Making Broadway Dance

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Making Broadway Dance

Author : Liza Gennaro
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190631090
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis Making Broadway Dance by : Liza Gennaro

Download or read book Making Broadway Dance written by Liza Gennaro and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Musical theatre dance is an ever-changing, evolving dance form, egalitarian in its embrace of any and all dance genres. It is a living, transforming art developed by exceptional dance artists and requiring dramaturgical understanding, character analysis, knowledge of history, art, design and most importantly an extensive knowledge of dance both intellectual and embodied. Its ghettoization within criticism and scholarship as a throw-away dance form, undeserving of analysis: derivative, cliché ridden, titillating and predictable, the ugly stepsister of both theatre and dance, belies and ignores the historic role it has had in musicals as an expressive form equal to book, music and lyric. The standard adage, "when you can't speak anymore sing, when you can't sing anymore dance" expresses its importance in musical theatre as the ultimate form of heightened emotional, visceral and intellectual expression. Through in-depth analysis author Liza Gennaro examines Broadway choreography through the lens of dance studies, script analysis, movement research and dramaturgical inquiry offering a close examination of a dance form that has heretofore received only the most superficial interrogation. This book reveals the choreographic systems of some of Broadway's most influential dance-makers including George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Katherine Dunham, Bob Fosse, Savion Glover, Sergio Trujillo, Steven Hoggett and Camille Brown. Making Broadway Dance is essential reading for theatre and dance scholars, students, practitioners and Broadway fans"--

Making It on Broadway

Author : David Wienir
Publisher : Skyhorse Publishing Inc.
ISBN 13 : 9781581153460
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (534 download)

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Book Synopsis Making It on Broadway by : David Wienir

Download or read book Making It on Broadway written by David Wienir and published by Skyhorse Publishing Inc.. This book was released on 2004-04 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Countering the misperceptions about Broadway performers leading glamorous lives, the words of more than 150 Broadway stars provide unprecedented insight into their struggle for stardom. With an introduction by Jason Alexander and candid interviews with today's most celebrated Broadway stars, this book offers stories to entertain and astonish theater lovers, as well as serve as a sobering reality check for those considering careers on the stage. This book shares firsthand accounts of professional actors' difficult yet fulfilling journeys to Broadway: moving to New York, finding survival jobs, auditioning, landing roles, avoiding pitfalls, forging a family life, and much more. Interviews Include These Award-Winning Actors: • Jason Alexander • Daisy Eagan • Heather Headley • Wilson Heredia • Randy Graff • Donna McKechnie • Donna Murphy • John Rubinstein • Lea Salonga • Scott Wise • Chita Rivera Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

Big Deal

Author : Kevin Winkler
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199336814
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (993 download)

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Book Synopsis Big Deal by : Kevin Winkler

Download or read book Big Deal written by Kevin Winkler and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-02-08 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bob Fosse (1927-1987) is recognized as one of the most significant figures in post-World War II American musical theater. With his first Broadway musical, The Pajama Game in 1954, the "Fosse style" was already fully developed, with its trademark hunched shoulders, turned-in stance, and stuttering, staccato jazz movements. Fosse moved decisively into the role of director with Redhead in 1959 and was a key figure in the rise of the director-choreographer in the Broadway musical. He also became the only star director of musicals of his era--a group that included Jerome Robbins, Gower Champion, Michael Kidd, and Harold Prince--to equal his Broadway success in films. Following his unprecedented triple crown of show business awards in 1973 (an Oscar for Cabaret, Emmy for Liza with a Z, and Tony for Pippin), Fosse assumed complete control of virtually every element of his projects. But when at last he had achieved complete autonomy, his final efforts, the film Star 80 and the musical Big Deal, written and directed by Fosse, were rejected by audiences and critics. A fascinating look at the evolution of Fosse as choreographer and director, Big Deal: Bob Fosse and Dance in the American Musical considers Fosse's career in the context of changes in the Broadway musical theater over four decades. It traces his early dance years and the importance of mentors George Abbott and Jerome Robbins on his work. It examines how each of the important women in his adult life--all dancers--impacted his career and influenced his dance aesthetic. Finally, the book investigates how his evolution as both artist and individual mirrored the social and political climate of his era and allowed him to comfortably ride a wave of cultural changes.

Everything Is Choreography

Author : Kevin Winkler
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190090731
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Everything Is Choreography by : Kevin Winkler

Download or read book Everything Is Choreography written by Kevin Winkler and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Everything is Choreography: The Musical Theater of Tommy Tune is the first full-scale analysis of the work of Tommy Tune, and his place in a lineage of Broadway's great director-choreographers. The decade of the 1980s was considered a low point for the American musical. Tune's predecessors in the art of complete musical staging like Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Gower Champion, and Michael Bennett were either dead or withdrawn from the Broadway arena. Yet it was the period of Tune's greatest success. The book examines how he adapted to an increasingly corporatized, high-stakes producing and funding environment. It considers how Tune kept the American musical a thriving, creative enterprise at a time when Broadway was dominated by British imports. It investigates Tune's work of the last twenty-five years, when he shifted his attentions to touring and regional productions, far from the glare of Broadway. Unlike his fellow director-choreographers, Tune also maintained a successful performing career, and the book details the deft balancing act that kept him working as a popular singer-dancer-actor while directing a series of striking and influential Broadway musicals"--

The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical

Author : Raymond Knapp
Publisher : OUP USA
ISBN 13 : 0195385942
Total Pages : 482 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical by : Raymond Knapp

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical written by Raymond Knapp and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2011-11-04 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical offers new and cutting-edge essays on the most important and compelling issues and topics in the growing, interdisciplinary field of musical-theater and film-musical studies. Taking the form of a "keywords" book, it introduces readers to the concepts and terms that define the history of the musical as a genre and that offer ways to reflect on the specific creative choices that shape musicals and their performance on stage and screen. The handbook offers a cross-section of essays written by leading experts in the field, organized within broad conceptual groups, which together capture the breadth, direction, and tone of musicals studies today.Each essay traces the genealogy of the term or issue it addresses, including related issues and controversies, positions and problematizes those issues within larger bodies of scholarship, and provides specific examples drawn from shows and films. Essays both re-examine traditional topics and introduce underexplored areas. Reflecting the concerns of scholars and students alike, the authors emphasize critical and accessible perspectives, and supplement theory with concrete examples that may be accessed through links to the handbook's website.Taking into account issues of composition, performance, and reception, the book's contributors bring a wide range of practical and theoretical perspectives to bear on their considerations of one of America's most lively, enduring artistic traditions. The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical will engage all readers interested in the form, from students to scholars to fans and aficionados, as it analyses the complex relationships among the creators, performers, and audiences who sustain the genre.

Making Americans

Author : Andrea Most
Publisher : Belknap Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Making Americans by : Andrea Most

Download or read book Making Americans written by Andrea Most and published by Belknap Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From 1925 to 1951--three chaotic decades of depression, war, and social upheaval--Jewish writers brought to the musical stage a powerfully appealing vision of America fashioned through song and dance. It was an optimistic, meritocratic, selectively inclusive America in which Jews could at once lose and find themselves--assimilation enacted onstage and off, as Andrea Most shows. This book examines two interwoven narratives crucial to an understanding of twentieth-century American culture: the stories of Jewish acculturation and of the development of the American musical. Here we delve into the work of the most influential artists of the genre during the years surrounding World War II--Irving Berlin, Eddie Cantor, Dorothy and Herbert Fields, George and Ira Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein, Lorenz Hart, and Richard Rodgers--and encounter new interpretations of classics such as The Jazz Singer, Whoopee, Girl Crazy, Babes in Arms, Oklahoma!, Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific, and The King and I. Most's analysis reveals how these brilliant composers, librettists, and performers transformed the experience of New York Jews into the grand, even sacred acts of being American. Read in the context of memoirs, correspondence, production designs, photographs, and newspaper clippings, the Broadway musical clearly emerges as a form by which Jewish artists negotiated their entrance into secular American society. In this book we see how the communities these musicals invented and the anthems they popularized constructed a vision of America that fostered self-understanding as the nation became a global power.

