Research Catalog

Title

Broadway, Balanchine, & beyond : a memoir / Bettijane Sills with Elizabeth McPherson ; foreword by Carol K. Walker.

Author

Sills, Bettijane

Publication

• Gainesville : University Press of Florida, [2019]
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

McPherson, Elizabeth

Description

xi, 178 pages : illustrations; 23 cm

Summary

"In this memoir of a roller-coaster career on the New York stage, former actor and dancer Bettijane Sills offers a highly personal look at the art and practice of George Balanchine, one of ballet's greatest choreographers, and the inner workings of his world-renowned company during its golden years. Sills recounts her years as a child actor in television and on Broadway, a career choice largely driven by her mother, and describes her transition into pursuing her true passion: dance. She was a student in Balanchine's School of American Ballet throughout her childhood and teen years, until her dream was achieved. She was invited to join New York City Ballet in 1961 as a member of the corps de ballet and worked her way up to the level of soloist. Winningly honest and intimate, Sills lets readers peek behind the curtains to see a world that most people have never experienced firsthand. She tells stories of taking classes with Balanchine, dancing in the original casts of some of his most iconic productions, working with a number of the company's most famous dancers, and participating in the company's first Soviet Union tour during the Cold War and Cuban Missile Crisis. She walks us through her years in New York City Ballet first as a member of the corps de ballet, then a soloist dancing some principal roles, finally as one of the "older" dancers teaching her roles to newcomers while being encouraged to retire. She reveals the unglamorous parts of tour life, jealousy among company members, and Balanchine's complex relationships with women. She talks about Balanchine's insistence on thinness in his dancers and her own struggles with dieting. Her fluctuations in weight influenced her roles and Balanchine's support for her--a cycle that contributed to the end of her dancing career."--Back cover.

Alternative Title

Broadway, Balanchine, and beyond : a memoir

Subject

• Sills, Bettijane
• Balanchine, George
• Ballet dancers > United States > Biography
• Ballerinas > United States > Biography

Genre/Form

Autobiographies.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages [167]-169) and index.

Call Number

*MGYB (Sills) 19-2634

ISBN

• 081305625X
• 9780813056258

LCCN

2018953483

OCLC

1050132294

Author

Sills, Bettijane, author.

Title

Broadway, Balanchine, & beyond : a memoir / Bettijane Sills with Elizabeth McPherson ; foreword by Carol K. Walker.

Publisher

Gainesville : University Press of Florida, [2019]

Copyright Date

©2019

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages [167]-169) and index.

Added Author

McPherson, Elizabeth, author.

Research Call Number

*MGYB (Sills) 19-2634