ldquo;Who am I? Irsquo;m a man; an American; a father; a teacher; but most of all; I am a person who knows how the arts can change lives; because they transformed mine. I was a dancer.rdquo;In this rich; expansive; spirited memoir; Jacques drsquo;Amboise; one of Americarsquo;s most celebrated classical dancers; and former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet for more than three decades; tells the extraordinary story of his life in dance; and of Americarsquo;s most renowned and admired dance companies. He writes of his classical studies beginning at the age of eight at The School of American Ballet. At twelve he was asked to perform with Ballet Society; three years later he joined the New York City Ballet and made his European debut at Londonrsquo;s Covent Garden. As George Balanchinersquo;s proteacute;geacute;; drsquo;Amboise had more works choreographed on him by ldquo;the supreme Ballet Masterrdquo; than any other dancer; among them Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux; Episodes; A Midsummerrsquo;s Nightrsquo;s Dream; Jewels; Raymonda Variations.He writes of his boyhoodmdash;born Joseph Ahearnmdash;in Dedham; Massachusetts; his mother (ldquo;the Bossrdquo;) moving the family to New York Cityrsquo;s Washington Heights; dragging her son and daughter to ballet class (paying the teacher $7.50 from hats she made and sold on street corners; and with chickens she cooked stuffed with chestnuts); his mother changing the family name from Ahearn to her maiden name; drsquo;Amboise (ldquo;Itrsquo;s aristocratic. It has the lsquo;drsquo; apostrophe. It sounds better for the ballet; and itrsquo;s a better namerdquo;).We see him. a neighborhood tough; in Catholic schools being taught by the nuns; on the streets; fighting with neighborhood gangs; and taking ten classes a week at the School of American Ballet . . . being taught professional class by Balanchine and by other teachers of great legend: Anatole Oboukhoff; premier danseur of the Maryinsky; and Pierre Vladimiroff; Pavlovarsquo;s partner. Drsquo;Amboise writes about Balanchinersquo;s succession of ballerina muses who inspired him to near-obsessive passion and led him to create extraordinary ballets; dancers with whom drsquo;Amboise partneredmdash;Maria Tallchief; Tanaquil LeClercq; a stick-skinny teenager who blossomed into an exquisite; witty; sophisticated ldquo;angelrdquo; with her ldquo;long limbs and dramatic; mysterious elegance . . .rdquo;; the iridescent Allegra Kent; Melissa Hayden; Suzanne Farrell; who Balanchine called his ldquo;alabaster princess;rdquo; her every fiber; every movement imbued with passion and energy; Kay Mazzo; Kyra Nichols (ldquo;Shersquo;s perfect;rdquo; Balanchine said. ldquo;Uncomplicatedmdash;like fresh waterrdquo;); and Karin von Aroldingen; to whom Balanchine left most of his ballets. Drsquo;Amboise writes about dancing with and courting one of the companyrsquo;s members; who became his wife for fifty-three years; and the four children they had . . . On going to Hollywood to make Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and being offered a long-term contract at MGM (ldquo;If yoursquo;re not careful;rdquo; Balanchine warned; ldquo;you will have sold your soul for seven yearsrdquo;) . . . On Jerome Robbins (ldquo;Jerry could be charming and complimentary; and then; five minutes later; attack; and crush your spiritmdash;all to see how it would influence the dance movementsrdquo;).Drsquo;Amboise writes of the moment when he realizes his dancing career is over and he begins a new life and new dream teaching children all over the world about the arts through the magic of dance. A riveting; magical book; as transformative as dancing itself.
#3284882 in eBooks 2010-03-14 2010-03-14File Name: B004A16G30
Review
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Too much taken from WikiBy SamText was not engaging even though I am interested in the subject. Many of the tables and graphs in this book are openly sourced from wikipedia. As for the images. for an illustrated book on disaster there doesnt seem to be many images compared to the amount of text. Is far from a comprehensive history as misses out important Earthquakes such as the Nobi 1891 Earthquake in Japan which begun the development of seismograph and also misses out the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake which flattened Tokyo) focuses seems mainly on Earthquakes in Europe and USA even though cover is a Japanese print.
