The Dancer Within: Intimate Conversations with Great Dancers

Front Cover
Aron Hirt-Manheimer
Wesleyan University Press, Jun 30, 2008 - Biography & Autobiography - 294 pages

Intimate portraits of some of the most beloved dancers in America

The Dancer Within is a collection of photographic portraits and short essays based on confessional interviews with forty dancers and entertainers, many of them world-famous. Well-known on the concert stage, on Broadway, in Hollywood musicals, and on television, the personalities featured in this book speak with extraordinary candor about all stages of the dancer's life—from their first dance class to their signature performances and their days of reflection on the artist's life. The Dancer Within reveals how these artists triumphed, but also how they overcame adversity, including self-doubt, injuries, and aging. Most of all, this book is about the courage, commitment, love, and passion of these performers in their quest for artistic excellence. The reader will quickly realize that "the dancer within" is a metaphor of the human spirit.

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About the author (2008)

Rose Eichenbaum is an award-winning photographer, author of six books and a respected educator. Her photography has graced more than thirty national magazine covers, and has been the subject of numerous exhibitions, including a three-year national tour hosted by the Smithsonian Institution. Eichenbaum directs the Art of Photographing Dance Workshop at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and serves as documentary photographer for USC's Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. Aron Hirt-Manheimer is the editor of numerous books and articles, including Eichenbaum's The Dancer Within and The Actor Within. He lives in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

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