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FONTEYN & NUREYEV

Name: FONTEYN & NUREYEV
Author: Keith Money
ISBN: 0-00-271375-6

THE GREAT YEARS

by Keith Money ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 1994

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A pretty and personal tribute to one of the great partnerships in ballet history. Artist Money (Anna Pavlova, 1982) stumbled into dance photography in the early 1960s after seeing the first televised performance of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. For the next several years he accompanied the dancers on tour and, against the constant objections of the two photo-phobes, managed to record them together in rehearsal and onstage. Many of the black-and-white images included here have never been published before, and they afford both a charmingly informal glimpse of the two artists and a record of the emotional power and style that made them sellouts at the box office. Most of the photos are maddeningly uncaptioned, but one picture of Fonteyn doing her tendus in a stone archway in Athens seems innocuous enough until one reads in the accompanying text that a workman had just missed bashing her head in with a beam. In the same series, we see Fonteyn stitching a toe shoe while Nureyev looks on; the young dancer had just announced that he would not dance that night. ``Perhaps we'd better just give the money back?'' Fonteyn replied calmly, stitching away. Unfortunately, we get few such intimate anecdotes and no real understanding of their working relationship. Fonteyn was an aging star, whom the Royal Ballet management was ready to shunt aside, Money tells us. Nureyev was a fiery young dancer, a recent defector from the Soviet Union. He renewed Fonteyn's career, even dared her, according to the author, to surpass herself. The magic of that interaction is missing from Money's text. But it is very present in his photos: Fonteyn's remarkably youthful Aurora exults in the arms of Nureyev, her Prince; as Romeo and Juliet they evince innocent love tragically betrayed. Both Fonteyn and Nureyev outdanced the usual span of a dancer's career; both died too young. Money's photos and sketches remind us of the way they were.

Pub Date: Dec. 15, 1994

ISBN: 0-00-271375-6

Page Count: 256

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.