Book Description

"MEMOIRS IN TOE SHOES" is the Unabashed Autobiography of Erna Segal, aka "Chiquita" of the world-famous dance team "Chiquita & Johnson." She captivated audiences from coast to coast with her spellbinding dancing for more than a decade in the 1950s and early 60s before retiring at the age of 23 to become a successful writer.No other dance team has ever equaled Chiquita & Johnson's incredible acrobatic ballet-adagio dancing.In her autobiography, "Memoirs In Toe Shoes," being published now for the first time, experience the phenomenal career with Erna as she lived it.

Chiquita & Johnson played every major nightclub in Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, as well as the top TV shows including "The Red Skelton Show," Jack Benny's "Shower of Stars," "Colgate Variety Hour," "The Perry Como Show," and "The Ed Sullivan Show" many times.They opened shows for the likes of Jack Benny, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Lena Horne, Carol Channing, Red Skelton, Liberace, Perry Como, and Frank Sinatra.

A story told with honesty, humor and uncanny insight into her own motivations and personality, as well as those of the people and celebrities around her, "Memoirs In Toe Shoes" is an amusing, delightful, and engaging book to read. It is one of the Most Entertaining Showbiz Autobiographies to come around in a long time. The book has 360 pages with 48 pages of photographs. ... Read more

Book Description

In January, 1933, a young Broadway star named Fred Astaire entered the RKO studios for a screen test."Can't act. Slightly bald.Also dances," was the reaction of one official.Thus began the amazing film career of one of the world's most celebrated dancers.

Astaire: The Man, The Dancer captures the elegance and mystique of the most recognized and loved figures ever to dance across the silver screen.During nearly eighty years in every major entertainment medium, he has persevered and excelled.He never quit, never passed up an opportunity to push himself and to dance to new levels of achievement.The first complete, up-to-date biography - is a fitting tribute to the man and his art.

Foreward by Peter Bart, Editor-in-Chief, Variety. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

PLEASE, SOMEONE MAKE THE MOVIE!
THIS IS AN EXTRAORDINARY BOOK, SO FULL OF THE LOVE OF LIFE, AND WILL MAKE AN ENGROSSING AND VERY PROFITABLE MOVIE!

Vassili The Great
Reading Vision in the Desert is a wonderful Trip in Time
The honesty and sincerity of Vassili capture your Heart and Mind and can't put the book down. Wishing some Producer will make a Movie there is enough Memories and Emotions to be an Academy Award.

A fasinating history
This is the story of Vassili Sulich, written by him, in his own words. You can hear his voice as you read it. Dancer, choreographer, painter, & poet; it's a fasinating life story of a man filled with many famous names in dance and theatre. For anyone interested in the world of dance, classical or theatrical, it's filled with stories involving many legendary names. For someone that worked with Vassili for many years, it's a revelation. His story is a part of the heritage that makes the dancers of today. And finally, the entire book is an affirmation of his drive to communicate life through dance and the great joy that he has in it. ... Read more

Book Description

The story of Henning Kronstam, one of the greatest dancers of 20th-century ballet, is a testament of professional achievement and personal victory. Overcoming illness, family disapproval, and his own private torments, Kronstam dominated one of the world's most renowned companies, the Royal Danish Ballet, for nearly 30 years—beginning in 1956 when he created the role of Romeo at the age of 20 in Frederick Ashton's Romeo and Juliet until a new generation, trained by him, took the stage. In 1979, he organized and directed the Bournonville Festival, introducing the world to the rarely performed works of August Bournonville, the Danes’ master choreographer.

Alexandra Tomalonis has documented Kronstam's major roles as recounted in his own words, revealing the genius behind the man and his art. A superb technician and impeccable classical stylist, Kronstam was also a great dance-actor. His range stretched from classical ballet to modern dance; his greatest roles included Bournonville's James; Balanchine's Apollo; Petit's Cyrano; and the Old Clown in Murray Louis's Hoopla. His refusal to substitute flash for style earned him the admiration of his peers, and he remains a beacon of artistic integrity and courage to the three generations of dancers he taught and coached.

