In pre-World War I England, a frail Jewish girl is diagnosed with flat
feet, knock knees, and weak legs. In short order, Lilian Alicia Marks
would become a dance prodigy, the cherished baby ballerina of Sergei
Diaghilev, and the youngest ever soloist at his famed Ballets Russes. It
was there that George Balanchine choreographed his first ballet for her,
Henri Matisse designed her costumes, and Igor Stravinsky taught her
music--all when the re-christened Alicia Markova was just 14. Given
unprecedented access to Dame Markova's intimate journals and
correspondence, Tina Sutton paints a full picture of the dancer's
astonishing life and times in 1920s Paris and Monte Carlo, 1930s London,
and wartime in New York and Hollywood. Ballet lovers and readers
everywhere will be fascinated by the story of one of the twentieth
century's great artists.