Dancing Man

Author : Bob Avian
Publisher : Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN 13 : 1496826981
Total Pages : 199 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (968 download)

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Book Synopsis Dancing Man by : Bob Avian

Download or read book Dancing Man written by Bob Avian and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2020-02-06 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tony and Olivier Award–winning Bob Avian’s dazzling life story, Dancing Man: A Broadway Choreographer’s Journey, is a memoir in three acts. Act I reveals the origins of one of Broadway’s legendary choreographers who appeared onstage with stars like Barbra Streisand and Mary Martin all before he was thirty. Act II includes teaching Katharine Hepburn how to sing and dance in Coco and working with Stephen Sondheim and Michael Bennett while helping to choreograph the original productions of Company and Follies. During this time, Avian won a Tony Award as the cochoreographer of A Chorus Line and produced the spectacular Tony Award–winning Dreamgirls. For a triumphant third act, Avian choreographed Julie Andrews’s return to the New York stage, devised all of the musical staging for Miss Saigon and Sunset Boulevard, and directed A Chorus Line on Broadway. He worked with the biggest names on Broadway, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Carol Burnett, Jennifer Holliday, Patti LuPone, Elaine Stritch, and Glenn Close. Candid, witty, sometimes shocking, and always entertaining, here at last is the ultimate up-close and personal insider’s view from a front row seat at the creation of the biggest, brightest, and best Broadway musicals of the past fifty years.

The Art and Practice of Musical Theatre Choreography

Author : Cassie Abate
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350193356
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis The Art and Practice of Musical Theatre Choreography by : Cassie Abate

Download or read book The Art and Practice of Musical Theatre Choreography written by Cassie Abate and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-07-28 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does a musical theatre choreographer actually do? They just 'make up the steps', right? This book firstly debunks the misunderstandings around what musical theatre choreographers actually do, demonstrating their need to have an in-depth understanding of storytelling, music theory, performance practices and plot structure in order to create movement that enhances and enlivens the musical. Secondly, it equips the musical theatre choreographer with all the tools needed to create nuanced, informed and inspired movement for productions, through structured activities that build specific skills (such as 'notating the script' and 'scoring the score'). Traditionally, this training has been something of a series of secrets, passed from mentor to apprentice. The author demystifies the process to make the previously undisclosed “tricks of the trade” accessible to all choreographers, everywhere. Covering the entire process of choreographing a musical from the first script reading to the final curtain call, this book makea case for the absolute integrity of the choreographer to any musical theatre production and sets out the theoretical principles of choreography alongside the practical application during every step of the production process.

Broadway, Balanchine, and Beyond

Author : Bettijane Sills
Publisher : University Press of Florida
ISBN 13 : 0813063876
Total Pages : 182 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Broadway, Balanchine, and Beyond by : Bettijane Sills

Download or read book Broadway, Balanchine, and Beyond written by Bettijane Sills and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2019-02-25 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this memoir of a roller-coaster career on the New York stage, former actor and dancer Bettijane Sills offers a highly personal look at the art and practice of George Balanchine, one of ballet’s greatest choreographers, and the inner workings of his world-renowned company during its golden years. Sills recounts her years as a child actor in television and on Broadway, a career choice largely driven by her mother, and describes her transition into pursuing her true passion: dance. She was a student in Balanchine’s School of American Ballet throughout her childhood and teen years, until her dream was achieved. She was invited to join New York City Ballet in 1961 as a member of the corps de ballet and worked her way up to the level of soloist. Winningly honest and intimate, Sills lets readers peek behind the curtains to see a world that most people have never experienced firsthand. She tells stories of taking classes with Balanchine, dancing in the original casts of some of his most iconic productions, working with a number of the company’s most famous dancers, and participating in the company’s first Soviet Union tour during the Cold War and Cuban Missile Crisis. She walks us through her years in New York City Ballet first as a member of the corps de ballet, then a soloist dancing some principal roles, finally as one of the “older” dancers teaching her roles to newcomers while being encouraged to retire. She reveals the unglamorous parts of tour life, jealousy among company members, and Balanchine’s complex relationships with women. She talks about Balanchine’s insistence on thinness in his dancers and her own struggles with dieting. Her fluctuations in weight influenced her roles and Balanchine’s support for her—a cycle that contributed to the end of her dancing career. Now a professor of dance who has educated hundreds of students on Balanchine’s style and legacy, Sills reflects on the highs and lows of a career indelibly influenced by fear of failure and fear of success—by the bright lights of theater and the man who shaped American ballet.

