an exquisitelycrafted debut novel tells the story of a preeminent male ballet dancer in theautumn of his career—a Jew whose talent once saved him from the Nazis—whosefading passion for life will flare back to life after a new romance links himto a younger woman fleeing the ghosts of her past as an Israeli Soldier. Fallenberg’s Tel Aviv-set tale that will resonate withreaders of Wladyslaw Szpilman’s The Pianist , Dalia Sofer’s The Septembers of Shiraz , and Thrity Umrigar’s The Space Between Us , as well as any whohave been touched by war or diaspora, as two characters’ intimate journeypoignantly explores the pain of fractured pasts, the hope for second chances, thepotency of artistic catharsis, and the certainty that love can conquer all.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Fallenberg is a graduate of Georgetown University and the MFA program in creative writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts and has lived in Israel since 1985. He is coordinator of fiction for the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar-Ilan University; coordinator of literary translation in the Department of English Literature at Bar-Ilan University; and an instructor in the low-residency MFA program in creative writing at City University of Hong Kong. The recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Vermont Studio Center and the National Endowment for the Arts, Fallenberg serves as an advisor to several literary prizes, including the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. He is the father of two sons.
Author Evan Fallenberg’s novel "When We Danced on Water" is a haunting, beautifully written story about the unlikely friendship between two artists whose lives are changed forever after becoming acquainted in a Tel Aviv café.
World-famous, eighty-five-year-old Teo Levin spent his early years dancing with the Royal Danish Ballet and later as a student of Balanchine, the renowned Russian choreographer. As head of the Tel Aviv Ballet for half a century, Teo has otherwise lived a quiet life, mostly alone.
Each morning, Teo stops for coffee at a tiny café close to work. Here he meets Vivi, a newly-hired waitress, approaching middle-age, who has yet to discover her true passion in life. Teo is immediately drawn to Vivi when he learns from her boss, Yossi, that she is an artist.
Soon after he introduces himself, the two become friends and begin to share random yet significant details of their lives. Their apparent fascination with each other could be labeled obsessive -- which is all too fitting considering Teo once performed a dance, "Obsession," that left him with a permanent emotional scar.
The author’s prose practically drips with tension and intrigue, and the conversations between Teo and Vivi are harsh yet affectionate. Their playful banter is an effective defense mechanism, because each knows the other is in pain.
Eventually both are forced to revisit their pasts, and in Teo’s case, a seemingly harmless photograph taken during the days of Nazi Germany opens a floodgate of paralyzing memories. Teo’s compelling past makes for an extraordinary story of survival, whereas the skeleton in Vivi’s closet, which amounts to essentially a failed relationship, is more typical yet equally profound.
In a word, Fallenberg’s novel is exquisite, complete with two flawed yet admirable lead characters, each with his and her own remarkable story.
Beautiful, engaging, painfully intimate. A masterfully created story within a story and set in the mysterious world of European ballet. Not a war story like you've ever read before. One of my staff picks at the bookstore - this is not a book for the faint of heart, but one for the passionate reader.
It's probably a tie between this and Sharp Objects on the top spot in my heart. Reading about a dancer who could possess the stage so beautifully and fully, even in writing it blew my mind. I read this book when I was really into dancing and my best friend and I were the head dancers for every musical we did together over three and a half years. His own personal battles and the ones that the woman endures as well, forgive me I haven't read it in quite some time and I lent it to my English teacher, so I've forgotten some names.
Just read it, it's written so gorgeously and impossible to put down if you understand dance speak and like being taken on an emotional journey.
Kudos to my friend Evan, and apologies for taking so long to get around to reading a truly great novel. The settings are obviously well-researched, the story so compelling (even for a non-balletomane like myself, but the art history more than made up for that). Above all, there is the storytelling, which kept me up well past any sane bedtime, with elements of what might have been considered gothic horror before these became twentieth century horrific reality. Well done, sir.
A story of creative passion and destructive obsession revealing sixty-years of tormented memories with a restraint that lets them slip so completely into your heart and soul that you don't realize that you're bleeding until you close the book.
