Today we are happy to share this interview with author Germaine Shames…

What is your background in dance?

Like the protagonist in my novel I began taking ballet classes at the age of four with a teacher whom, my parents liked to boast, had studied under Martha Graham. Like other young girls, I dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina.

But I was not like most girls.  Shy, stubborn, I balked at following choreography and often found myself stranded alone on one side of the studio while the class, moving as one body, occupied the opposite side.  And then suddenly, before I had mastered a single step, it was time for my first recital.  A chorus line of us baby ballerinas was positioned center-stage as the towering velvet curtain slowly, slowly opened.  One look at the audience and I froze, mouth wide-open, hands clamped to my cheeks.

My parents removed me from ballet class and enrolled me again thee years later—with similar results.  There would be no more recitals.

Flash forward half a century…

I have ripened into, not a ballerina, but a writer with abiding creative and emotional ties to dance and dancers.  My forthcoming ballet-themed novel You, Fascinating You will be released within days.

The protagonist of my novel, Margit Wolf, begins the account of her life, “They say ballet chooses the dancer.”  Regrettably, I was not among the chosen.  How I envy those of you who are!

How did you become a writer? [Read more…]