Jillana, I like that last Balanchine quote. I'm 6' tall, so of course I like it!

Jillana, I'm not familiar with that book. Although I've read quite a few funny/neat quotes from other Balanchine books. Can you tell me who the publisher is of this particular book? <p>[This message has been edited by trina (edited April 30, 2002).]

Trina: Copyright 1984 by the San Marco Press. It is 4" X 5 & 1/2" X 1/2". On the cover is a caricature of Mr. Balanchine's head, that I believe was drawn by him. as it is signed G.B. Light tan cover with a pink sleeve (at the time, $4.95) "Dance is the body at its maximum."

I have a wonderful book for Nureyev lovers, it is Alexander Bland's The Nureyev Image. It has such a collection of photos, several with Fonteyn, and a good biography. And tucked into a page, as a bonus, was a photo of him with a young man, walking down a city street. The book traces his career from childhood through 1976, the year the book was published in the UK. Does anyone else have this book, and if so, do you like it as much as I? There are over 300 photos, at work and play, even as a young student in Russia.

Yes, TamTamm, I have this book. I bought it in 1977 and it is indeed a very beautiful book.<P>There are several other beautiful books of him, and also with Fonteyn. One is "Fonteyn and Nureyev, the Great Years" by Keith Money, Harper Collins Publishers, 1996. It has about 250 pages, most of them full 9 by ll inch plates. Many in performance, quite a number of rehearsals and class.<P>Then I have several huge picture books of Fonteyn, and a few of the Royal Ballet. One of the best of the big Fonteyn books has several pictures of her at the exact same moment in the exact same ballet - 30 years later. Quite, quite extraordinary.

There was also a great film of Nureyev called "I am a Dancer', I think. It showed him in class and rehearsal. I saw it MANY years ago, and have only a vague memory of it. Can anyone fill in the blanks; did anyone else see it?

I just pulled out a book that I spent many hours perusing in my childhood: <I>Russian Ballet</I> (1939) – camera studies by Gordon Anthony, with an introduction by Arnold Haskell, published by Richard Clay and Company, Ltd., Bungay, Suffolk. It was given to my mother in 1945 by her college friend and jitterbug partner. It’s about 10" x 13" and nearly 2" thick. There are 96 studio portraits of members of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, masterfully lit and photographed, each mounted at one edge on a separate sheet of heavy paper. It’s still in great condition, except for a photo of Felia Doubrovska on which I used a pen to outline her legs (she had such great legs!) so that I could trace her to make a paper doll. Ouch!<P>Looking through the book again, I realized, after all these years, that the dancers appear in alphabetical order, from Adrianova to Yousskevitch. A few of my favorites are (using the French spellings from the book): Irina Baronova in <I>La Concurrence</I> and <I>Le Coq d’Or</I>; Alexandra Danilova in <I>L’Oiseau de Feu</I> (a very shadowy photo with the feathers of her headdress magnified onto the backdrop); David Lichine and Felia Doubrovska “rehearsing” (this is the one I defaced); Leonide Massine as the Peruvian in <I>Gaîté Parisienne</I>; Marc Platoff (aka Mark Platt) in <I>Francesda da Rimini</I>; a non-dance close-up of Tatiana Riabouchinska in which her skin appears to be made of porcelain; and a head shot of Toumanova in <I>Le Tricorne</I> that is one of the most beautiful portraits I’ve ever seen.<P>Does anyone else have this book?<p>[This message has been edited by djb (edited May 02, 2002).]