If the word didn’t strangle me, I might thank you for creating a world that brought forth the legendary power and strength of my people. You yourself, through your propaganda film department, documented our ends, but you left it to masters of fiction like Evan Fallenberg to tell our stories of survival. You have created a universe of pain behind you. It’s not our deaths we rage against in the generations that follow; it’s the pain of the last three years, the last five years, the last twelve years, even, in the case of some of us, the last fifty or sixty years of our lives. You called us vermin; we looked our torturers in the eye and spat on them as we endured their blows.
Just ask Teo. Ask him, Herr Hitler, what he did the final moment of the War, when he escaped his six year slavery as the personal plaything of an obsessed monster, who rose to be your top Minister of Culture before this slavemaster was pressed into service as an increasingly overmatched lieutenant, Captain, Lieutenant General, and finally, escapee. Ask your Baron Friedrich von Sadistschafft how many boys he demolished on the way to his enslavement of potentially the best male dancer of his era, possibly even a rival to Nijinsky. Go to Israel, and ask Teo’s friend of his twilight, Vivi, whose life was dissolute, fading, even, at the age of forty-two, who met your survivor of Reichskutltursschafft and, fired full of passion, the holy twin of obsession, created legendary installations in defiance of everything you were and everything you twisted your people into becoming. Ask their child, conceived on the very last night of Teo’s life, the eternal tribute to the fact that you were defeated, whereas we were merely destroyed. From every destruction there are survivors, memories. From your defeat, a shame that no one nation could bear, not even one Germany.
We, the readers of Evan Fallenberg’s masterful tale, will feel the passion that Fallenberg nurtures, from the Teo’s first studio, the parks and balustrades of Warsaw, to the school in Copenhagen where he would emerge, ready to take over the Reich’s balletic imagination, to Teo’s capture, enslavement, and violation at the hand of the evil of this culture officer’s obsession. We will walk the streets of your Berlin with Vivi, the Israeli whose life, and passion, had fallen out of focus at the hand of another German, who could not shoulder your burden alone. We will feel the would that seared your city’s heart for thirty years. We will follow Vivi back to the streets of Tel Aviv where, through her association and eventual romance with Teo, discovered a wellspring of passion inside herself and went from coffee-shop waitress and dilettante to the artist to whom presidents paid obeisance. Finally, I call on your rotten bones to twist and cry out like the Biblical victims of Dathan and Abiram, wailing your apologies to the grave while Teo’s and Vivi’s son Nathaniel, “Given by G!d,” dances in some decades on your metaphoric and real grave.
We, the survivors, their grandchildren, their neighbors and the descendants of their neighbors, read the words masterfully imagined by Mr. Fallenberg, and we give praise for passion, for it is passion that creates true art.
You can watch Evan Fallenberg read from his novel When We Danced on Water at the PEN Written on Water festival at
Eighty-five year old Teo was once a world class ballet dancer, and even now in his old age, he continues to help instruct dancers on how to perform his ballet “Obsession.” His daily routine is to stop by a coffee shop on his way to the studio. One day Teo discovers a new waitress, Vivi. Teo and Vivi find that they both enjoy each other and their mutual passion for art. Teo challenges Vivi to stop “dabbling” in so many different art forms and instead to develop a passion for one form as he did with ballet. Through the use of art, Vivi and Teo are both able to open up about painful episodes in both of their pasts. Although Teo is at least forty years old than Vivi, they both find a second chance at love and redemption.
First of all, I love the title of this book. When We Danced on Water is a beautiful name for the book and fits with the story so well. I really enjoyed this slim novel. Once I got into the story, I had a hard time putting the book down, particularly through Teo’s tale of his struggle through WWII as a Polish Jew. It is through this struggle that we learn of the true meaning of passion and obsession to Teo. The story was at times disturbing, but it was also a beautiful story of survival and the transformative power of art and dance.
I enjoyed reading about ballet and Teo’s involvement in it as a dancer and then as an instructor. I also really liked the setting of Tel Aviv and also Berlin. It made for a fascinating and unique place to read about.
