Customer Reviews

Antoinette Sibley: The Authorized Biography

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I found this book by chance holidaying at a friend's house. After an hour's skimming I decided to read it all the way through but at the end found myself wanting to revisit whole chunks. The book has all the frailties of a working ballerina all over it, and for some that might be irksome. But given the period in which Antoinette Sibley became one of the greatest English ballerinas of her generation, the absolute prima, Margot Fonteyn, dominated the British scene. What is remarkable is Sibley's range of roles, her insight into her increasing emotional excitation and the stress that generated for her and her colleagues, and her ability to put it into perspective, despite rarely feeling entirely confident. The telling of her life is warts and all at times, at other times subtle and gentle, especially about the best teachers of her youth and early career. Oh yes, and where she speaks about the great choreographer Frederick Ashton, and her most adored partner Anthony Dowell. No other ballet biography of this kind has been so clean and straightforward, except perhaps Rudi Van Danzig's biography of his friendship with Rudolf Nureyev. I think this is book to help any creative or interpretative artist grow up, at any time of a life, or at least be grown up about his or herself in relation to their chosen field of art, and all that being an performing artist entails.