HAVING “IT”
Canadian-born Reid Anderson can look back on a unique and illustrious career as a dancer and ballet artistic director. He joined the Stuttgart Ballet at the age of 19, danced as first soloist in choreographies by John Cranko and gave the audience unforgettable evenings with partners such as Marcia Haydée, Margot Fonteyn or Birgit Keil. Cranko once told young dancers what makes a star: the “it factor”, that certain something you can’t work for – something you have or don’t have. Renowned choreographers such as Kenneth MacMillan, John Neumeier and William Forsythe recognised this certain something and created roles for him in which he was celebrated worldwide.
After leaving the stage, he made a name for himself as ballet director of two companies in Canada and finally became one of the first – and still few – ballet directors in Germany, in Stuttgart. He led his company until 2018, discovering and promoting the “it factor” in his dancers as well. As choreographer and artistic director, he proved himself with a sense of tradition and innovative strength, he brought other aesthetics to the stage and commissioned over 120 world premieres.
- Strong artistic biography of an exceptional dancer
- Dancer, choreographer, and ballet artistic director
- lively narrated dance history: collaboration with John Cranko, Marcia Haydée, John Neumeier and many others
- impressive world career between two continents
- large-format volume with numerous photos, some of them published for the first time
FROM TAP-DANCING INFANT TO WORLD STAR
His life journey from tap-dancing toddler on the Canadian West Coast to celebrated dancer and ballet director is full of exciting stories, encounters and challenges. It is about hard work, willpower, dance creativity and incomparable ballet performances. To this day, Reid Anderson is a guiding star for many dancers and choreographers; his soft-spoken manner, his support and encouragement and, last but not least, his firm belief in the creative power of dance has changed and inspired many careers and life courses. Those who have gone through the “Anderson School” will never again settle for anything less than their best.
APPROACH TO AN EXCEPTIONAL ARTIST
Anderson’s biography, moving between two countries, two cultures and two languages – Canada and Germany – is dance history lived. And his personality, which perfectly combines both the “Canadian” light-hearted, easy-going attitude to life and the “German” seriousness, captivates everyone. This book brings us closer to an extraordinary artist and great talent and documents an impressive world career in many previously unpublished photos.
This book is also published and available in German: Reid Anderson: Having it. Vom Tänzer zum Intendanten.
