This ballet novel asks whether becoming a star is worth the sacrifice

In a 1976 guide showcasing his profession, Mikhail Baryshnikov, arguably the best dancer of his era, proclaimed, “Nobody is born a dancer; you must need it greater than something.”

The relentless dedication ballet requires, and the havoc it wreaks on the our bodies and minds of its college students, has been an countless supply of fascination for storytellers. From stage to display screen to books, ballet dancers have personified the human drive towards excellence and been introduced as cautionary tales of inventive ambition run amok. Torn Achilles tendons and completely disfigured toes mirror the damaging relationships and self-images that always characterize dancers’ lives, all in service of constructing it in an trade with slim odds of success.

Greater than something, the heroine of “Metropolis of Night time Birds,” the sophomore effort from “Beasts of a Little Land” creator Juhea Kim, desires to be one of the best ballerina on the earth. Like Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev earlier than her, Natalia Leonova is what her beloved aunt calls a “jumper,” in a position to carry out gravity-defying leaps by means of the air. Regardless of an absence of funds and assist — her mom is usually detached and her father absent — Natalia rises shortly on the earth of ballet. However, as is usually the case, success has its value.

Kim delivers all of the juicy drama readers have come to anticipate from a ballerina’s story: punishing rehearsals leading to ugly accidents; petty jealousies between romantic {and professional} rivals; nail-biting competitions misplaced and received. The outcomes will possible hold dance followers ravenously turning pages, however what distinguishes the work is its remedy of the dilemma on the middle of many books about creative obsession: Is all of it price it?

The novel opens in 2019, which serves as its current day, with Natalia downing vodka as she flies into St. Petersburg. There she was first a pupil, then a star, on the esteemed Mariinsky Ballet. At her resort she takes bottles of Champagne and capsules to mattress. The following day she runs into Dmitri Ostrovsky, a gifted however spiteful dancer whom Natalia considers her archnemesis. Dmitri presents her a job dancing “Giselle” at Mariinsky as a result of, till the accident that saved her from the stage for 2 years, Natalia moved tickets. As enticement, Dmitri sends a pair of ballet slippers to the resort, an assertive strategy Natalia resents as a result of she is “a leaver” who despises “individuals who cling.”

From there, the narrative strikes forwards and backwards between the current, when Natalia makes an attempt to get better her power to carry out “Giselle,” and the previous that introduced her to this second.

Raised by an abusive mom who “couldn’t train me happiness as a result of she’d by no means been comfortable,” 7-year-old Natalia desires to flee the childhood that made her unable to belief folks. Fame, she believes, means those that harm her will solely “see my face…in pictures.” Her aunt helps her cross an audition for Vaganova, a high ballet college in Russia, regardless of Natalia’s “Greek,” or unhealthy, ft.

Natalia has studied at Vaganova for 3 years by the point she qualifies to compete at Varna, a global ballet competitors. Ignoring her trainer’s warning that “no true artists are pushed by the will to be one of the best,” Natalia resolves to change into the higher dancer after she’s outdone by Alexander, often known as Sasha, a good-looking Casanova who dances with an “totally Dionysian” high quality. Her relationship with Sasha, who her mom and aunt consider “had the look of these males who destroy lives, both their very own or others,” is each a blessing and curse after the 2 change into dance companions and lovers.

Within the current at Mariinsky, nonetheless recovering from her accident, Natalia soothes her ache with vodka and Xanax and fantasizes about leaving St. Petersburg for the countryside. The purpose is to leap once more. Her devoted good friend Nina, herself a proficient dancer, retains Natalia mentally afloat. Nina, who has chosen having a household over fame, confides in Natalia about her personal challenges. The 2 ladies journey to the grave of Natalia’s mom, who not too long ago handed, a loss that contributes to Natalia’s deep sense of loneliness but additionally presents an opportunity to start therapeutic.

Whereas Natalia’s star as a dancer rose, her relationship along with her mom cooled, as did most of her friendships. Quickly after she turns into the world’s most celebrated ballerina, she realizes “the true price of conducting one thing…is that the second you get it, you understand that it’s not sufficient.” Although this isn’t an unique revelation, Kim’s genuine depiction of her heroine’s struggles and character flaws elevates the story as she traces the ballerina’s journey from eager-eyed youth to jaded famous person betrayed by an artwork that fails and sustains her in equal measure.

Natalia’s dissatisfaction with each stage of success drives her deeper right into a seek for that means and objective. Like many artists, she is torn between endlessly chasing a dream and dwelling an unusual however extra peaceable life.

In her youth, Natalia chooses her profession: She desires a promotion to first soloist at Mariinsky. However she received’t get it until she brings residence a medal from a contest in Moscow, the place she’s going to encounter each Sasha and Dmitri. The timeline of this novel will be difficult to trace. However Kim deftly builds up the strain to the pivotal competitors, which helps seal the destiny of Natalia’s relationships and profession, as does the political state of affairs when Russia invades Crimea. Natalia presumes she is in management, however the secrets and techniques held by her family members, together with a long-lost good friend who has information about her father, finally decide her future.

A welcome addition to the literary dance canon, “Metropolis of Night time Birds” is most compelling when its interpersonal dramas check the novel’s central query: whether or not, as one character opines, “Love doesn’t set anybody free. Artwork does.”

Laura Warrell is the creator of the novel “Candy, Gentle, Loads Rhythm.”