Overall, When We Danced on Water is a beautifully written novel about second chances, the transformative power of art, horrors of WWII, and so much more. I highly recommend this novel.
When We Danced on Water combines the stories of two Jews from different generations, an 85 year-old choreographer, and a 40 something artist/ waitress who meet in a coffee shop in Tel Aviv and slowly develop enough trust in each other to reveal their personal tragedies, both of which have roots in German-Jewish relationships. The life of Teo, the 85 year-old choreographer, had been derailed by WWII, whereas Vivi's self-esteem had been eroded by a relationship made impossible by the history of Berlin and its Jews.
I felt that the events of Teo's life overshadowed Vivi's experiences, but her experiences allowed her to be the conduit for Teo to revisit his life with integrity and with the possibility of a hopeful future.
I particularly enjoyed the way this novel explored the creative process and the devotion required to become inspired. Fallenberg's characters are multifaceted and demonstrate that art often begins when tragedy and depravity open the artist to a deeper sense of his own shadows.
I purchased this book over 10 years ago, have picked it up and started it several times, but I just can’t get into it. It seems ti be beautifully written, there’s really good reviews, but I am not connected to this story or characters at all. I’m finally going to give up. I’ll drop it off at a free little library and maybe someone else will find it a gem
I found this book in a thatched hut in Belize outside of San Ignacio so the pickings were thin. But I liked it. It was easy to read, thought provoking and well written. I'm not sure how I feel about the end.
If there were double the stars to give this book I would want more! Brilliantly crafted and so delicious...it was like a fresh fig to taste...an incredible thought provoking story that permeated my soul! A deep breath and an enchanting WOW,!
The novel did not immediately command my attention, but it is beautifully written and translated and I kept reading. The story became increasingly compelling as I read on, in ways I could not have expected. No spoilers here because you really should read this book.
Vehemently abandoned at 79%. Normally that close to the end, I would persevere. Not here. It's just a waste of a week of reading.
Ironically, When We Danced on Water has been on my Goodreads bookshelf since 2012, and I've started and stopped it several times, never able to get into it or distracted by other novels. Not a wonder. There are two big problems:
1) The plodding pace. The unfocused plot. Elegant, powerful descriptions of ballet and art, yet insipid dialogue. Every character sounded the same as well.
2) The graphic, ongoing gay rape bordering on porn. And no, it was not necessary. It could have been handled with far more veil, more discretion, and still brought about the same horror and outcome in regards to the character/plot.
4+ stars. Beautifully written, lyrical and poetic at times. The story sets itself apart from other WWII / Holocaust historic fiction novels, as it is one of the few novels not told through the perspective of the ghettos or the camps. It speaks deeply about the impact of traumatic abuse on human identify development. It speaks about "other" scars created from the war. In full lifetimes there are numerous survivors who never overcame their war trauma, repressed their stories, or did now wish to revisit them. This story tells about one person's healing process and integration to becoming his fully formed personality.
The novel moves back and forth in time spanning from the late 1930's to the mid-2000's. It takes the reader through Tel Aviv, Berlin, Warsaw, and Denmark. This story tells of a Jewish dancer hidden in the Danish ballet, when he is a young man, and explores his story again as an older adult. This same story intertwines with that of a middle-aged woman in Tel Aviv, from a family of Holocaust survivors.
This novel is stunningly filled with art, dance, music, architecture and history. The story is bitter -sweet and quite utterly heartbreaking at times. It is truly powerful. I recommend it to anyone with an open mind about the darkest parts of humanity and a desire to learn.
The more I think about this book, the less I liked it. Some of the writing about dance and art was beautiful, and the story was certainly compelling in both its tragedy and its hope. However, I didn't really find the characters sympathetic, particularly Vivi, and I found that the graphic depictions of Teo's war story disturbed me so profoundly that it was hard to really become engrossed in and engage with the novel. Additionally, I am never a fan of fiction written in present tense - I find it awkward to read. I also thought that some of the plot seemed unrealistiic - particularly that the Danish ballet would have allowed and encouraged a Polish adolescent Jew to travel to Berlin in 1939 (as well as guarantee his safety) - but perhaps this is historical hindsight and the level of danger was not apparent in that place at that time. I think this book would have worked better had it been written solely from Teo's perspective, and if the detailed depiction of his life during the war had not taken on such a central role in the story.