In the writing of this book, the author conducted 200 hours of interviews with Henning Kronstam and talked with over 100 dancers and choreographers, including many who worked with him. She observed classes and rehearsals at the Royal Danish Ballet over a 10-year period to provide an unusually detailed view of backstage life. More than a biography of one man, this book tells the story of a great dance company. The 155 photographs accompanying the narrative showcase Kronstam's refined classical technique, unparalleled dramatic range, and the theatrical traditions of the Royal Danish Ballet. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Henning Kronstam: Portrait of a Danish Dancer
I've had the rare pleasure of reading Alexandra Tomnalonis's book, "Henning Kronstam: Portrait of a Danish Dancer" and it is wonderful. The book is crammed with information; with Ms. Tomalonis's writing style I never felt I was plowing my way through an encyclopedia. The narrative flowed and my interest did not waver. Kronstam emerges a fascinating man. He was a silent Dane not given to letting others know much about him. An artistic genius, his style was all but lost in the era of the Ballet Boom and the following changes in the art. The book tells about his exciting entrance to Royal Danish Ballet, his dancing career, his dramatic excellence, the dancers of his era, and the nurturing of the Bournonville tradition. It continues with his career as artistic director and ballet master, and his influence on the dancers fortunate enough to be coached by him (there are many insightful quotes by his protégé's). He was a man of great detail and it is fascinating to read about those tiny details he'd add or subtract from a ballet in order to make it perfect. I highly recommend to book.

A beautifully written book about an extraordinary man
This remarkable book looks superficially like a ballet biography. It is so much more than that. It deserves, and I hope finds, a readership far broader than a ballet book would normally reach... In the book we learn that his first experience as a professional was as a child actor in the very theatre he would later dedicate his life to, so his destiny on stage in some capacity was assured. He danced the principal roles in all the major ballets, and was especially notable in the Bournonville tradition that he helped maintain. He had many new works created for him by modern choreographers, including the part of Romeo in Ashton's Romeo and Juliet. Whenever the Royal toured, which was not often enough, foreign critics and audiences singled Kronstam out for special recognition for both his dancing and his acting. But I venture to say that ballet lovers who know of Nureyev and Bruhn, who were roughly Kronstam's contemporaries, may not know Kronstam's name. This book gives some interesting perspectives that help explain why.

The fact that the book is called "Portrait of a *Danish* Dancer" (rather than simply "Portrait of a Dancer") puzzled me at first. But Ms. Tomalonis has thoroughly captured Kronstam's complex personality, and in many ways that personality was the Danish national character in microcosm. It seems that many of Kronstam's inherent strengths and weaknesses were reinforced by the societal expectations of both his family and his nation. This may have contributed, consciously or unconsciously, to Kronstam's choice to remain in Copenhagen for his entire career when others chose to leave to pursue international recognition with foreign companies.

The book succeeds on so many levels. It has all the hallmarks of a good biography. The author, who personally met with and interviewed her subject extensively and also spoke with scores of his relatives and colleagues, discusses Kronstam's personal matters with tact and dignity. She portrays Kronstam with a kind of tenderness that does not detract from her clear-eyed understanding of him. The fact that Kronstam, an intensely private person, was comfortable and candid enough to reveal as much as he did to her bespeaks a level of trust in the author that few biographers enjoy. Inspite of the pervasive sadness of Kronstam's story at the end of his life, when she met with him, Ms. Tomalonis is able to show Kronstam's warmth and humor as well. It gives Kronstam an aura of nobility which he, in his typical humility, would probably have derided.

For balletomanes, like me, the book showcases Ms. Tomalonis' depth of both historical and current ballet expertise. Her writing style is so fluent and graceful, however, that the wealth of ballet detail never interferes with the book's story line. One can sense that this very expertise was part of the common language between author and subject that made it possible for Kronstam to communicate his thoughts so effectively to the author.

Finally, for anyone interested in understanding the creative process, there is a unique opportunity to hear Kronstam's own recollections of how he developed his roles, how he was able to inhabit a role with his characteristic intensity. Several of the modern ballets in which he created characters contain harrowing psychological plot lines, and one can only wonder how Kronstam was able to both shield and use his own vulnerabilities to bring these works to life. This section of the book should be required reading for dancers, because it illuminates the thoughtfulness and dedication required of any intelligent performer who wants to do more than execute steps and pantomime emotions. Actors, I am told, embrace the opportunity to "be" their characters, to try on other lives. Here Kronstam conveys that process in a human and insightful way. Ms. Tomalonis somehow manages to make herself invisible during these passages, so that it is Kronstam who emerges with tremendous immediacy... Kronstam could have expected no greater tribute than to have his story told with so much grace and feeling.

The Self-Eclipsed Star
Although Henning Kronstam was a dancer of world-class talent and style, he chose to remain close to his beloved home, the Royal Danish Ballet. While Erik Bruhn made international headlines, Kronstam remained mostly at home, blessing the Danes with his perfect technique and great stage presence. I never understood why he had chosen so to shape his career, but Tomalonis' excellent book examines the artistic, psychological and social forces which informed him, and the reading is fascinating, whether the reader is a ballet fan or not. She writes compellingly and with grace and wit, so much so that one is almost loth to finish the book, which must, of course, end with its subject's death. One wishes men like Kronstam to live happily forever. Here is a story of a life well worth examining, and from which to learn. ... Read more

Book Description

1928. This is the story of the life of an American dancer, written by one who knew her and called her a friend. Duncan was born in San Francisco and at the age of 25 joined Loie Fuller's dance company, touring Germany where she was acclaimed in Budapest and Vienna. Two years later, she established a dance school for children near Berlin at Gruenwald. In 1921, Duncan was invited to Russia where she opened another dance school in Moscow and married Sergey Yesenin, the Russian poet. Tragically, Duncan was killed in an automobile accident in 1927. ... Read more

Book Description

Frank Augustyn is a pioneer. The first male graduate of the National Ballet School to become an international dance star, he has performed, both as a principal with the National Ballet of Canada and as a guest artist, in all the dance capitals of the world. Through the late 1970s and the early 1980s, his legendary partnership with Karen Kain was one of the great treasures of Canadian ballet. Their partnership earned them the nickname “The Gold Dust Twins,” referring not only to their stunning artistry, but also to their extraordinary power to draw unprecedented and enthusiastic audiences everywhere they danced.

Frank Augustyn’s years at the National Ballet (1970-1989) were exciting ones for the company as well. These were the years of Rudolf Nureyev’s landmark production of The Sleeping Beauty, and years that saw Frank Augustyn working with some of the great luminaries of dance: Erik Bruhn, Sir Frederick Ashton, Glen Tetley, Rudi van Dantzig, Hans van Manen, Maurice Béjart, and, of course, Nureyev himself – who would have a profound influence on Augustyn.

Opening with his childhood in working-class Hamilton, Ontario, Dancing from the Heart is Augustyn’s account of his active dancing career, and his perspective on Canadian ballet. With humour, insight, and an appreciation of the art form, he talks about fighting the prevailing attitude in Canada that said “real men don’t dance,” and explains the trials and tribulations that the male dancer must sometimes endure at the hands of his ballerinas. He tells lively and revealing stories about the companies, dancers, and choreographers he has known and worked with, and he reflects on marriage, fatherhood, and his post-dance career as a TV producer (Footnotes), as a teacher, and as artistic director of the Ottawa Ballet. ... Read more

Book Description

Gower Champion's career spanned the years during which American musical theatre was transformed from a crude popular entertainment into a sophisticated art form. As the director and choreographer of Hello, Dolly!, 42nd Street, and other Broadway musicals, he was central to that transformation. This book is the first extensive treatment of his life and contribution to dance and American musical theatre. The volume draws on the holdings of various special collections, is informed by careful analyses of Champion's scripts, and depends on information gathered through interviews with those who knew and worked with Champion throughout his legendary career. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Fantastic Book
Dallal gives us a warm, exciting glimpse into adventures most of us will never experience, and a world we often do not understand. Informative, enteraining, and an easy read, I recommend this book to any one who enjoys the travelogue genre.

good travel book
Interesting concept--a young middle class american girl,travels to Columbia---to belly dance.Big contradiction--she happens to be (a) naive (b)a feminist(c)unware of how attractive she is.Makes for a decent story,writing seems to be a bit uneven,but good visuals overall ... Read more