Product Description

Kenneth MacMillan's ballets are in constant demand by world-famous companies, particularly "Romeo and Juliet", "Manon and Mayerling". However, MacMillan was tormented by an acute sense of being an outsider, at odds with the institutions in which he worked and their conventional expectations of what ballet should be. A real-life Billy Elliot from a Scottish working class family, MacMillan demonstrated a prodigious talent for dancing from an early age. Following the premature death of his mother, the young MacMillan sought an escape route from home and, despite his father's disapproval, secured a place at Sadler's Wells. Paradoxically he found himself crippled by stage-fright during the height of his professional career, leaving him with only one option - choreography. He went on to produce ballets which defied convention and became renowned for challenging audiences. The criticism he received fanned his anxieties but, despite this, MacMillan achieved international acclaim, becoming artistic director of both the Berlin Ballet and the Royal Ballet. On a personal level he found unexpected happiness with his wife and daughter in the later stages of his life, making it all the more tragic when he died suddenly at the age of 62. This stunning biography reveals a complex artist who fiercely guarded his own privacy, whilst his ballets communicated his darkest and most intimate thoughts.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5811 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 784 pages

Review
'Different Drumemr is a fine and searching study of Macmillan's life and work - admirable in its scrupulous detail as in its understanding of the subject ... a remarkable study in the nature of a powerful creative talent.' --Financial Times, 12 September, 2009

'Jann Parry's new biography of [Kenneth MacMillan] is at once an assiduously detailed history of the man and a psychological deconstruction of his work ...Parry's compassionate account enables us to approach it with new understanding.' --Observer, 20 September, 2009

'Jann Parry's magnificent life of [Kenneth MacMillan] ...Through astute observation and exhaustive research Parry, a former dance critic, delivers not just the life of a choreographic genius but also charts the history of modern British classical ballet.'
--Daily Express, 2 October, 2009

Jann Parry has written a biography on the grand scale, as extravagant as any of the ballets she describes it is not just a labour of love, but, one feels while reading it, an offering, an homage to the power of dance. --Patrick O Connor, Literary Review

Jann Parry's riveting biography ... Meticulous, authoritative and unflappable, Parry has done an excellent job in elucidating this fascinating but somewhat tirsesomely self-centred and over-sensitive man. Her authoritative biography will join Julie Kavanagh's portrait of Ashton and Meredith Daneman's of Fonteyn as primary sources for the study of British ballet. --Rupert Christiansen, The Spectator

About the Author
A long-established dance writer, Jann Parry was dance critic for The Observer from 1983 to 2004. She has written for publications including The Spectator, The Listener, About the House (Royal Opera House magazine), Dance Now, Dance Magazine (USA), Stage Bill (USA) and Dancing Times. As a writer/producer, she worked for the BBC World Service from 1970 to 1989, covering current affairs and the arts. As well as producing radio programmes, she has contributed to television and radio documentaries about dance and dancers. She is married to Richard Kershaw and lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Great biography even for "non-ballet" types
I found this biography very interesting and easy to read, even though I am not a regular ballet goer. I would recommend it to anyone interested in any area of the arts. It is very well written and beautifully presented. Great gift for Christmas or any occasion!

Fantastic biography
I've been waiting for a biography of Kenneth MacMillan for years - and this one does not disappoint. I am about two thirds of the way through and would have finished it by now if it wasn't so heavy to carry around - not a book to take on the Tube. Very well written as one would expect from Jann Parry - I recommend it to any ballet lover.

INTERESTING BOOK
I FOUND THIS BOOK VERY INTERESTING. I HAVE ALWAYS ENJOYED kENNETH MACMILLAN'S BALLETS ESPECIALLY MANON AND MAYERLING SO WAS INTERESTED TO READ ABOUT THE MAN.