I also have The Nureyev Image, it is a wonderful book. I also love "Noureev" by Mario Blois. It isn't just a large book it’s HUGE, with magnificent photos some of which are on double pages. The author is the widower of the French ballerina Claire Motte, and he seems to have known Nureyev really well. Even if you can't read French, if you are a fan of Nureyev's the book is well worth buying. Incidentally the French spelling of Nureyev's name is closest to the correct Russian pronunciation.<P>Here is a list of all the dance titles I have on Fonteyn and Nureyev. If I'm missing any PLEASE let me know.<P>The Art of Margot Fonteyn by Keith Money<BR>Margot Assoluta by Keith Money<BR>Margot Fonteyn – Autobiography<BR>Margot Fonteyn by Gordon Anthony<BR>Margot Fonteyn by Cyril Beaumont<BR>Margot Fonteyn by Hugh Fisher<BR>Fonteyn: Impression of a Ballerina<BR>Fonteyn & Nureyev by Alexander Bland<BR>Fonteyn & Nureyev: The Great Years by Keith Money<BR>Christies Catalogue of the Contents of Rudolf Nureyev’s Paris Flat<BR>The Dancer who flew by Linda Maberduk<BR>Noureev by Mario Blois (in French)<BR>Nurejew (in German)<BR>Nureyev (Autobiography with Alexander Bland)<BR>Nureyev by Clive Barnes<BR>Nureyev by John Percival<BR>Nureyev by Diane Solway<BR>Nureyev by Peter Watson<BR>Nureyev (Photographs) <BR>Rudolf Nureyev (in Russian and English)<BR>The Nureyev Image by Alexander Bland<BR>Nureyev in Paris (Photographs)<BR>The Nureyev Valentino<BR>Perpetual Motion by Otis Stuart<BR>A Year with Rudolf Nureyev by Simon Robinson<P><BR>

Cassandra - I expect your Russian and English Nureyev book is the same as mine, published by the Russian Institute of History of the Arts in 1998. I bought mine in St Petersburg. I also have Rudolf Nureyev: Three Years in the Kirov Theatre, published by the Pushkinsky Fond (Pushkin Foundation) - I think I had to send to America for that.<P>On Fonteyn, have you got (you must have!) Alastair Macaulay's Pocket Biography? It's quite interesting but far too short, the only biography published since her death. I also have the souvenir brochure from the Fonteyn Phenomenon RAD Conference in 1999, which has some good articles in it, and two Christie's catalogues.

Oh, and the best one of all - Fonteyn, the Making of a Legend, by Keith Money. This is the one Basheva mentioned, with photos of the same moment in the same role taken years apart, among many other treasures. If you haven't got it, you must find it! Mine has been studied so much it's falling to pieces.

Yep, that's the one HelenB. A truly extraordinary book of Fonteyn - surely one of the very best. I love at the very end of it all the pictures of her in different costumes are lined up. I used that gallery for costume ideas when I needed to design costumes. I don't think she ever wore an ugly - or ungraceful - costume.<P>What I am waiting for is a biography on Fonteyn's life that goes into it with the depth and apparant care and study as Diane Solway's biography on Nureyev.<P>Does anyone have "Red Detachment of Women"?

Yes! I've got Red Detachment of Women - love it!<P>Sadly the Fonteyn book you mention was lent and never returned - I search in vain for a replacement. The book about Nureyev at the Kirov was I'm told a very limited edition and not available in UK. Although I went to both the viewing and the sale of Fonteyn memorabilia at Christies, I couldn't get a catalogue because they ran out, they simply hadn't printed enough.

It's available at Alibris.com, as are several other books on Fonteyn, some of which even I haven't got! I haven't used Alibris, but it does look tempting.

trina, I used to have the Nureyev tape "I am a Dancer" and I loaned it to my daughter's dance teacher, I need to get it back and when I do, I will loan it to you. It's wonderful, I remember the part where he took a week or so off dancing, and he couldn't get out of bed one morning, he was so stiff and sore from not stretching and moving every day. My daughter is the same way, she still stretches and works even on her vacation so she will always be flexible. He is so beautiful in this tape.

I have that tape, too....and it is a treasure.<P>Wherever I went, even halfway around the globe, I always took my dance bag and gave myself a barre - aboard ship, in hotels, in cabins, in a meadow, wherever.<P>I remember that Nureyev once said, that it took about twice as long to get back in shape as it took to get out of shape. But you know, I don't think he kept in shape because he 'had' to, but because he 'wanted to'.<P>Does anyone have "The Romantic Ballet in Paris" by Ivor Guest? Another favorite book of mine.<P>