Speak to me, dance with me

Rating:
Summary: a great woman of dance
Review: This book is a wonderful testimony of M's de Mille's perserverance in her chosen field of dance. M's de Mille uses the letters she wrote to construct her life as a dancer and later a choreographer.

M's de Mille does an excellent job of portraying the people she worked with (George Ballachine, Irving Berlin, Gertrude Lawrence, and Cole Porter among others) as well as describing herself, warts and all. She doesn't feel the need to make herself look good at someone else's expense.

It's amazing that a woman that was told she was ugly, who was definitely not encouraged to go into dance, managed to become one of the great, most memorable choreographers ("Oklahoma!", "Brigadoon" and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" among many others) of all time. It's especially astounding to realize she did this without any help or encouragement from her famous uncle, Cecil de Mille or her father William de Mille (who was a successful playwright).

Read this book and find out how M's de Mille makes the long journey from a being a fired choreographer in New York to winning two Tony awards. You'll be glad to be along for this trip.