The Unmaking of a Dancer
Synopsis
An autobiographical account of Joan Brady’s struggle to succeed in the fiercely competitive, hothouse world of ballet in spite of her mother opposition — an opposition fuelled by a sense of vengeance at Joan’s determination to win the man her mother had herself coveted for years. Joan does win her man, marries him, has his child — and in her thirties, takes up ballet a second time.
Reviews
“Enthralling”
Sunday Telegraph“As an autobiography of adolescence, it reposes, like the young dancer herself, in the very highest class” Sunday Times
'Evocative...provocative...hilarious...vivid...believeable' New York Times
“Thrilling … superb … harrowingly honest” Financial Times
“Marvellous” Guardian
Joan Brady in George Balanchine’s advanced class at the School of American Ballet in New York, photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson