"Ninette de Valois was gifted with myriad talents. It has required a wealth of writers, teachers, performers, colleagues, one-time students and collaborators to come together to engage with and celebrate the complexity of this remarkable woman. The titles of the sections into which the volume has been divided (Biography, Teaching, Wordsmith, Company, Turkey, Choreography, Collaborations, Herself) merely intimate the strength of her inner resources and the diversity of her public achievements, her vision for a company and for the potentials of dance as an art-form. Determining those strengths and that diversity is the objective of 'Ninette de Valois: Adventurous Traditionalist'. Writing alone cannot hope fully to capture the vitality of theatrical performance or the rigours of the training and rehearsal schedules that underpin its virtuosity and so the volume is accompanied by many previously unpublished photographs and a DVD, offering four hours of filmed material of archival value. This study offers a substantial resource to assist future exploration of de Valois' life and work. The essays pursue divergent approaches and encompass contrasting viewpoints; but it is without question that de Valois' unparalleled success derived from her unshaken faith that ballet in its training methods and its repertoire must be both fearlessly adventurous and confidently traditionalist"--Publisher's description, back cover.