Every step you take : a memoir / Jock Soto ; with Leslie Marshall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Soto, Jock.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Soto, Jock.

Ballet dancers--United States--Biography.

Ballet dancers.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

ix, 271 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Harper, [2011]

Summary:

In June 2005 Jock Soto, age 40, gave his farewell performance as a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. The program capped one of the most storied careers in ballet history--an ascent that began when Soto was just three years old. After retiring, Soto was determined to embrace a new future, teaching at the School of American Ballet, but he found himself obsessed with questions about his past. This book weaves together the diverse strands of Soto's life: being the offspring of a Puerto Rican-Navajo couple, the gay son of a fiercely macho man, a naive teenager from the desert running in the sophisticated art world of New York, and a driven artist by day and hard-core party animal by night. Soto recalls his professional relationships with such icons as George Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon, Darci Kistler, and Lourdes Lopez, and shares his love of food in recipes marking the pivotal moments in his story.--From publisher description.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Prelude 1

Chapter 2 The Sleeping Beauty 13

Courage and Comfort on the Go 24

Chapter 3 Fearful Symmetries 27

The Sweet Confusion of a Multicultural Identity Crisis 40

Chapter 4 Papa's Got a Brand-new Name 43

In Celebration of Finding Fathers 53

Chapter 5 Saturday Nights and Sunday Picnics in Paradise Valley 55

The Happy Family Picnic 70

Chapter 6 Losing Arizona 73

Ballet-School Banquet in a Bag 85

Chapter 7 The Accidental Adult 89

A Little Hamburger Helper and My Friends 103

Chapter 8 First Love, First Job, First Trip, First Tiramisu 107

Amends for a Terrible Tiramisu 122

Chapter 9 So You Think You Can Dance? 125

A Soto Variation on a Balanchine Classic 145

Chapter 10 The Enigma of Arrival 149

A Feast for Milestone Moments 164

Chapter 11 Bright Lights, Dark Passages 169

Chop till You Drop: A Last-minute Meal for Fifty or More 187

Chapter 12 Exploring New Country 191

Christmas Cheer for Orphans and Strays 207

Chapter 13 Endings Beget Beginnings 211

Seasoning the Guest List for a Spicy Evening 228

Chapter 14 To Everything Turn, Turn, Turn 231

A New Year's Eve Feast and Dance Party 249

Chapter 15 Coda 253.

ISBN:

9780061732386

0061732389

OCLC:

703206400