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Title: Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal by Toni Bentley ISBN: 0-8130-2705-5 Publisher: University Press of Florida Pub. Date: October, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Why isn't this still in print?
Comment: Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal is the exquisite chronicle of a ballet dancer's experiences with the New York City Ballet. The dancer, Toni Bentley, claims a certain naivetee, but I don't believe it's innocent ignorance as much as it is simple yearning for experiences she rarely has.
She has a delicate flair for words, and her prose couldn't be any less lovely than her pliees and tondus.
Dancing with a world-famous ballet company is gruelling. The dancers are overworked, underfed, and have little understanding of how the "real world" works, yet it would seem they like it that way. Ballet companies thusly have much in common with military outfits: soldiers and dancers work brutally hard, but have their concerns looked after by the higher-ups. Balanchine is the dancers' general.
With the incredibly long hours and the accompanying mental and physical exhaustion, how did Toni get the time to write this book?
She writes,
"We are hairless. We have no leg hairs, no pubic hair, no armpit hair, no facial hair, no neck hair and only a solid little lump at the top of our heads. Any sign of stubble must be closely watched out for and removed.
"That is not all. We don't eat food, we eat music. We need artistic sustenance only. Emotional, inspiring sustenance. Al our physical energy is the overflow of spiritual feelings. We live on faith, belief, love, inspiration, vitamins and Tab."
Toni eventually does break free of the NYC Ballet machine, but she's drawn inexorably back. After all, as she says, "We live only to dance. If living were not an essential prerequisite, we would abstain."
Rating: 5
Summary: Wonderful glimpse into an intriguing, demanding world
Comment: With "Winter Season," Toni Bentley allows her audience to see a real picture of the incredibly tough, demanding and creative world of professional ballet. We see George Balanchine at the end of the career, and such greats as Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins. The incredible, difficult, almost insane demands put on the dancers are clearly drawn, as is Ms. Bentley's love for her art. Especially evocative is her struggle with reconciling art with her demanding profession.
Often, artistic memoirs focus on the superstars, the Tallchiefs and Nureyevs, for instance. The view from the corps de ballet is all the more interesting for being so rare. This book is beautiful, wry, humorous and exquisitely-written. I wish Ms. Bentley had written several other volumes.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent, revealing, thouroughly enjoyable
Comment: I really enjoyed this book. It gave a wonderful glimpse into the real world of professional dancing. Miss Bentley told this story with beautiful language, her words flowed like water. I found it wonderful to know what it was like to live the life of a dancer, to know the struggles and the victories, the fantasies and the realities. I recommend this book for all who love dance and for anyone interested in show business or simply anyone who enjoys a good read.
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Title: Holding on to the Air: An Autobiography by Suzanne Farrell, Toni Bentley ISBN: 0813025931 Publisher: University Press of Florida Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Once A Dancer : An Autobiography by Allegra Kent ISBN: 0312187505 Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback Pub. Date: 15 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Beyond the Dance : A Ballerina's Life by Chan Hon Goh, Cary Fagan ISBN: 0887765963 Publisher: Tundra Books Pub. Date: 15 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Maria Tallchief : America's Prima Ballerina by Maria Tallchief, Larry Kaplan ISBN: 0805033025 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: 15 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Dancing on My Grave by Gelsey Kirkland ISBN: 0385199643 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 03 September, 1986 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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