Fierce and Delicate: Essays on Dance and Illness

Renée Nicholsons memoir, Fierce and Delicate, explores her career as a ballerina and the challenges she faced due to rheumatoid arthritis. It is a fragmented memoir-in-essays that navigates the geographies of the body and the world of professional dance, highlighting the power of resilience and assembly.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 277 pages
Publication date: 30 May 2021
Publisher: West Virginia University Press

Renée Nicholsons journey into the world of ballet was a captivating and challenging one. Her training, which spanned from intricate plate tutus to language barriers and unrealistic expectations of the body, was filled with both moments of magnificence and moments of torment. In her memoir, Fierce and Delicate, Nicholsons reflects on the often confused and driven self she had been shaped into, always away from home, with friends who were also rivals, influenced by teachers in ways that were sometimes productive and at other times bordering on sadistic.

Despite the challenges she faced, Nicholsons found beauty in the small roles she performed. She discovered that she retained the lyricism and narrative of ballet itself as she negotiated life with rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic disease that severed her from her first love.

Fierce and Delicate is an intentionally fractured memoir-in-essays that navigates the traditional geographies of South Florida, northern Michigan, New York City, Milwaukee, West Virginia, and also the geographies of the body. It is a book about the world of professional dance and also about living with chronic disease, about being shattered yet realizing the power to assemble oneself again, in a new way.

Nicholson's writing is raw and honest, capturing the essence of her experiences with ballet and illness. She shares her struggles, triumphs, and the lessons she has learned along the way. Her memoir is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of art to heal.

In conclusion, Fierce and Delicate is a must-read for anyone who has ever been captivated by the world of ballet or has faced their own challenges with chronic disease. Nicholsons writing is powerful, evocative, and relatable, and her journey will inspire and uplift readers.

Weight: 333g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781952271014