Dance in Musical Theatre

Author : Phoebe Rumsey
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350235555
Total Pages : 548 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis Dance in Musical Theatre by : Phoebe Rumsey

Download or read book Dance in Musical Theatre written by Phoebe Rumsey and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-12-14 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Oklahoma! and West Side Story, to Spring Awakening and Hamilton, dance remains one of the most important and key factors in musical theatre. Through the integration of song and dance in the 'dream ballets' of choreographers like Agnes De Mille; the triple threat performances of Jerome Robbins' dancers; the signature style creation by choreographers like Bob Fosse with dancers like Gwen Verdon; and the contemporary, identity-driven work of choreographers like Camille A. Brown, the history of the body in movement is one that begs study and appreciation. Dance in Musical Theatre offers guidelines in how to read this movement by analyzing it in terms of composition and movement vocabulary whilst simultaneously situating it both historically and critically. This collection provides the tools, terms, history, and movement theory for reading, interpreting, and centralizing a discussion of dance in musical theatre, importantly, with added emphasis on women and artists of color. Bringing together musical theatre and dance scholars, choreographers and practitioners, this edited collection highlights musical theatre case studies that employ dance in a dramaturgically essential manner, tracking the emergence of the dancer as a key figure in the genre, and connecting the contributions to past and present choreographers. This collection foregrounds the work of the ensemble, incorporating firsthand and autoethnographic accounts that intersect with historical and cultural contexts. Through a selection of essays, this volume conceptualizes the function of dance in musical: how it functions diegetically as a part of the story or non-diegetically as an amplification of emotion, as well as how the dancing body works to reveal character psychology by expressing an unspoken aspect of the libretto, embodying emotions or ideas through metaphor or abstraction. Dance in Musical Theatre makes dance language accessible for instructors, students, and musical theatre enthusiasts, providing the tools to critically engage with the work of important choreographers and dancers from the beginning of the 20th century to today.

Just Let Her Dance

Author : Paula Leland
Publisher : Victorious You Press
ISBN 13 : 9781952756542
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (565 download)

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Book Synopsis Just Let Her Dance by : Paula Leland

Download or read book Just Let Her Dance written by Paula Leland and published by Victorious You Press. This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paula Leland is an exceptional writer. She immediately grasps the readers' attention and takes them on a journey through the life of the main character, a young girl named Patrice, who dreams of one day becoming a professional dancer. She is determined to make her dreams come true through hard work and dedication. Her journey is not easy and there are many ups and downs that she experiences. Ms. Leland makes the reader feel as if they are in the story with Patrice as she maneuvers through family dynamics when dealing with her siblings, interacting with friends, classmates, and teammates, and the anxiety she feels when confronted by everyday challenges. The reader will laugh, cry, applaud, and yearn right along with Patrice as she shares the triumphs and obstacles she faces in her life. The dialogue between the characters is so natural and very engaging. It's almost as if the readers are watching a movie. The author successfully uses imagery to weave an interesting storyline with her choice of words that paint a beautiful and very vivid picture of living in the city of Chicago. She addresses real-life situations that all people can relate to, whether they have experienced the events or just heard about them. However, she does not shy away from allowing her characters to deal with some of the brutal and harsh realities that city living brings-robbery, gun violence, loss of life, etc. This book will appeal to teens and women of all ages. It will leave you wanting more.

Inside the Dancer’s Art

Author : Rose Eichenbaum
Publisher : Wesleyan University Press
ISBN 13 : 0819577014
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (195 download)

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Book Synopsis Inside the Dancer’s Art by : Rose Eichenbaum

Download or read book Inside the Dancer’s Art written by Rose Eichenbaum and published by Wesleyan University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-13 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this gorgeous book, the acclaimed photographer Rose Eichenbaum captures the spirit, beauty, and commitment of dancers along with the dancers’ own words of wisdom and guidance. More than 250 color and black and white photographs are paired with inspirational quotes from legendary and emerging dancers, including Bill T. Jones, Katherine Dunham, Ann Reinking, Mark Morris, Pina Bausch, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Gregory Hines, Mitzi Gaynor, Desmond Richardson, Rennie Harris, Paul Taylor, Ohad Naharin, Tiler Peck, and many more. Here, words and images explore creativity, art making, the communicative power of the human body, the challenges of balancing everyday life with the physical and practical demands of the dancer’s art, and more. In these intimate portraits, Eichenbaum reveals and celebrates the world of the dancer. Sensual and mesmerizing, these images will entrance dancer and non-dancer alike—as well as anyone who loves fine photography—with their powerful depiction of the human body.

