Overview

The Nutcracker Chronicles, a modern twist on the beloved holiday ballet, intertwines the story of Clara and her nutcracker prince with the true-life stories that unfold backstage. The curtain rises on Ballet El Paso's production of The Nutcracker, where young Janine Kovac is cast as Fritz, the boy who breaks the nutcracker. Her director is Ingeborg Heuser, a German woman who once performed for Hitler and who peppers her teaching with insults like, 'Why can't you just dance like a pretty girl?' At least it's better than 'You look like a cow on ice skates,' which is what the other girls hear daily. Onstage, Janine wins the battle and embarks on a voyage through a snowy forest to the Land of the Sweets, where she serves as spectator to a beautiful dance. She also travels offstage, leaving El Paso to study at San Francisco Ballet before landing a job in Iceland and returning to California, where she rises through the ranks from soldier to snowflake to candy soloist. Eventually, however, she is relegated to watching other people dance - her husband, her children, her students - and her claim to the spotlight is replaced by the quest to find joy in her new roles.

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9781647427924

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Reviews

"""This book dazzles with vulnerability and vibrates with the unbridled innocence and energy of youthful convictions, reminding us that certain human needs, like love and confidence and simply being seen, are inside jobs, and while the human body has its limits, the search for that single thing that makes our hearts soar is illimitable. This book is a triumph for our times and a tribute to every one of us who knows what it means to feel more than see the beauty around and in us."" --Putsata Reang, author of Ma and Me and winner of the 2023 Pacific Northwest Book Award"

"""A voice as distinctive and moving as they come. Kovac writes from deeply inside the experience and through it all we are privy to what isn't seen on stage, for she not only knows she tells, 'exactly what's happening on the other side of the curtain.' Janine Kovac has penned a new ballet of prose that will stay with you long after that final curtain call.""--Toni Mirosevich, author of Spell Heaven ""Filled with vivid, transporting descriptions of dance, from the fabric of sumptuous costumes to the fascinating mechanics of balance, The Nutcracker Chronicles is a true insider's take on what transpires behind the scenes, on and off stage, and in the hearts and bodies of dancers. Kovac highlights not just the pure beauty of ballet, but the interconnected waves of enthrallment, hard work, setbacks, celebration, and self-possession that shaped her life from childhood lessons to professional fruition and success.""--Savala Nolan, author of Don't Let It Get You Down: Essays on Race, Gender, and the Body ""Janine Kovac's evocative memoir of her life in dance, punctuated by all the Nutcrackers in her long and circuitous career, takes us on a journey that is both relatable and extraordinary. Her precise memory for poignant detail took me straight back to those early days of our shared Ballet El Paso Nutcrackers! Brava Janine, you so expertly portray all the complicated facets of a life devoted to dance and all the shapes that life can take.""--Tanya Rivero Warren, network news anchor and former New York City Ballet dancer ""Janine Kovac's vividly written and cleverly structured memoir will give anyone delighted with 'Nutcracker' an insider understanding of what it's like to be a working dancer, as well as deepen their understanding of the Tchaikovsky classic.""--Rachel Howard, dance critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and author of The Risk of Us ""Janine Kovac's witty, honest, heartfelt ballet-centric memoir moves with the grace of dance, from little girl enthusiasms, oven-baked toe shoes, petty jealousies, and nasty teachers to the tireless competition of international auditioning, performance and struggling to make a life on stage. For those who love dance, for those who know nothing of dance, this bittersweet book will speak to you about perseverance, friendship, and what is really important.""--Lauren Kessler, author of Raising the Barre: Big Dream, False Starts and My Midlife Quest to Dance the Nutcracker ""Smart, vivid, and full of heart, Kovac nails what it feels like to be a little kid with a big dream, then fearlessly leads us to that dream's realization and--maybe best of all--to what comes after.""--Sara Novic, New York Times bestselling author of True Biz and Girl at Warde ""This book dazzles with vulnerability and vibrates with the unbridled innocence and energy of youthful convictions, reminding us that certain human needs, like love and confidence and simply being seen, are inside jobs, and while the human body has its limits, the search for that single thing that makes our hearts soar is illimitable. This book is a triumph for our times and a tribute to every one of us who knows what it means to feel more than see the beauty around and in us.""--Putsata Reang, author of Pacific Northwest Book Award winner Ma and Me"

"""This book dazzles with vulnerability and vibrates with the unbridled innocence and energy of youthful convictions, reminding us that certain human needs, like love and confidence and simply being seen, are inside jobs, and while the human body has its limits, the search for that single thing that makes our hearts soar is illimitable. This book is a triumph for our times and a tribute to every one of us who knows what it means to feel more than see the beauty around and in us.""--Putsata Reang, author of Ma and Me and winner of the 2023 Pacific Northwest Book Award"

Author Information

Janine Kovac enjoyed a twelve-year career as a professional ballet dancer in Iceland, Italy, San Francisco, and her hometown of El Paso, Texas. Outside of the ballet world, her distinctions include UC Berkeley's Glushko Award for Distinguished Research in Cognitive Science, an Elizabeth George Foundation Fellowship from Hedgebrook, and the Calderwood Fellowship for Journalism from MacDowell. Janine is the author of Brain Changer: A Mother's Guide to Cognitive Science and Spinning: Choreography for Coming Home, which received a National Indie Excellence Award. In addition to dancing in The Nutcracker, she's rehearsed The Nutcracker, she's choreographed sections of The Nutcracker, and, most of all, she's sat through The Nutcracker. Janine lives with her family in Oakland, California.

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