Table of Contents
Preface xi
Part 1
1 The Eight-Year-Old, Part 1: The New York School of Ballet 3
2 How to Be a Ballerina, Part 1 6
3 The Eight-Year-Old, Part 2: The Greek 8
4 How to Be a Ballerina, Part 2 12
5 The Triple 15
6 How to Be a Ballerina, Part 3 18
7 The Eleven-Year-Old, Part 1: The Audition 21
8 The Eleven-Year-Old, Part 2: Madame Dudin 24
9 How to Be a Ballerina, Part 4 27
10 The First Nutcracker 29
11 Waving Goodbye 35
12 Detective Work 39
13 Stretching 41
14 The Fifteen-Year-Old and Mr. Rapp 42
15 The Sixteen-Year-Old's Epiphany, Part 1 46
16 The Sixteen-Year-Old's Epiphany, Part 2 49
17 Tumey 51
18 Making Shapes 56
19 Crumpled 58
20 Turning Point 61
Part 2
21 The Summer of 1992 69
22 Chateau Ste. Michelle: My Big Break 76
23 Making a Living Being Tired 80
24 Ballerina Doll 82
25 Orange 84
26 Cinderella 89
27 Rejected 90
28 Glace Bay 99
29 Vertigo, Part 1 102
30 The Rib-Cracking Episode 111
31 "You Were the Music" 113
32 Boo Hoo, Jeremy Denk 118
33 Suzanne 123
34 Places 131
35 Quivering 134
36 I Think I Was Perfect, Once 136
37 Henry's Living Room 140
38 The Fourth Wall 145
39 Big Hair 149
40 Theaters Are Mysterious Places 154
41 Into the Night 157
42 A Prayer 159
43 Curtain In 161
44 Helena 165
45 "I've Never Heard You Make a Noise Like That" 169
46 The Human Monolith 174
47 A Conversation with My Feet 176
48 My Little Toe 179
49 The Millionth Nutcracker 182
50 No Tights 187
51 The Highest Note 190
52 Vertigo, Part 2 196
53 Scarred 200
54 A Boyfriend and a Cat 204
55 Precision, Perfection, and Mistakes 212
56 Final Curtain 218
57 The Drive Home 226
Afterword: The Time I Taught Someone Something 229
Acknowledgments 233
Appendix 1 Meeting My Maker 237
Appendix 2 How to … 241
Appendix 3 Places I've Performed 249