RUSSIAN SOMERSAULT

Winner of the $5,000 prize in Hodder and Stoughton's autobiography competition, and published in England under the title Borzoi. It is the life story of a Russian emigre, now 31 years old and conducting a school of the ballet in Amsterdam. Good adventure -- enlightening picture of the war, the revolution and the counter revolutions, through the eyes of youth, eager for change, drama, excitement, and minding -- less than their elders -- the sacrifice of home, social position, wealth, and all it stood for. From a luxurious childhood to abject poverty -- from safe guarded, traditional education to the shifting scene of dancing schools, theatres, traveling ballet, under Soviet auspices. He gives the picture in swift flashes. He makes his obeissance to the Soviet for their glorification of the arts. But he escapes, when opportunity offers, and faces danger and cold and discomfort in crossing Manchuria and China, to regain a right to his individuality. If there's place for another book on the Russian scene, this is the book of the moment.