GISELLE AND I

At a tender age, before she ever embarked on a ballet career, Alicia Markova began to develop an intense infatuation with the character, story, and form of Gisele. The road Markova took to her present position as one of the foremost ballerinas in the world is studded with spectacular performances of this romantic role, with which she is identified as a theatrical legend, inseparable and fixed in the public imagination. Small wonder, then, that Markova should delight in chronicling the experiences surrounding her appearances in this ballet, which has been described as the ""most perfect fusion of music, dancing, and pure pantomime"". Her growth as a performer while studying facets of Giselle's character one after another, is the central thread of her story. The winsomeness that radiates from this devoted artist transforms her narrative from mere balletomane's treat into a book with a universal quality. Certainly on a par with recent biographies of St. Denis and Shawn and Fokine. Almost all of the 84 photographs show Markova and a variety of partners in specific performances of Giselle, illustrating virtually every climactic moment in the ballet.