Dancing Spirit - Hardcover

Jamison, Judith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385425570 ISBN 13: 9780385425575

Publisher: Doubleday, 1993

Synopsis

Judith Jamison is, in every sense, a towering  figure. Her commanding physical presence and  extraordinary technique have made her not only a  superstar of American dance and an innovator in her field,  but also an inspiration to African Americans, to  women, and to people of all origins around the  world. Last November, Doubleday published  Dancing Spirit, this remarkable woman's  autobiography. Now, with Anchor's paperback  publication, an even wider audience can trace the steps of  her career: her early years in Philadelphia, where  she began studying dance at the age of six, her  discovery by Agnes de Mille; years of frustration  and struggle in a field that favored petite, fair,  White women; her legendary collaboration with Alvin  Ailey; her work on Broadway in the musical  Sophisticated Ladies ; the formation of  her own company, the Jamison Project, and her  retum to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as  artistic director after its founder's death in 1989.  Dancing Spirit contains vivid  portraits of many artists Jamison has worked with  including Agnes de Mille, Alvin Ailey, Jessye Norman,  Geoffrey Holder, Carmen de Lavallade, and Mikhail  Baryshnikov, to name only a few. And Jamison talks  frankly about the price exacted by a dancer's  nomadic life--rootlessness, fleeting relationships,  the obsession with physical beauty. Illustrated with  sixty photographs, Dancing Spirit  is a candid and immediate self-portrait of a  unique American artist whose work has left an indelible  mark on the world of  dance.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"This is a book about passion and will, about dance, about black history, about spirituality, about womanhood, about holding a vision, about carrying on."--The Washington Post

"Dancing Spirit is more than a mere collection of remembrances of a great performing career. It is also an inspirational look at a woman who never lost her focus."--Chicago Sun-Times

From Kirkus Reviews:

Jamison, a major figure on the American dance scene, is best known as an Alvin Ailey leading lady and muse; she has lesser credits as a choreographer and teacher--and is now cause for excitement as artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She's also a very proud, private woman, and while we get a good understanding here of her development and sense of purpose, she keeps us firmly at arm's length. Jamison grew up in Philadelphia, and her parents have been towering figures in her life: ``My parents, born and raised in the South, met and settled in the North. I'm moved by contraries, by opposites, the strength that was my mother's eyes, the beauty of my father's hands.'' Growing up, Jamison and her brother were exposed to all that cultural Philadelphia had to offer--and black Philadelphia was in full bloom then. Thus, Jamison's ballet training began early; she was eventually ``discovered'' in a master class by Agnes DeMille. Jamison goes on to chronicle the early years as Ailey struggled to establish his company, the incessant touring, some of her relationships with other notable figures of those years, and her development into a sought-after guest star. Her narrative is sometimes sketchy and bewildering as she skips around the years, but she's more focused as she describes the more recent experience of her artistic directorship following Ailey's death, in 1989. Throughout, Jamison comes across as almost offhand about her talent--it can be hard to catch a glimpse of her passion. Meanwhile, as a woman of deep religious faith, she says, ``I've always believed that my life has been predestined; all I've had to do is be prepared.'' With that as background, readers may not get a feeling for the hard work and intensity undoubtedly necessary for Jamison to have succeeded as she has. An interesting chronicle of Jamison's development and philosophy--but the woman remains an enigma. (Forty-five b&w photographs--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0385425570
• ISBN 13: 9780385425575
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272