If you are feeling in need of a quick, light and easily digested read one Sunday afternoon, then pick up “A Dancer in Wartime” by Gillian Lynne. Described on the cover of the edition I have as ‘one girl’s journey from the Blitz to Sadler’s Wells’ , it is indeed that.
Lynne has a rather gushing style, which judging by how she describes herself as a child and teenager, is probably a very true reflection of her character. She charts her progress from her first dance classes, the tragic death of her mother, to her becoming a dancer with what later became The Royal Ballet. She was a contemporary of Margot Fonteyn, Beryl Grey and Moira Shearer, and gushes (and she does gush…) about dancing with them and others. It stops in 1946 at the opening performance at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
In later life, Lynne went on to become a choreographer, best known for musicals such as ‘Cats’ and ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and is still working at the age of 86. It is a bit of an odd book, but somehow very sweet and reads like she is telling you the story of her early life. Good with a cup of tea and a packet of biscuits, this can easily be read in a few hours.
If you want to read some more serious biography, I can highly recommend Julie Kavanagh's seminal works on Frederick Ashton and Nureyev.
