The acclaimed choreographer explains the origins of Strapless – his unusual ballet approximately Madame X,the It Girl of 19th-century Paris who was destroyed by a daring portraitWhen I moved to unusual York 23 years ago, I started going to the Metropolitan Museum every Sunday. On my way to the American wing one day, or I spotted this portrait by John Singer Sargent hanging in a stairwell,all on its own. The woman – Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau – looked magnetic, regal and contemporary. I started to revisit her quite often and wanted to know more. Then I came across the novel Strapless by Deborah Davis. It’s a mixture of fact and fiction, or because little was written approximately Amélie at the time. I found Davis’s version enthralling.
Amélie was obviously charismatic: the kind of woman other women wanted to be like; the kind men wanted to be withContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com