A Dancer In Wartime

Gillian Lynne is one of the world's most eminent choreographers, the creative force behind groundbreaking blockbusters such as Cats and Phantom of the Opera. But she started her career as a ballerina, and learnt to dance alongside Margot Fonteyn, Moira Shearer, Beryl Grey and Frederick Ashton. Hers was a generation of exceptional British talent, dancing under the direct influence not only of Anna Pavlova and Diaghilev but also the Second World War. A Dancer in Wartime tells the story of Gillian's childhood, an extraordinary combination of single-minded dedication to the barre and dealing with the day-to-day difficulties and very real dangers of the war. From Miss Madeleine Sharp's Ballet Class for Young Ladies in Bromley, where she first met Beryl Grey, to being shipped off with fifty other mad-keen dancers when the Cone Ripman school was evacuated to rural Leicestershire, to panto tours around the war-torn provinces and performing over the sound of falling bombs, the early years were demanding and dramatic. And when the call came to join Sadler's Wells u well, what ballerina hopeful could have asked for more? This is a portrait of childhood, dedication and commitment like no other. Eye-opening, inspiring and moving, it charts the struggles and joys of reaching for the top of a profession that knows no limits, during a time of immeasurable suffering but also national pride and hope.