Trashdance Triumph is the sordid yet strangely exhilarating tale of a Russian émigré to America – a former star of the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, who commandeers a ballet school in a New England backwater and struggles to adapt to peculiar American ways.
Forced to flee his home country after witnessing an organized crime hit, Boris Tukachevsky falls into the arms of a wealthy bird-brained socialite, who promptly becomes pregnant. Her father reluctantly engineers the buyout of a local ballet school to give his new son-in-law something to do.
“Should be read by every parent contemplating enrolling their child in a commercial ballet school!” commands the blurb on the back cover of the book. If those parents know nothing about ballet, this book may scare them away. But underneath the mordancy, the clichés, and the outrageous subplots, lie a few pearls of wisdom. Even ballet-savvy parents may learn a thing or two – as Boris does – about the brutal economic imperative facing American ballet schools.
The author hides behind a nom de plume because, well, so would you if you took aim at American society with the literary equivalent of an AK-47. Nothing and no one is spared.
