I Was a Dancer

November 29, 2010
In this lively memoir, former New York City Ballet principal dancer d'Amboise (Teaching the Magic of Dance) details his career at the company—but barely mentions his work for Broadway and Hollywood. He exuberantly recounts his childhood, arrival at the School of American Ballet, 35 years at NYCB, and his beloved National Dance Institute. Now 76, d'Amboise reveals how close he was to George Balanchine—sharing a decade's worth of New Year's Eves, acting as mediator in the choreographer's love affairs, visiting him daily in the hospital during his final year, and so fully assimilating the master's approach and style that it was assumed for years that d'Amboise would succeed Balanchine as head of NYCB. Instead, d'Amboise founded the National Dance Institute in 1976 to involve public school students in the transformative power of the arts, for which he credits a full and love-filled life. The segments devoted to major figures in 20th-century ballet, including the Christensen brothers, John Cranko, and Balanchine's many muses—while informative, lack the humor and narrative pull of the main story: how a street kid who literally tried to fly, developed gravity-defying elevation and superb artistry as a ballet dancer. 106 b&w photos.

November 1, 2010

The hefty autobiography of a celebrated New York City Ballet principal dancer whose career prospered for more than four decades.

Other luminaries of ballet have treated this often-mysterious world with down-to-earth candor—including Suzanne Farrell in Holding On to the Air (1990) and NYCB co-founder Lincoln Kirstein in Mosaic (1994)—but here, in his first book, d'Amboise moves beyond the breadth of his own experiences, mapping out the complex evolution of ballet in America. The author threads lively personal reminiscences and anecdotes with intriguing portraits of choreographers and fellow dancers, along with passages detailing the socio-political backdrops to his childhood and career. He infuses his accounts of rigorous rehearsals, exhaustive touring schedules and the harsher side of theater life with warmth, realism and charm, and allows melodramatic dialogue and pithy repartée to buoy overly long swaths of ballet terms and methodology. In one memorable passage, Kirstein is seen panicking about the survival of the company after his business partner, classical ballet titan George Balanchine, passed away, and his fiery tirade is dark and brutally honest: "At last, the tyranny of one man is over! Balanchine was never my friend. Do you think he ever asked me out socially? It was always business." Poignant moments also emerge, as when a well-loved former ballerina, close to death, reflected dryly to d'Amboise, "You know all this bullshit about the afterlife? Well, there is one. It's what's left behind, from the way you lived. We did a pretty good job." Now in his mid-70s, the author, too, is wistful yet satisfied, with countless feathers in his theatrical hat.

Full of intimate tidbits from the inner sanctum of professional ballet, d'Amboise's journal of his illustrious career is a trove of stage icons, grand performances and hard-won personal triumphs.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2010

In his engrossing recollections, d'Amboise writes, "My memoirs are not filled with angst.... Everything was given to me, and all of it was the best of the best." This sunny summary understates his commitment to hard work and his unabashed love of ballet. By the age of 17 he was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he danced for 35 years. Later, in 1976, he founded the National Dance Institute, a successful arts education program that is still making a difference. The touchstones of d'Amboise's remembrances are the ballets he danced and the artists with whom he worked. The choreographer George Balanchine was a central influence in his life, but d'Amboise shares entertaining stories and insights from such luminaries as Lincoln Kirstein, Antony Tudor, Maria Tallchief, Allegra Kent, and Diana Adams. VERDICT Like Bob Dylan's Chronicles, d'Amboise's memoir is episodic and nonlinear, an approach not all readers will appreciate. But his writing style is conversational and casual, and his voice is enthusiastic, optimistic, and full of wonder--balletomanes will not be able to put this book down. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/10.]--Joan Stahl, Head Librarian, George Washington's Mount Vernon, VA

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2011
DAmboise opens his memoir with a prologue, framing his book as a meal a long time in the making: It took over a decade to prepare and serve these pages. Anecdotal and episodic, this book is a buffet of stories. As a storyteller, dAmboise is a master chef as he recounts how a wild, untamed youth learns nobility through art. Mixing humor and horror, he vivifies ballet giants Balanchine, Tallchief, and Lincoln Kirstein, as well as world tours with the New York City Ballet. The narrative is thrown off balance, however, when dAmboise attempts to spin memories, backstories, and asides into one dizzying pirouette. Readers seeking sensationalism will be disappointed as, save for exposing terrific egos, the anecdotes barely allude to thorny topics such as eating disorders and incestuous dance-company relationships. Any truth broached by dAmboise is supplemented with astonishing photos and detailed footnotes. When focused, the story, imagery, and passion coalesce into a vivid staging of the ballet world that will satiate the hunger of any ballet enthusiast.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)