"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world."
~ Voltaire
An interesting selection of books on dance have arrived at the store recently. Here are seven recommendations to dance your way into 2023.
They're Going to Love You by Meg Howrey
A gripping novel set in the world of professional ballet, New York City during the AIDS crisis, and present-day Los Angeles. - Howrey, a former dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, brings an insider's view of the discipline to this buzzy novel, which is about a young choreographer grappling with painful family memories. --The New York Times
Serenade: A Balanchine Story by Toni Bentley
Toni Bentley, a dancer for George Balanchine, the greatest ballet maker of the 20th century, tells the story of Serenade, his iconic masterpiece, and what it was like to dance--and live--in his world at New York City Ballet during its legendary era.
The Choreography of Everyday Life by Annie-B Parson
A renowned choreographer explores the dance of everyday life and reveals that art-making is as natural as walking down the street.
The Wind at My Back by Misty Copeland
From celebrated ballerina Misty Copeland, a heartfelt memoir about her friendship with trailblazer Raven Wilkinson which captures the importance of mentorship, shared history, and honoring the past to ensure a stronger future.
Martha Graham: When Dance Became Modern by Neil Baldwin
Neil Baldwin gives us the artist and performer, the dance monument who led a cult of dance worshippers, as well as the woman herself in all of her complexity.
Three Muses by Martha Anne Toll
Three Muses is a love story that enthralls: a tale of Holocaust survival venturing through memory, trauma, and identity, while raising the curtain on the unforgiving discipline of ballet.
Mr. B: George Balanchine's 20th Century by Jennifer Homans
With full access to Balanchine's papers and many of his dancers, Jennifer Homans, the dance critic for The New Yorker and a former dancer herself, has spent more than a decade researching Balanchine's life and times to write a vast history of the twentieth century through the lens of one of its greatest artists: the definitive biography of the man his dancers called Mr. B.