Private View: Inside Baryshnikov's American Ballet Theatre - Hardcover

Fraser, a Canadian journalist who was the first to interview Baryshnikov after his 1974 defection, walks an uncertain line between flattery and scrutiny in this account of a year in the life of ABT. His verbal portraits of the artists are frequently refreshing and always genial. But the author too often yields to the blandishments of hyperbole: Baryshnikov's "whole being is a mass of contradictions. An undeniable and healthy-sized ego is constantly undermined by his capacity for self-mockery and astonishing humility. A definitive and occasionally ostentatious affection for expensive things and for very rich people regularly jars with a relentless search for solitude and simplicity." Guiding readers through rehearsals, new productions and a national tour, Fraser offers a tantalizing glimpse of the difficulties of a dancer's day, and astutely assesses the politics of artistic decision-makingthough he grinds his axe too vigorously. More than 100 photographs by longtime Life photographer Arnold show us dancers as people, not merely moving bodies. BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Fraser was a dance critic writing for the Toronto Globe and Mail in June 1974, when Mikhail Baryshnikov, the much heralded Soviet Wunderkind, defected. Fraser became friends with the dancer then, though this book is a result of his research over 13 months in 1986 and 1987. Neither a biography nor a history of the company, this is a perceptive behind-the-scenes look at the workings of one major ballet company. The reader learns how casting decisions are made, touring schedules are planned, choreography is selected, publicity is developed. The hectic, unpredictable, unstable, highly charged atmosphere of the company is revealed. Fraser's writing styleclear and wittyis as good as his reportorial abilities. Recommended for all but the smallest public and college libraries. Joan Stahl, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., Baltimore
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.