The Unmaking of a Dancer: An Unconventional Life [Paperback]

Joan Brady (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pocket (March 1, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671468170
• ISBN-13: 978-0671468170
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,228,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Common Sense! Common Sense! Common Sense!, October 31, 2000

By 

Constant Librarian "constantlibrarian" (Columbia, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The unmaking of a dancer: An unconventional life (Hardcover)

I think non-dancers realize that dancers have to work very, very hard for their art. Brady's interesting and heartbreaking biography outlines the ugliness behind this beautiful art form.

George Ballanchine (sp?) controlled his own company, and indirectly other ballet companies by setting up impossible physical standards. Ballanchine liked dancers to be skeletally thin--so Brady and other dancers performed physical feats that would stagger a professional football player while at the same time being grossly malnourished. Ballanchine and other directors treated his dancers as machines, not human beings. Dancers were to "dance through" injuries, sometimes permanently crippling themselves.

The psychological torture was almost as bad and almost a parody of a patriarchal system. Mr. B wrote the gospel and all were to listen and not question the Holy Writ. And, naturally the patriarch manipulated the women comparing one to another, manipulating jealousy among the dancers and playing favorits.

Dancers for the New York City Ballet, living in an expesnsive city were paid pittances so that the Ballet could pay the superstars huge salaries and buy elaborate costumes.

Another reviewer castigated Joan Brady for her ego. In contrast I applaud her for her common sense in walking away from this insanity, struggling years later to learn how to dance again, and then realizing that she could walk away from madness again.

This book is out of print in the U.S. It has been reprinted in the U.K. under the title _Prologue_.

5.0 out of 5 stars You must read this amazing biography!!, August 1, 2010

By 

SuperAmanda "Amanda" (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The unmaking of a dancer: An unconventional life (Hardcover)

An amazing book that transports you to the world of Berkeley California in the 1950's and the fear of the Red Scare and how it seeped into the lives of countless innocent idealist, then NYC and the draconian fist of Balanchine later the UK and redemption and finding a sense of self. What a life Joan Brady has led. NOT to be missed!!

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brillant!, May 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The unmaking of a dancer: An unconventional life (Hardcover)

Joan let's you in on her privet life of being a dancer. From diets to injury care being a dancer isn't easy. The hard truth that your friend made the touring group and you didn't, crying in the dressing rooms. This beautiful autobioaphy let's you in on the secret life of a dancer.