<p><b><i>'Swan Dive </i>is to ballet what Anthony Bourdain&rsquo;s <i>Kitchen Confidential</i> was to restaurants, a chance to go behind the serene front of house to the sweaty, foul-mouthed, psychofrenzy backstage.' &ndash; Daisy Goodwin, <i>Sunday Times</i></b><br><br>In this love letter to the art of dance, Georgina Pazcoguin, New York City Ballet&rsquo;s first Asian American female soloist, lays bare the backstage world of elite ballet.<br><br>With an unapologetic sense of humour about the cut-throat mentality required, Pazcoguin takes us from her small home town in Pennsylvania to training for one of the most revered ballet companies in the world &ndash; a company that was rocked by scandal in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Pazcoguin continues to be one of the few dancers openly speaking up against harassment, abuse and racism &ndash; all of which she has painfully experienced firsthand.<br><br>Tying together Pazcoguin&rsquo;s fight for equality with an infectious passion for her craft, <i>Swan Dive</i> is a page-turning, one-of-a-kind memoir that guarantees you&rsquo;ll never view a ballerina or a ballet the same way again.<br><br><b>'Always arresting onstage, Georgina Pazcoguin gives us a take on the ballet world that is witty and from the heart. An eye-opening read.' &ndash; Mikhail Baryshnikov</b><br><br><b>'A funny, poignant and shocking read . . . [Pazcoguin] punctures, with enormous glee, the stereotype of the ballet dancer as an elegant, ethereal being.' &ndash; Fiona Sturges, <i>Guardian</i></b></p>