Swan Dive

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What to expect

'Swan Dive is to ballet what Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential was to restaurants, a chance to go behind the serene front of house to the sweaty, foul-mouthed, psychofrenzy backstage.' Daisy Goodwin, Sunday Times

Award-winning New York City Ballet soloist Georgina Pazcoguin, aka the Rogue Ballerina, gives readers a backstage tour of the real world of elite ballet – the gritty, hilarious, sometimes shocking truth you don’t see from the orchestra circle.

In this love letter to the art of dance and the sport that has been her livelihood, NYCB’s first Asian American female soloist Georgina Pazcoguin lays bare her unfiltered story of leaving small-town Pennsylvania for New York City and training amid the unique demands of being a hybrid professional athlete/artist, all before finishing high school. She pitches us into the fascinating, whirling shoes of dancers in one of the most revered ballet companies in the world with an unapologetic sense of humour about the cutthroat, survival-of-the-fittest mentality at NYCB. Some swan dives are literal: even in the ballet, there are plenty of face-plants, backstage fights, late-night parties, and raucous company bonding sessions.

Rocked by scandal in the wake of the #MeToo movement, NYCB sits at an inflection point, inching toward progress in a strictly traditional culture, and Pazcoguin doesn’t shy away from ballet’s dark side. She continues to be one of the few dancers openly speaking up against the sexual harassment, mental abuse, and racism that in the past went unrecognized or was tacitly accepted as par for the course – all of which she has painfully experienced firsthand.

Tying together Pazcoguin’s fight for equality in the ballet with her infectious and deeply moving passion for her craft, Swan Dive is a page-turning, one-of-a-kind account that guarantees you'll never view a ballerina or a ballet the same way again.

Critics Review

Swan Dive is to ballet what Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential was to restaurants, a chance to go behind the serene front of house to the sweaty, foul-mouthed, psychofrenzy backstage.
Sunday Times
Swan Dive is a sharp plunge into the reality of ballet in all its perfectionist genius and rigour, and all its abuses and sadism. What makes Pazcoguin’s message so haunting is that exploitation and violation are seen as the price that female dancers have to pay to perform some of the greatest dances known to humanity.
Observer

Her resilience is written on every page, often in capitals, with wit and rage displayed in equal measure.

Sunday Times Books of the Year
A funny, poignant and shocking read . . . [Pazcoguin] punctures, with enormous glee, the stereotype of the ballet dancer as an elegant, ethereal being.
Guardian
Explosive . . . This is far from misery memoir. There’s a passionate joy in the dancing itself, and the lively pages are filled with colloquialisms
Daily Telegraph
A blisteringly honest tale of overcoming hurdles — racism, misogyny, sexual harassment and psychological abuse — to reach the top of a fiendishly cut-throat industry.
Sunday Times
A gritty, shocking yet also humorous account of the demands of life as an elite dancer from the first Asian American female soloist at the New York City Ballet.
i News
Ballet fans should definitely get their hands on Swan Dive by Georgina Pazcoguin which is a truthful, funny, shocking and scandalous exploration of elite ballet.
Stylist
Pazcoguin's highly readable account of a life in the most painful profession . . . a power pack of inspiration.
Strong Words
A page-turner
New York Times
Witty, sobering, hell-raising . . . Pazcoguin exposes more turmoil at New York City Ballet than any fictional melodrama could hope to match. Good luck trying to look away. . . . There are enough real-life crises in this brisk, often laugh-out-loud tell-all to light the imagination of any cable TV script writer. But with her string of criticisms and even in her crazy-funny asides, Pazcoguin has a serious point to make about the ballet world
Washington Post
While the juicy details of beautiful people behaving badly are beguiling, it’s Pazcoguin’s unsparing criticism of the industry that begs an encore. This is potent stuff
Publishers Weekly
Always arresting onstage, Georgina Pazcoguin gives us a take on the ballet world that is witty and from the heart. An eye-opening read.
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Revelatory . . . Sure to ruffle some tutus
New York Post
Come for the unfiltered peek behind the curtain, stay for the accessible, often hilarious writing
Dance Magazine
Pazcoguin writes with astounding passion about her achievements, and her prose is enchanting as she describes finally being comfortable in her own skin. Vulnerable, raw, and full of grit, this is the story of a woman who has been broken yet clawed her way to victory . . . A personal tale of darkness, passion, and euphoric triumph
Library Journal
In her brisk, spirited debut memoir, [Pazcoguin] recounts her experiences in the competitive, hierarchal ballet world . . . A lively chronicle of dedication and joy.
Kirkus Reviews
Aggressively entertaining. . . [Swan Dive] is equal parts autobiography, insider intel, and righteous indignation
Shelf Awareness
A thoroughly captivating read. Determination and passion are the cornerstones of Georgina’s magic onstage and off, and her humor and wit make this peek behind the curtain like no other dance memoir. Her courage in the face of adversity is to be admired
Chita Rivera
Georgina has led quite the journey to become the woman she is today. She exemplifies a natural, nostalgic showgirl attitude combined with the sensitivity and precision of a life in ballet.
Zac Posen
This is a fearless book written with a courageous, blazing spirit. Georgina’s story compels you to look at yours as fiercely as she examines hers.
Jose Antonio Vargas, founder of Define American and author of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
Georgina Pazcoguin has brought the glories of ballet and technique into a new light. She is refinement and explosion wrapped into a woman whose personal style is ready for the runway. She can captivate an opera house as easily as she can earn the adoration of a young fan. . . . You will find Swan Dive to be a wild ride dancing between risk and balance, legacy and possibility.
Andy Blankenbuehler, award-winning choreographer of In the Heights and Hamilton

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