Dancers Memoir

Casey Dancer is the true story of a thirty-nine-year-old part-time stripper, full-time real estate agent, and struggling writer navigating the chaos of love and ambition. Fresh from a tumultuous breakup and newly sober, Kristin finds herself struggling to re-enter the dating scene. When she falls for Lalo, a charming but troubled ex-coke dealer, their steamy affair leads to deep emotional conflict, testing her boundaries and stirring memories of past relationships.

This is the true story of how one moment in time, by the thinnest thread of a chance, changed the course of a small boy's life in ways that are beyond description. One day he would dance with some of the greatest ballet companies of the world. One day he would be a friend to a president and first lady, movie stars, and the most influential people in America. One day he would become a star: Mao's last dancer, and the darling of the West.

Young dancer Nia Sioux was only nine years old when she stepped into stardom as one of the original cast members of Lifetime’s reality TV show Dance Moms. Training under the notorious Abby Lee Miller, Nia learned new choreography week after week, competed against dancers from across the country as well as at her own studio, and suffered through Abby’s ranking of the girls against each other in her infamous pyramid—all in front of an audience of millions. In this captivating memoir, Nia reclaims both the spotlight and her narrative.

Published in the US for the first time, Fearless and Free is the memoir of the fabulous, rule-breaking, one-of-a-kind Josephine Baker, the iconic dancer, singer, spy, and Civil Rights activist. After stealing the spotlight as a teenaged Broadway performer during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Josephine then took Paris by storm, dazzling audiences across the Roaring Twenties. In her famous banana skirt, she enraptured royalty and countless fans—Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso among them.

Confessions of a Video Vixen is the widely anticipated memoir of Karrine Steffans, the once-sought-after sexy siren who appeared in the music videos of multiplatinum hip hop artists such as Jay-Z, R. Kelly, and LL Cool J. A top-paid video dancer, Karrine transitioned to film when acclaimed director F. Gary Gray picked her to costar in his film A Man Apart, starring Vin Diesel.

In her gripping memoir, C.B. Haley recounts her journey from a university graduate into the underground world of stripping. Leaving Canada and her past behind, she travels to Australia, where she is drawn to the taboo. The author, who goes by the stage name Amber, finds herself seeking answers in the most unlikely places. In this memoir, she recalls encounters with the people she met along the way which prove that humanness knows no boundaries. Exposed: Memoirs of an Exotic Dancer is an honest portrayal of the sex industry and follows the author through unexpected experiences while she ...

At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarca was a Black prima ballerina with a major international dance company—the Dance Theatre of Harlem, a troupe of women and men who became each other’s chosen family. She was the first Black company ballerina on the cover of Dance magazine, an Essence cover star; she was cast in The Wiz and in a Bob Fosse production on Broadway.

After twenty years of shiny floors, sambas, and sequins, we’re more captivated than ever by the ‘Strictly Journey’ – a contestant’s inspirational roller-coaster ride of personal growth as they learn each new routine. It’s a process that requires stamina, resilience, and an openness to total self-expression - and it teaches you as much about yourself as it does the dance. No one knows this journey more deeply than Strictly’s Head Judge, Shirley Ballas. In Best Foot Forward, she takes you on her own personal journey, sharing the tools she’s developed to live life to the fullest.

Arguably the greatest choreographer who ever lived, George Balanchine was one of the cultural titans of the twentieth century—the New York Times called him "the Shakespeare of dancing." His radical approach to choreography—and life—reinvented the art of ballet and made him a legend. Written with enormous style and artistry, and based on more than one hundred interviews and research in archives across Russia, Europe, and the Americas, Mr. B carries us through Balanchine's tumultuous and high-pitched life story and into the making of his extraordinary dances.

Joseph Stalin, chief murderer and dictator of the USSR, devised the most devastating system of poison labs and bioweapons the world had yet seen. In The Dancer and the Devil, John O’Neill teams up with Sarah Wynne to expose the toxic reign of terror continuing today. As engaging as a novel and packed with historical research, this book reveals how the spirit of Stalin lives on in the hideous human experiments being conducted in the concentration camps of North Korea, in Putin’s blatant assassination plots, and in the bioweapon plans of the People’s Republic of China.

