I, Maya Plisetskaya

“A compelling story about perseverance, hardship, craftiness and, ultimately, a kind of seething acceptance of the system that virtually imprisoned her, even as she found that she couldn’t live without it.”—Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post

“Like the swans she danced so often—800 performances of ‘Swan Lake’ and unnumbered renderings of the Dying Swan—Maya Plisetskaya, one of the great ballerinas of the last century, mingled beauty and fierceness. . . . She has much to be angry about and, as the Bolshoi’s prima ballerina assoluta for decades and celebrated worldwide, quite a bit to be grateful for. . . . The Plisetskaya memoir is a moving success. Here is the woman, I proclaims, and we see her—not entirely polished but overwhelming—as if she were dancing.”—Richard Eder, New York Times

“The fascinating story of how this artist of implacable will confronted and defied the Soviet regime—and eventually had her way. . . . I, Maya Plisetskaya has the virtues of candor and directness, and it has a real story to tell.”—Robert Gottlieb, Los Angeles Times Book Review

“A riveting account of pursuing artistic excellence under Soviet oppression. . . . Plisetskaya doesn’t just tell an incredible story. She also lays bare the hard work and uncertainty involved in putting it all in a book. . . . Reading this memoir feels like listening to a wonderfully strong-willed friend.”—Boston Globe

“Almost everything about Plisetskaya, now 76, seemed larger than life. And as her wonderfully intimate and detailed new autobiography reveals, that is the result of both her innately bold, born-to-be-a-diva personality, and of the often perilous Soviet political environment in which she forged her career. . . . This is a fascinating memoir, steeped in ambivalence.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“I, Maya Plisetskaya isa memoir of the Terror, the Gulag and the very fertile Soviet arts, by the athletic prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet.”—Washington Post Book World

“[A]n autobiography that is also a searing indictment of Soviet Russia, of communism and of the blind naiveté with which the Isadoras of this world have often approached her country. . . . Plisetskaya’s memoirs invariably describe a life in dance. But the book’s biggest value lies in being much more than that. I, Maya is social history written by a dancer who transcends the mute language of her art to tell a universal story of suffering and endurance. The thud of irony continually disrupts the mellifluous strains of Tchaikovsky that sounds in the background of a career that spanned 50 years. . . . [A] deliciously subversive book.”—Deirdre Kelly, Toronto Globe & Mail

“Plisetskaya . . . has danced all over the world, with innumerable companies and for innumerable choreographers. And she has known ‘everyone’. She writes frankly and freely, holds strong opinions, and is never dull. The chronicle also gives insight, from her point of view, of a Soviet artist dancing through many troubled times.”—Dancing Times

“[I]nspiring. . . . Her story is frank, revealing, and never dull.”—Dance Magazine

“Now we have the English translation of Plisetskaya’s autobiography, and it is an enormously important document, both for the history of ballet and for the study of art under communism. . . . Her voice is strong, unedited, and impassioned. The book is a testimony as much as a life story. . . . It is a brave book, too, not so much for what it tells about the indignities of life under communism, but for its blind, honest style.”—Jackson Lears, New Republic

“Plisetskaya’s passionate characterizations reflected the new bravura style that became the trademark of the Bolshoi. These memoirs help explain some of the paradoxes in her life and also shed light on the Soviet Union’s relationship with its artists. Recommended for all who are fascinated with ballet, history, and Russia.”—Choice

Selected as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2001 by the Los Angeles Times Book Review