Under my wings : my life as an impresario / Paul Szilard, as told to Howard Kaplan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Szilard, Paul, 1912-2013.

Contributor:

Kaplan, Howard, 1950-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Szilard, Paul, 1912-2013.

Szilard, Paul.

Impresarios--Hungary--Biography.

Impresarios.

Ballet--History--20th century.

Ballet.

History.

Hungary.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

215 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Limelight Editions, [2002]

Summary:

The author of this memoir is perhaps the most important dance impresario of the past half-century. The companies Paul Szilard has brought to audiences throughout the world include the New York City Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Japan's Komaki Ballet and Bunraku, the Dancers of Bali and the Universal Ballet, among many others. He has moved in the circles of such master choreographers as George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins and Alvin Ailey, and such ballet stars as Violette Verdy, Erik Bruhn, Margot Fonteyn, Nora Kaye, Melissa Hayden, Jacques d'Amboise, Suzanne Farrell, Merrill Ashley, Alicia Alonso, Patrick Dupond, Judith Jamison, Mia Slavenska, Maria Tallchief and Mikhail Baryshnikov. His recollections of these groups, these artists and so many more of comparable distinction provide a fascinating look -- broad and intimate and, most of all, candid -- behind the scenes of the dance world of our time.

Born in Hungary and originally a ballet dancer himself, after World War II Szilard combined his knowledge of contemporary dance with his business sense and his common sense to provide major companies and solo artists with the guidance they needed to travel the globe and perform before enchanted audiences on five continents. It was hard but rewarding work that brought him into the closest contact with artists whose talent was often surpassed only by their vanity or whose brilliance on stage sometimes had to contend with their drive toward self-destruction. Szilard was there for all of that, as friend, adviser, shepherd and confidant. In his memoir he moves from the horror of Japanese-occupied Manila during World War II to the hilarity of four dancing divas vying for the spotlight at a Chicago gala to the profound sadness of the last days of Alvin Ailey.

The moods of the book change frequently, as do the times and places in which the events take place. What is constant is Paul Szilard's ability to enthrall and entertain. As recalled here, his memories will delight dance lovers throughout the world.

Contents:

Part I Hungarian Passport 23

Part II The Dance Resumes 62

Part III Mr. B and New York City Ballet 97

Part IV Gala Attractions 115

Part V Alvin Ailey, Judith Jamison, and Today 164.

ISBN:

0879109645

OCLC:

48013191