In 2019, Humans of New York featured a photo of a woman in an outrageous fur coat and hat she made herself. She instantly captured the attention of millions. Her name is Stephanie Johnson, but she’s better known to HONY followers as “Tanqueray,” a born performer who was once one of the best-known burlesque dancers in New York City. Reeling from a brutal childhood, immersed in a world of go-go dancers and hustlers, dirty cops and gangsters, Stephanie was determined to become the fiercest thing the city had ever seen. And she succeeded.

Some women capture our attention like no others. Faith Bacon and Sally Rand were beautiful blondes from humble backgrounds who shot to fame behind a pair of oversize ostrich fans, but with very different outcomes. It was the golden age of American entertainment, and Bacon and Rand fought their way through the competitive showgirl scene of New York with grit and perseverance. They played peek-a-boo with their lives, allowing their audiences to see only slivers of themselves. Little is known about who they really were, until now.

Musical director and arranger David Loud, a legendary Broadway talent, recounts his wildly entertaining and deeply poignant trek through the wilderness of his childhood and the edge-of-your-seat drama of a career on, in, under, and around Broadway for decades. He reveals his struggle against the ravages of Parkinson's and triumphs repeatedly. This memoir is also a remarkable love letter to music. Loud is the Ted Lasso of the theater business, ever the optimist!

In the pantheon of American modernists, few figures loom larger than Martha Graham. One of the greatest choreographers ever to live, Graham pioneered a revolutionary dance technique—primal, dynamic, and rooted in the emotional life of the body—that upended traditional vocabulary and shaped generations of dancers and choreographers across the globe. Over her sweeping career, she founded what is now the oldest dance company in the country and produced nearly two hundred ballets, many of them masterpieces.

From his earliest experiences in Air Force radio to his third act as a crime-solving doctor on television and beyond, Dick Van Dyke has been delivering steady comedic and dramatic performances for more than seven decades. An actor, producer and writer, Van Dyke has been a recognizable name for generations, thanks to the naming conventions of the early days of television, wherein a lead actor’s name would be used as the title of the series.

An irresistible inside look at one of the world’s great dance companies, Winter Season is also a sensitive, intimate, and almost painfully honest account of the emotional and intellectual development of a young woman dedicated to one of the most demanding of all the arts.

Natasha’s Not My Name introduces readers to the complex underground of the strip club industry from the perspective of a sixteen-year-old. Groomed by her cousin, supported by older dancers, and paid by strangers, this memoir follows Isabella Grosso's adolescence and young adult years as she questions, struggles, and ultimately survives as a child-turned-adult with a double life. Natasha's Not My Name dives deep into the dark pockets of sexual abuse, suicide, drug use, and exploitation. It uncovers the inner strength it takes for a wounded child to blossom into the empowered woman she was ...

This audiobook edition is read by the author. Actor-dancer Alyson Stoner's revelatory and incisive memoir – from family violence and betrayal, to eating disorders and religious trauma – may begin in Hollywood, but its chilling relatability will resonate with anyone navigating identity...

Includes audiobook-exclusive bonus pep talks from Laurieann! A-list choreographer Laurieann Gibson guides creators of all kinds to embrace their passions and achieve success, providing a practical road map to never giving up on your dream. Have you felt stuck like you’re just running in place, fearful of taking the next step? World-renowned Emmy-nominated choreographer and creative visionary Laurieann Gibson shares personal stories from her 20+ career in entertainment, words of encouragement, and practical advice to help you reach your full potential.

When Fancy Feast was in her high school production of "Cabaret," she convinced the director to cast her as a sexy Kit Kat Club Girl, not the old landlady part that always, always goes to the fat girl. In a black slip and fingerless gloves, Fancy made her debut appearance in a fluorescent-lit high school auditorium—and has never looked back. In Naked, Fancy draws back the curtain to reveal a world that most denizens of the daytime never see.