Thank you to Goodreads, I received this book in an ARC giveaway :) I enjoyed the author's writing style and appreciated the uniqueness of his characters. The highlight of this book for me was his descriptions of the ballet, and the attitudes of his characters towards their art. I thought that some of the story-telling was choppy, and it undermined my sympathy for his character's experiences. I was surprised by the sparseness of his language in telling these stories compared with the lush detail in other parts of the book. (Although the writing style reminds me very much of other works by Israeli authors and Hebrew books I have read). It was a relative quick read, with some good characters and ideas about the world of art that will stay with me.
What a wonderful story. I was lost in this book for hours until I finished it. A beautiful relationship between a 85 year old man who was an influential choreographer and suffered in his youth, meets a young waitress who is trying to find herself and also has had some unpleasant experiences she is trying forget. It is at the end of his life and the middle of hers and between them they find something to share and create something wonderful. There are the memories of the Holocaust and painful relationships in each of their pasts but they help each other come to terms with unhappiness ad find a feeling of love in the present. Character development is well done. You feel like you are there routing on the couple to work together to make this relationship work.
Wow....what did I just read??? Is this a book about the power of art and it's restorative powers, or is this a book with a heavy political agenda politely wrapped up so as not to offend the weak at heart? Probably, a bit of both.
I don't deny the atrocities of the holocaust and the evil act of man towards man. However, the author makes no apology and paints every German as evil and makes no effort to distinguish a German from a Nazi, even years after the war. I found that to be overly simplistic and needless to say highly offensive.
The story itself is compelling on it's own. The political agenda just weighed it down, and caused it to lose the impact I suspect the author was striving for.
I picked up this book for the location - Tel Aviv, Israel. It was fun to read about a place I had been to. This is not your typical holocaust book with its ruminations about a meaningful life, the place creativity has in it, and the personal risks one must take to be creative. In the book Teo, an elderly dance choreographer, strikes a friendship with an unfocused artist working at his favorite cafe. Their discussions, revelations of the issues that inspire/block them, and their friendship make up the book
It took a while to get into it. I thought it was very good after a slow beginning. It had a very graphic sex , where Teo, a dancer was taken a prisoner by a Nazi Officer for 7 or 8 years and toldhow he raped Teo when he was a young man. At firsst Teo didn't know what was going on. Afgter teo goes to Israel and meets Vivi, a young waitress he tells her what happened tgo him and she tells him abut her own love affifr. She is about 45 years younger. Eventully they have sex, she has a child and you figure it was his son. This was a book club selection.
It all felt a little pointless. A vehicle to tell a few life stories, nothing more. It felt like an attempt to explain why people behave in certain ways and I guess it had a lot of character development, but I missed a real plot. Teo's confession about his years in the war seemed to be intended as a big shocking twist but went on for way too long and too much detail. I really stopped caring after a while.
The pacing was off and the way the story was told was uneven. I do have to say that the insight in a dancer was quite brilliant though.
Liked the way the story changed character perspectives and also occurred during different time periods. Felt that some of the parts of the story were told too quickly and lacked detail therefore seemed unbelievable and a bit too conveniently arranged. I also had a hard time digesting some of the graphic scenes, but just skimmed them. Did love to see the growth of the relationship between Vivi and Teo...that was, to me, the aspect of the story that kept me interested in what happened next.
Not a fan. As a former dancer and current ballet teacher, I was completely disappointed with the way the ballet material was handled, some of it flat out wrong.
I would much rather recommend Adrienne Sharp's White Swan, Black Swan, or "The Dancers" from Ellen Litman's Last Chicken in America for fiction that centers on ballet dancers.
What a.. um... well, book. The first half of the book had wonderful descriptions which I like in a book. The last half was just telling of Teo's story of his life. With a very blunt ending that I wasn't expecting I would say this book was not my favorite. It was very predictable through the whole thing. I could tell what was going to happen 20 pages before it did.