Live at Broadway Dance Center

Author : Mandy Moore
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis Live at Broadway Dance Center by : Mandy Moore

Download or read book Live at Broadway Dance Center written by Mandy Moore and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Making It Werk

Author : Michelle Loucadoux
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781542583848
Total Pages : 184 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (838 download)

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Book Synopsis Making It Werk by : Michelle Loucadoux

Download or read book Making It Werk written by Michelle Loucadoux and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-02-06 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this start-to-finish guide to the business side of dance, professional dancer Michelle Loucadoux and world-renowned dance agent Shelli Margheritis offer invaluable tips and tricks of the trade from both sides of the audition table. From starting a career in dance through transitioning out of the business, this book discusses the details of training, finding representation, working on set, dance unions, networking, auditioning, branding, and creating a sustainable career as a professional dancer. This is an absolute must read for current or aspiring dance professionals working in any facet of the dance industry.

Lulu the Broadway Mouse

Author : Jenna Gavigan
Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 0762464607
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (624 download)

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Book Synopsis Lulu the Broadway Mouse by : Jenna Gavigan

Download or read book Lulu the Broadway Mouse written by Jenna Gavigan and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ratatouille meets Broadway in this charming new middle grade novel about a little mouse with big dreams. Lulu is a little girl with a very big dream: she wants to be on Broadway. She wants it more than anything in the world. As it happens, she lives in Broadway's Shubert Theatre; so achieving her dream shouldn't be too tricky, right? Wrong. Because the thing about Lulu? She's a little girl mouse. When a human girl named Jayne joins the cast of the show at the Shubert as an understudy, Lulu becomes Jayne's guide through the world of her theatre and its wonderfully kooky cast and crew. Together, Jayne and Lulu learn that sometimes dreams turn out differently than we imagined; sometimes they come with terms and conditions (aka the company mean girl, Amanda). But sometimes, just when we've given up all hope, bigger and better dreams than we'd ever thought could come true, do.

Bob Fosse's Broadway

Author : Margery Beddow
Publisher : Heinemann Drama
ISBN 13 : 9780435070021
Total Pages : 98 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Bob Fosse's Broadway by : Margery Beddow

Download or read book Bob Fosse's Broadway written by Margery Beddow and published by Heinemann Drama. This book was released on 1996 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This show-by-show analysis of one of Broadway's pre-eminent American choreographers, Bob Fosse, is delivered by Fosse compatriot, dancer and road choreographer, Margery Beddow. The text contains accounts and photographs of shows including "Damn Yankees", "Chicago" and "Sweet Charity"

Swan Dive

Author : Georgina Pazcoguin
Publisher : Henry Holt and Company
ISBN 13 : 1250244293
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis Swan Dive by : Georgina Pazcoguin

Download or read book Swan Dive written by Georgina Pazcoguin and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2021-07-27 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Don't expect just tulle and toe shoes. In this fascinating insider's tale, NYCB dancer Pazcoguin reveals her world. . . . A striking debut." —People Award-winning New York City Ballet soloist Georgina Pazcoguin, aka the Rogue Ballerina, gives readers a backstage tour of the real world of elite ballet—the gritty, hilarious, sometimes shocking truth you don’t see from the orchestra circle. In this love letter to the art of dance and the sport that has been her livelihood, NYCB’s first Asian American female soloist Georgina Pazcoguin lays bare her unfiltered story of leaving small-town Pennsylvania for New York City and training amid the unique demands of being a hybrid professional athlete/artist, all before finishing high school. She pitches us into the fascinating, whirling shoes of dancers in one of the most revered ballet companies in the world with an unapologetic sense of humor about the cutthroat, survival-of-the-fittest mentality at NYCB. Some swan dives are literal: even in the ballet, there are plenty of face-plants, backstage fights, late-night parties, and raucous company bonding sessions. Rocked by scandal in the wake of the #MeToo movement, NYCB sits at an inflection point, inching toward progress in a strictly traditional culture, and Pazcoguin doesn’t shy away from ballet’s dark side. She continues to be one of the few dancers openly speaking up against the sexual harassment, mental abuse, and racism that in the past went unrecognized or was tacitly accepted as par for the course—all of which she has painfully experienced firsthand. Tying together Pazcoguin’s fight for equality in the ballet with her infectious and deeply moving passion for her craft, Swan Dive is a page-turning, one-of-a-kind account that guarantees you'll never view a ballerina or a ballet the same way again.