Welcome to Litsy!

I originally checked this out from the library, got 2 chapters in and ran to my bookstore and bought a copy. This book is amazing. It is written with such care and tons of research. The 5 women it focuses on each have small chapters woven into the narrative. Their struggles are glaring on the page, the way they controlled their bodies while struggling with so much racism and socioeconomic challenges.
4.5/5 this is wonderful.

“She wanted to be like her childhood heroes Ginger Rogers and Natalie Wood, emerging from limousines onto red carpets to snapping bulbs, the plot of her life playing out like one of the feel-good Million Dollar Movie films she loved to watch on her family‘s black-and-white television.”

Photo of the 5 beautiful ballerinas featured in the book

The man behind the company.
The first Black dancer at the NYC Ballet.
Arthur Mitchell started the Dance Theater of Harlem. He is both a monster (yelling at the women for eating or not being loyal enough to him and the company) but also seen as a father figure. The women talk about how his death in 2018 crushed them. A complex and interesting look at a teacher relationship.

While this book is about the women of Dance Theatre of Harlem, there is tragedy in how the men of the company were abandoned by government. They died of AIDS
“'I witnessed and entire male ensemble pass away.' Sheila Rohan says of the epidemic. She was working at Alavin Ailey in those years. 'These were our Black gods. Prima donnas of the dance world. And then you had to see them decline. At least 25, 30 of them, 1 right after another dropped.“

Following up Agent Zo with another book about forgotten Women. These are 5 of the Black ballerinas that came before Misty Copeland

This is incredibly interesting. 5 Black ballerinas, famous (in their own way) during the 70s and 80s, tell their stories. Another rec from @TheBookHippie that I borrowed for my IRL NF book club.

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