Love reading books focusing on the arts which is why I chose to read The Ballet Lover  by Barbara L. Baer, 3.5 stars.  The the key character is a reporter who loves ballet, attends ballet programs and writes about the performances and the dancers she interviews.  She is entranced with the dancer, Natalia Makarova, and tries to attend any performance she can featuring the dancer.  In Paris when Makarova was dancing with Rudolf Nureyev in Swan Lake, she saw the entire performance.   Some of you may remember that this was the show where Nureyev failed to catch his ballet partner, Makarova.  Apparently, there was some unpleasant history between the two.  According to the author, he just stood and looked at her with his hands on his hips when she crumpled to the floor.  He is portrayed as a rather inconsiderate individual.  An interesting link is the friendship between the reporter and her editor.  She felt that Nureyev's failure to catch Makarova was intentional and wanted to include it in her report.  Due to Nureyev's popularity the editor said no as he wanted to avoid any legal battles.  The confrontation led to the reporter changing positions but maintaining her friendship with the editor. Nice little read.

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