White Swan, Black Swan: Stories

Rating:
Summary: Rave
Review: Adrienne Sharp has written a very good collection of short stories. The subject is consistent throughout all the tales, and the theme she adheres to is not complimentary of its subject. Finding a good book about a subject that is of interest, and possibly a topic that the reader knows something about is not always easy. One measure of the quality of this book is that it is a subject I knew little about, and had slight interest in. If you are a great fan of this performing art, this book probably will not sit well, for it does little to romanticize the art, rather it consistently elaborates on the dark, and almost deviant behavior of the participants.

There is a disclaimer at the beginning that says that much of what the reader will see is the product of the author's imagination. However, at the end of the book there is a list of biographies the author used, so how close this book is to reality is hard to judge. The author also spent years in the ballet, so it is not unreasonable to presume some of what she has written was experienced or witnessed.

There are major talents that will be familiar to the reader, Margot Fonteyn, George Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Alexander Godunov, and many more. The author never questions their talent, at least when they are at their best, however when it comes to their private lives, and their conduct toward their peers, these people are often very easy to dislike despite the talent they had. Their private lives are often self-destructive which is in keeping with the general theme of the book.

There are moments when the brilliance of those that practice this art is described with all the admiration for their gifts they deserve. The book in general is a portrayal of a life that rewards a tiny fraction of those that participate, and even those that do rise to stardom are rarely more than miserable. This feeling is present whether the topic is of the youngest of children just beginning their first lessons, to adolescents who already are abusing drugs to keep their weight down. For those who are allowed to advance, most will never be more than human background.

I enjoyed the book, however it will not endear this art to you. This is certainly one writer's view of the world of ballet, and I am sure there are many others who would proclaim its virtues with the same enthusiasm, its darker sides are displayed with here. An interesting collection of stories that seem to be much closer to non-fiction, rather than the pure creation of imagination.

Rating:
Summary: Rave
Review: Adrienne Sharp's book is one of the most highly literary books I have ever read. Her prose-like narrative is so moving that this book is hard to put down. Strangely enough, I have read reviews of this book by ballet critics which seems a bit odd because the book is so very literary. What does a ballet critic know about writing? Ms. Sharp may have studied ballet for many years, but read the bio...this woman has her MFA from Hopkins..in Creative Writing. She is a writer and her work is amazing, moving, textured and I will remember the deep sadness of the short -lived dancer's life, the pain of AIDS and loss, and the realization that your hopes and dreams can be dashed so young, leaving a very young dancer to scramble and pick themselves off and replan their lives. A great book for not only those interested in dance but all people who love great fiction. Let's see more Ms. Sharp!

Rating:
Summary: ... next?
Review: I love the characters in the twelve stories that make up Adrienne Sharp's White Swan, Black Swan. The characters who have moved into Sharp's work from the real world of dance are beautifully realized, yet those who've sprung wholly from Sharp's imagination are the ones who do an enduring dance on my heart. One of my favorite stories, "Wili," is narrated by Katherine, who shows up later in the collection as the narrator of "The Brahmins." Intensely devoted to yet intensely ambivalent about her dancing career, Katherine attempts to deal with her conflicting emotions while circumnavigating her sister's grief over her dead husband. For me, Katherine's deliberations capture a dancer's necessary self-absorption and focus on the world of dance in which she lives. Yet in her sister's home, confronted by the emptiness her sister and niece are trying to fill, she wakes to the reality of others' emotions: "And I'm rich suddenly, with grief, for what she though her life would be. It's not her fault, it's not what she deserves, but it's what she has to take instead." Katherine's attempt to reach outside of the dancer's dreamy, solipsistic world is a noble moment that reverberates throughout the collection. The dancers in Sharp's stories try desperately to connect with worlds other than the world of dance. And though they often hobble, crawl,and flail when they are forced to communicate and negotiate relationships in the real world, their attempts to find some balance in their lives, their attempts to meld their art with their own personal realities are courageous and breathtaking. Sharp has captured in lovely, dynamic prose every artist's, every dancer's tightrope walk. A thoroughly rewarding read.

Rating:
Summary: A book almost as beautiful as ballet itself!
Review: I took ballet lessons a long time ago and was a total klutz at it. I still take them to keep in shape. But like almost anyone who has ever danced, I dreamed of making it big time. Despite being fiction, Sharp has captured some of the finest things in professional ballet and some of the hard truths. This is a book of beautifully written stories that revolve around dancers' lives. Only one thing to caution against, Sharp has used technical ballet terms that are probably unfamiliar to most, keeping the book very real, but hard to visualize if you are unfamiliar with dance.

Rating:
Summary: Less Cliched Than Most "Ballet Fiction"
Review: These days,I usually avoid fiction that claims ballet as a subject matter. I was a professional ballet dancer myself, and most books on the subject that I read in the past (again, I am emphasizing FICTIONAL here)were as cliched as those posters of dancers with the quote "If you can dream it, you can become it..." This book, however, was great. I was impressed with the boldness of Sharp's voice and her handling of the subject matter. The truth is that the ballet world is magical and beautiful, yet also painful, unforgiving, and not without betrayal. White Swan, Black Swan tells the stories with grace and intelligence.

Rating:
Summary: Encore, encore, Adrienne Sharp!
Review: This beguiling collection dramatically portrays the complicated relationships and emotional lives of dancers and choreographers, both fictional and fictionalized. Adrienne Sharp's spare,evocative narrative beautifully captures dancers' longings, envy, frailty, self-absorption, explosive rage, and unapologetic pride. Four stories feature well-known dancers and choreographers; some fictional characters appear in more than one story. The collection is integrated by the characters' struggles to define themselves in relation to dance, whether they give it up, return to it, or leave behind a dance legacy. This book is a treasure for any individual ever haunted by dance, or even merely curious about the lives of dancers off-stage. Given the sexual content of several stories, this book is best recommended for mature readers.

Rating:
Summary: Leaps and Falls
Review: White Swan, Black Swan was a very up and down book for me. I don't usually read short stories, so I was pleasantly surprised to find this book not as frustrating as most short fiction is for me. The entre given by these stories to the world of ballet and dancers is fascinating. The stories with fictional characters were good to great. Sharp's dancers and their mates are sharply etched, pained, joyous, dwellers in a world that combines tulle and pointe shoes, gossamer and aching joints.

However, I was puzzled by Sharp's stories featuring well-known dancers. These were scarcely fictionalized accounts similar to those I've read in biographies or magazine articles. They provided me no additional insight into the inner lives of these famous folks and I wondered why Sharp had bothered, when her fictional characters were so good.