Swan Dive

The Making of a Rogue Ballerina

By: Georgina Pazcoguin

Narrated by: Georgina Pazcoguin

This program is read by the author.

Award-winning New York City Ballet soloist Georgina Pazcoguin, aka the Rogue Ballerina, gives listeners a backstage tour of the real world of elite ballet—the gritty, hilarious, sometimes shocking truth you don’t see from the orchestra circle.

In this love letter to the art of dance and the sport that has been her livelihood, NYCB’s first Asian American female soloist Georgina Pazcoguin lays bare her unfiltered story of leaving small-town Pennsylvania for New York City and training amid the unique demands of being a hybrid professional athlete/artist, all before finishing high school. She pitches us into the fascinating, whirling shoes of dancers in one of the most revered ballet companies in the world with an unapologetic sense of humor about the cutthroat, survival-of-the-fittest mentality at NYCB. Some swan dives are literal: even in the ballet, there are plenty of face-plants, backstage fights, late-night parties, and raucous company bonding sessions.

Rocked by scandal in the wake of the #MeToo movement, NYCB sits at an inflection point, inching toward progress in a strictly traditional culture, and Pazcoguin doesn’t shy away from ballet’s dark side. She continues to be one of the few dancers openly speaking up against the sexual harassment, mental abuse, and racism that in the past went unrecognized or was tacitly accepted as par for the course—all of which she has painfully experienced firsthand.

Tying together Pazcoguin’s fight for equality in the ballet with her infectious and deeply moving passion for her craft, Swan Dive is a one-of-a-kind account that guarantees you'll never view a ballerina or a ballet the same way again.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company

©2021 Georgina Pazcoguin (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Don't expect just tulle and toe shoes. In this fascinating insider's tale, NYCB dancer Pazcoguin reveals her world. . . . A striking debut." —People

Loved it!

You don’t need to know anything about ballet to enjoy this book. The author reads the story delightfully! It’s a fun, suspenseful, life in the ballet, a journey very unique. As a former ballerina I can attest to the patriarchal and lily white world. I love her imitation of Peter Martins!!! Golden. This is a darkly funny book and glimpse into The elite ballet company of the world. Thank you Georgina for telling your story, you are making the world a better place.

A delight from start to finish!

Candid, hilarious, observant, delicious! What a wonderful journey narrated by the wry self effacing ballerina herself. A must listen. Enjoyed every minute of this.

It’s a hoot!

She’s smart, confident and sassy with great behind the scene tales of the upper echelon of the ballet world.

An old dancer’s delight!

I snarfed this book right up and loved every second of it. If you’re not an ex-ballet dancer I can see how you might think this book is over the top, but really, it’s not. And if you are an ex-ballet dancer it’ll have you rooting around in your closet and wondering what happened to that last pair of shoes and leg warmers you were hanging onto.

A Powerful & Unapologetic Look Inside Elite Ballet

Whether one likes Georgina's Pazcoguin's brash language or not, a reader who truly understands - or wants to - the life of a top level female ballet dancer in one of the world's best ballet companies will certainly find deeply fascinating, yet sadly boorish & misogynistic truths written in these pages. Gina's writing is humble, transparent, enlightening, sometimes a bit immature & dryly humorous. In a point, she is brave & is willing to risk her own image & possibly her future career in order to help change the racial & sexist environment for future dancers. I also find her narration the only one that could possibly make sense - who else but the author herself could do justice to her dry humor & timing; the narration is certainly "en pointe" & while her trashy language can get a LOT MUCH, it's easier to overlook in order to mine the deepest themes of her book which is really what her memoir is all about. It's the perfect time for a book like this in the wake of the #MeToo movement, the obviously suspicious timing of Peter Martins' "retirement" as NYCB's Artistic Director, & the greater movement toward diversity & inclusion in all aspects of society's art & culture.