Just back from the Diaghhilev exhibition at the V and A and realised how much I loved ballet. I must have seen most ballets over the years and remembered Nureyev performing Nijinsky's roles: Spectre de la Rose, Petrouchka, L'Apres-midi d'un Faun. A favourite ballet was Ashton's A Month in the Country and anything choreographed by Kenneth Macmillan.
I love A Chance to Sit Down (1971) and have reread it many times. It allows the reader to go backstage and experience the blood, sweat and tears involved in being a professional dancer, seen through the eyes of Barbara who rebels against the restrictive discipline imposed. George, the set designer whom she marries is as lovely as Jack, her temperamental ex-lover and rising star of the company, is hateful. This novel was recommended to me years ago by a friend who had been a ballet dancer and it was spot on.
Curtain Fall by Jean Ure (1978) is equally poignant. A ballet dancer returns to England and meets her ex-lover and stage partner now suffering from MS. He wants to have nothing to do with her but when she refuses to be cast aside he lets her back into his life again. I especially love the scene when they go to the cinema, heavily disguised, to watch a film in which they were both starring at the peak of their careers. A wonderfully heart-breaking romantic story - the one paperback I would save from a fire to keep rereading!
Both these novels are probably out of print by now but are still available second-hand from Amazon.
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