The Dancer Within: Intimate Conversations with Great Dancers

Photographer and author Eichenbaum trains her lens on 40 dancers in this collection of photographs, short essays and interviews. She covers a wide range of artists, from the worlds of Hollywood, Broadway, ballet and modern dance. While some, such as Rasta Thomas and Ethan Stiefel, are young, most are veterans—Rita Moreno, Cynthia Gregory, Liza Minnelli and Dudley Williams. Despite a certain level of fawning (to Mitzi Gaynor: “Mitzi, you’ve still got it”; to Russ Tamblyn: “You look almost exactly as you did in West Side Story ”), the dancers mostly transcend this with thoughtful comments. The section on Mikhail Baryshnikov is peculiar, relating Eichenbaum’s failed pursuit of an interview and the restrictions placed on her photographing the star. And there are some glaring omissions—no Balanchine ballerinas? So few young dancers? Still, there’s a constant refrain that links the disparate artists together, summarized succinctly by Jean Butler, star of Riverdance : “At the end of the day, I just want to dance.” This is recommended for dance aficionados. 40 b&w illus. (June)