![]() ![]() ![]() Kathryn Wagner is a senior fundraiser for a child advocacy nonprofit in Washington, D.C. Wagner s description of art and sacrifice in old Paris doesn t have the heft of the classics, but her abandonment of the masterpiece-in-the-making formula is a nice turn. 'Like all good historical fiction, Dancing for Degas gives us a small sliver of reality during a different era, and its value is that it leaves the reader wanting to learn more about the subject.''- The Boston Globe. Like Tracy Chevalier, Wagner imagines how layers of meaning pervade works of art, but her real forte is detailing the sexual politics of poverty and evoking the rivalry among dancers, especially between stars and the newcomers who wish to replace them. ![]() Once in Paris, Alexandrie follows star performer Cornelie s lead and quickly snags a prospective patron, but she s most powerfully drawn to Degas, who captures on canvas the dancers beauty and humanity. Listed in the Dance category on Art In Fiction, Dancing for Degas (2010) is Kathryn Wagners fresh and vibrantly imagined portrait of the Impressionist artist Edgar Degas, transporting readers to an era of light and movement through the eyes of a young Parisian ballerina. After gangly 12-year-old Alexandrie s brother marries a girl even poorer than himself, Alexandrie becomes her provincial family s last hope for prosperity, and soon she s taking lessons in ballet and culture to prepare herself for Paris society. From Wagner s debut, a fictional portrait of an aspiring ballerina who inspires famous works of art by Edgar Degas, a living picture emerges of dancers at the turn-of-the-20th-century Paris Opera. ![]()
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