... both envious colleagues and Party officials. Refused permission for six years to tour with the company, Plisetskaya eventually performed all over the world, working with such noted choreographers as Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart. She recounts the tumultuous events she lived through...

...In this chapter, Maya Plisetskaya recalls her experience working with Western choreographers Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart. After Maya received the Legion of Honor from François Mitterand, the president of France, she met Petit at the Repetto store owned by his mother. Petit asked her to work...