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Tag Archives: Nureyev
“Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
Joan Acocella, longtime dance critic for The New Yorker, and regular contributor to the New York Review of Books died in 2024 at the age of 78, and I did not mark her passing. It’s her birthday today. Acocella brought … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged ballet, Bob Fosse, dance, Dorothy Parker, essays, H.L. Mencken, Joan Acocella, Martha Graham, nonfiction, Nureyev, Primo Levi
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“A pas de deux is a dialogue of love. How can there be conversation if one partner is dumb?” — Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Nureyev — born on this day — was once asked how he got so much height in his legendary jumps. He replied, “When I am at the peak of the jump, I just pause a little bit.” As though … Continue reading
Recommended: Biographies
For starters: My recommended Fiction books My recommended Non-Fiction books BIOGRAPHIES: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph Ellis I’ve written a lot about Joseph Ellis’ work here. While I love David McCullough’s work so much, Ellis is … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Founding Fathers, James Joyce, Theatre, writers
Tagged A. Scott Berg, Abigail Adams, Alexander Hamilton, American Sphinx, Benjamin Franklin, Biography, Bruce Springsteen, Charles Lindbergh, Charlotte Bronte, David McCullough, Dean Martin, Edie Sedgwick, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ellen Terry, Elvis Presley, Emily Bronte, George Washington, Henry Irving, His Excellency, Howard Hawks, Howard Hughes, James Dean, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Adams, John Wayne, Joseph Cornell, Joseph Ellis, Marlon Brando, Mitford sisters, Montgomery Clift, Nick Tosches, Nureyev, Orson Welles, Oscar Wilde, Patricia Bosworth, Patricia Highsmith, Richard Ellmann, Ron Chernow, Sam Cooke, Simon Callow, Tennessee Williams, Thomas Jefferson, Truman Capote, W.B. Yeats, Zelda Fitzgerald
9 Comments
Stuff I’ve Been Reading
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. Here are some of the things I’ve read recently – or am in the process of reading. — I love Imogen Sara Smith’s writing, and I’m not just saying that … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Movies
Tagged Belfast, Ireland, Nicolas Roeg, Nureyev, stuff I've been reading
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2009 Books Read
A pathetic showing when you consider how much I normally read (2008, 2007, 2006, 2005), but whatever, I did what I could. I did not read a book, not one word, from about March to August. Or, that’s probably wrong … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Personal
Tagged Billy Crystal, books read, Nureyev, Stalin, Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints
14 Comments
Nureyev: A Portrait of the Artist
I finally finished Julie Kavanagh’s masterpiece of a biography. It only took me almost a year. Tremendous book. Not only eloquent on all of the events and characters in Nureyev’s life – but absolutely beautiful on Nureyev’s PROCESS, and who … Continue reading
Nureyev and Gender
I still can’t really read, but here are some Nureyev images, since he’s been on my mind. I am halfway through the Nureyev book, and hopefully I’ll get to finish it some day. I love the androgyny of Nureyev in … Continue reading
“We only lived when we danced.” – Rudolf Nureyev
“They seemed aware of each other even when their backs were turned. When their eye met, a message was passed.” — Alexander Bland on Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn “To see Fonteyn was one thing. To see Nureyev was another … Continue reading
Book Meme: Pick One
Hard to pick one answer for each. Got this from Ted. One book youâre currently reading: I am only reading one. I cannot read fiction right now. I can barely read, if you want to know the truth, but I … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Charlotte Bronte, Crime and Punishment, Evelyn Waugh, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Geek Love, Harriet the Spy, Helter Skelter, Jane Eyre, Katherine Dunn, Leo Tolstoy, Louise Fitzhugh, Mating, Norman Rush, Nureyev, Scoop, Villette, Vincent Bugliosi, War and Peace, William Shakespeare
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“Even his walk made him different from everyone else.”
I’m reading Nureyev: The Life, by Julie Kavanagh right now, and it is superb!! I don’t know anything about ballet, and know very little about the ballet world itself – and while the bare bones of Nureyev’s story are familiar … Continue reading