Dance Anecdotes: Stories from the Worlds of Ballet, Broadway, the Ballroom, and Modern Dance

by Mindy Aloff (Editor)

Mindy Aloff, a leading dance critic who has written for The Nation, The New Republic , and The New Yorker , has brought together here a marvelous book of stories by and about dancers--entertaining and informative anecdotes that capture the boundless variety and richness of dance as an art, a tradition, a profession, a pastime, an obsession, a reality, and, for the dancer, an ideal.
George Balanchine is here, and so are Fred Astaire, Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Savion Glover, Martha Graham, and Lola Montez, and also stars from other arts--such as Akira Kurosawa and Bob Dylan--who have spoken about dancing with wit or illumination. There are stories about Irene and Vernon Castle, Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly, Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, Paul Taylor and Mark Morris. We read about the charisma and spontaneity of Anna Pavlova, about the secret to Vaslav Nijinsky's success ("I worked like an ox and I lived like a martyr"), about George Balanchine racing to a union dispute with a bag of dimes. Many of the stories are amusing, but some are rueful, even sad, and a few are dark. Aloff concludes the volume with an essay about how dancing has been able to record its past, sometimes over centuries, and about how the art of the dancer, apparently as ephemeral in performance as cloud patterns, turns out, when conditions are hospitable, to be much more hardy and
resilient than many people suppose.
A glorious promenade of stories that stretch as far back as classical times and as far afield as Japan, India, and Java, this superb collection will be treasured by everyone who loves dance, whether young or old.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Mindy Aloff is an American editor, journalist, essayist, and dance critic. Aloff's writing on dance, literature, film, and culture have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, and other articles and publications worldwide.

Reviews

[Surreysmum · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pleasant enough to read in dribs and drabs, but I don't think I'd go back to it. In her concern to avoid making a book full of humorous anecdote alone, Aloff went, in my view, too far in the opposite direction and ended up with a volume that takes itself rather too seriously. Her bias in favour of the ballet and modern dance as opposed to the other forms she mentions in her subtitle is also a little too apparent (and I consider myself a ballet and modern dance fan). While there were some stories in here that interested me, there were few that I'd want to remember and re-tell. Nonetheless, a book of short, easily absorbed pieces on a congenial subject has its own charms, particularly when one is doing most of one's reading on public transit!

[Lori Hooten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book to pick up and read a few stories at a time. It is not one to devour quickly or over a short period of time. There were plenty of interesting stories but there were also plenty that I did not enjoy reading. Some of the stories made sense to have in there and others did not. I don't mind saying this is one worth picking up if you have even a passing interest in the history of dance, particularly ballet. It is an account, much of which is primary source material, of things that actually occurred to dancers, in a performance, at a venue, or in the passing of time and travel. This makes it a valuable addition to the history of dance and something a student of that should take a look at.

[Yi-hsin Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read but probably not interesting if you're not already interested in dance history.

[Gilli Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a dance enthusiast it's great fun. Anybody who isn't interested in dance...would probably not even look it up, tbh. And that would be a shame.

[Nora Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wide range of previously little known stories from the world of dance. Of particular note is Ms. Aloff's essay on how similar anecdotes can contribute to dance historical research.

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one was a DNF. I ended up making it about halfway though. I was hoping for stories of life behind the curtain, and there was some of that, but a lot of the anecdotes leaned towards academically-minded snippets about so-and-so's career or artistic ideals. It began to feel like I was reading a textbook.

[Melody · Rating 1 out of 5]

Surely interesting for the balletomane. Too bad I'm not one. Insider stories and jokes were all way over my head.

[Renée · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply a beautiful book. Mindy Aloff's collection is sublime--and an incredible resource.