Choreographers & Dancers Books

The shattering story of a dream which became a heartbreaking nightmare for one of America's most famous ballerinas, Gelsey Kirkland, who chronicles her brilliant start as a dancer with George Balanchine, her legendary partnership with Mikhail Baryshnikov, her agonizing descent into drugs, and her struggles to rise again. ...more

Martha Graham (1894-1991) referred to her dancers as "acrobats of God," but in truth it was she who seemed divinely inspired. Graham was a dancer, choreographer, and teacher for more than 70 years, and during that time she changed the landscape of dance forever. An unlikely candidate for a dance ...more

During her twelve years with Ballet Society and the New York City Ballet, Barbara Milberg worked under the direction of George Balanchine. She rose from corps de ballet to soloist, danced leading roles in Swan Lake and Illuminations, and performed in celebrated world premieres. In this observant and poignant memoir, ...more

Born in 1925, Maria Tallchief spent part of her childhood on an Osage reservation in Oklahoma. With the support of her family and world-renowned choreographer George Balanchine, she rose to the top of her art form to become America's first prima ballerina. Black-and-white illustrations provide visual sidebars to the history ...more

Rudolf Nureyev had it all: beauty, genius, charm, passion, and sex appeal. No other dancer of our time has generated the same excitement, for both men and women, on or off the stage. With Nureyev: The Life, Julie Kavanagh shows how his intense drive and passion for dance propelled him ...more

Bob Fosse (19271987), the director and choreographer of Chicago and Sweet Charity, has never been more popular than he is right now. Here is the less-publicized side of his story-his surprising ascent from the world of sleazy Chicago strip joints to the glitter of Broadway. A legend's memory is preserved ...more

Fabulous is the only adjective that comes close to doing justice to Isadora Duncan (1878-1927). Her awesomely self-assured autobiography depicts a woman who while still in her teens tells an eminent theatrical manager (from whom she desperately needs a job), "I have discovered the art that has been lost for ...more

From the moment of his first, spectacular North American appearance--in 1974, at the age of 26--Mikhail Baryshnikov was viewed as one of ballet's great virtuosos. But few could guess that his experimental spirit would lead him from princely roles in the classics to trailblazing collaborations with modern dance choreographers. Baryshnikov ...more

In a critically acclaimed biography now in paperback, renowned dancer and choreographer Agnes De Mille penetrates the late Martha Graham's mask of privacy to capture the woman who, in her 96-year lifetime, virtually invented modern dance in America. 32 pages of photographs. ...more

Beddow, a dancer who appeared in numerous Fosse shows (she replaced Gwen Verdon in one of his early shows) and recreated some of his choreography for national touring shows, checks in with a show-by-show account of Fosse's career, from Pajama Game through Sweet Charity and Pippin to Big Deal -- ...more