- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Methuen Publishing Ltd (5 Oct 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0413726002
- ISBN-13: 978-0413726001
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.6 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
606,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #83 in Books > Biography > Theatre & Performance Art > Ballet
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Product Description
Synopsis
On 13th July 1997 the Royal Opera House saw its last gala performance and closed its doors for extensive re-building. This is the personal journal of Deborah Bull, a principal dancer with Royal Ballet, kept during this year of change as she and the company "danced away" on tours of the world.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet, Deborah Bull fights off the image of the stereotypical female dancer by putting her entire skill as dancer and writer into this exceptional book. Dancing Away follows Deborah around the world for her various performance as Covent Garden is revamped and the Company faces homelessness at more than one stage. Written with wit, experience and intelligence, Deborah Bull gives a true insight into the scenes behind the glamourous life that is often portrayed on stage and the normal reality for dancers as citizens of a rapidly-changing country and world. If you buy one book remotely connected with dance, buy this one, you will certainly not be disappointed. Even for the ballet-phobes out there, this is a book to be devoured, due to its focus on everyday life behind a glamourous cover. Miss Bull certainly isn't a 'dumb dancer'. Far from it.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Dancing Away charts a year in the life of the author, a principal dancer of the Royal Ballet during a particularly turbulent period in its history with the temporary closure of its home -The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
Deborah Bull, a classically beautiful dancer proves to be an incredibly witty, fluent and intelligent writer, qualities displayed throughout this book. Dancing Away flows extremely well, notwithstanding the fact that it is written in a diary format. Through the experiences of the author, the reader begins to feel something of the commitment involved in maintaining the level expected of a professional ballet dancer. The constant routine of training and rehearsal, and of the pressures of life on tour become evident, compounded in the author's case by the fact that her partner also seems to be constantly on tour!
The author tells of her experiences behind the scenes which provide a suprising account of the politics that bubble beneath every Swan Lake. Deborah Bull is not afraid to challenge the bureaucrats who threaten to choke the art of ballet, labelling it 'an elitist art form.' Every issue is tackled with clear and well-balanced debate.
Dancing Away does not develop into a political soapbox however, but maintains its witty account into the world on and off stage of an experienced ballerina, including her involvement in the launch of her book 'The Vitality Plan' (aka Totally Fit) and her promotional work for Rolls-Royce.
Dancing Away is a thoroughly entertaining and recommended read for the seasoned balletomane or simply the curious. (can't wait for the sequel!)
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Deborah Bull's fascinating diary is...well, fascinating! It's funny, well written and informative. Watching the author perform will never be the same again! The book makes you feel almost honoured, because it is as if you are being admitted into the dancer's life. It is incredibly witty and I received some peculiar glances as I laughed out loud whilst sitting on a London-bound train. If the author ever reads this review, then I would like to take the oppurtunity to say: May I suggest that you seriously consider a second career in writing? (Of course, she must finish her Ballet career first!) Everyone should read it! Although the politics confused me sometimes, as a thirteen-year-old, I would still reccommend (in fact, I demand!) that everyone, I repeat, everyone, buys this book!
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