In the spring of 2015 I interviewed Zoë Anderson, who writes on ballet for the Independent and Dancing Times, to talk about her Ballet Lover’s Companion, published by Yale University Press.
Zoë’s book traces the history and development of ballet as an art form by focusing on 140 works in the repertoire: classics, revived rarities and modern masterpieces.
Sarah Crompton, reviewing the book in the Sunday Times, called it ‘authoritative’ and praised its ‘crisp ability to convey an affection for ballet and a clear-eyed view of its oddities’.
The first thing I wanted to know when I met Zoe was why she described ballet in the book as ‘a fragile art’…