For the Love of Dance

Book excerpt: The autobiography of Dame Beryl Grey, now in paperback. Dame Beryl's life is defined by her love of dance. Both as a ballerina and an Artistic Director she helped make British ballet the powerhouse it is today. Knowing and working with virtually everyone in ballet, she reveals fascinating insights into the people, characters and institutions that made up world dance in the 20th century. Grey began her dancing career with the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1943 at the unprecedented early age of 14. Her natural virtuosity saw her quickly promoted, dancing her first Giselle at 17, and Princess Aurora at 19. Dame Beryl was the first English ballerina to dance at the Bolshoi and the Kirov, as well as the Peking Ballet. Asked to become Artistic Director of what is now English National Ballet, her love of dance allowed her to navigate the tricky passage from ballerina to leader of a dance company. Over ten years she transformed that Company with new dancers, new ballets, a new home and new audiences. Based on her letters and diaries, For the Love of Dance is an extraordinary tale of an extraordinary woman and a life given to her first love - dance.