BUNHEADS is Sophie Flack's novel about life in a major New York City-based ballet company; Sophie writes from experience: she spent nine years in the corps de ballet of New York City Ballet. She was gorgeous to behold and I often found my opera glasses pausing on her lovely face as I panned the corps dancers night after night. Movingly, Sophie mentions the 'die-hard fans' in the 5th Ring in her acknowledgements; she says she danced just for us. The feeling was mutual from my point of view. I wish she was still dancing.
But such is life in the corps de ballet: your best friends are also your biggest competitors - both for roles and for the elusive promotion to a soloist position. Everyone wants to be promoted because it means a bigger paycheck, a less strenuous schedule, more chances to get leading roles, and just possibly taking the next step to principal. However, the odds of a promotion are definitely stacked against the hopeful individual dancers. The vast majority will remain in the corps throughout their careers.
Looking at this from an outsider's perspective, I would think it would be simply thrilling to be chosen to dance in the corps of a major company. How great to live in that milieu, to tote your life around in a bag crammed with smelly, sweat-stained dance togs, battered slippers, Advil, bandages and other first aid accessories, a copy of the rehearsal schedule and a book to read in your free moments. But in reality, it is a 24/7 job of 'running as fast as you can just to stay in place'. The dancers eat, sleep and live ballet, with very little time for doing the things normal young people do. Like dating.
In BUNHEADS, the appeal of the ballerina sorority comes up against the desire (or at least the thought) of having a life 'outside'. Hannah Ward, the book's main character, has met a young man she likes very much but she simply doesn't have time for him. After Hannah gets a weight warning (actually a 'bosom warning') from the boss, and she is passed over for a promotion, she starts to ponder her options. But she also gets a crack at a major role when she goes on for an injured colleague. The lure of the 'normal' outside world is at odds with the joy she can still derive from dancing.
In the end, she relinquishes her spot on the company roster and looks forward to a life in the 'real world'. Hannah's tale is told with wit and grace, but there's an underlying sadness as well. It's the story of a dream that almost comes true but not quite. And it is the story of dozens and dozens of dancers who almost make it in the ballet world but end up leaving, either by their own choice or by someone else's decision.
The characters in BUNHEADS are based to an extent on real people working at NYC Ballet. It's fun to try to figure out who is who. There are some wry passages about dating within the Company and the pitfalls of falling for a boy who is gay but who hasn't yet come to terms with himself.
I once asked a dancer-friend of mine why so many dancers become romantically and sexually involved with other dancers; it all seems a bit incestuous. He said the reason is simple: they just don't have time to go out and meet 'normal' people. They get up, take class, rehearse, visit the physical therapist, perform, go home to soak and soothe their aches and pains, wash out their tights, sew their toe shoes, and sleep. The next day they get up and do it all again. If they do chance to meet someone 'real' - as Hannah does in BUNHEADS - that person has to fit into the dancer's routine and to understand the pressures and priorities of the brief career of a ballet professional. Few outside people can accept, let alone cope with, such an unusual way of life.
I hope Sophie Flack will keep writing; I imagine she has many stories to tell.