Dancer

by Colum McCann

Genres: International Crime & Mystery

Synopsis

Daringly embellishing Nureyev's life, from his humble beginnings as a Russian peasant to his later years as a Cold War exile who earned the adoration of millions, McCann tells the fascinating story of ballet's greatest performer through a chorus of compelling voices. From the obscure to the famous, from the real to the imagined, shoemakers, nurses, translator, and hustlers take center-stage alongside Margot Fonteyn, Erik Bruhn, and Andy Warhol. At the heart of this lavish spectacle stands the artist himself, willful, lustful, ambitious, and driven by a tragically unfulfilled perfectionism. In vivid, electric prose Colum McCann evokes the humanity behind the mask offset by the glittering reflection of the myth. The result is a monumental twentieth-century story of love, art, fame, and exile.

Release date: June 25, 2013

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Print pages: 356

Sample

From Dancer:
Just when we all thought they were finished, a small blond boy stepped out of the line. He extended his legs, placed his hands firmly on his hips and hitched his thumbs at his back. He bent his neck slightly forward, stretched his elbows out and began. The soldiers in their beds propped themselves up. The boy went to the floor for a squatting dance. We all stood silently watching. The boy grinned. Some soldiers began clapping in rhythm but, just as the dance was about to end, the boy almost fell. His hand slapped the floor and broke the impact. For a moment he looked as if he was about to cry, but he didn't, he was up once more, his blond hair flopping over his eyes.
When he finished the ward was full of applause. Someone offered the boy a cube of sugar. He blushed and slipped it into the top of his sock and then he stood around with his hands in his pockets, rolling his shoulders from side to side.