In Ruth Page: The Woman in the Work, the Chicago ballerina emerges as a highly original choreographer who, in her art, sought the iconoclastic as she transgressed boundaries of genre, gender, race, class, and sexuality. Author Joellen A. Meglin shows how her works were often controversial and sometimes censored even as she succeeded in roles usually reserved for men in the ballet world: choreographer, artistic director, and impresario. From extensive dramaturgical analysis of her most famous ballets ― La Guiablesse, Frankie and Johnny, Billy Sunday, Revenge, The Merry Widow, Camille, Carmina Burana, and Alice ― to embodied re-imagining of an avant-garde solo performed in a "sack" designed by Isamu Noguchi, this biography follows the global reach of Ruth Page's career spanning the greater part of the twentieth century. In the process of discovering the woman in the work, one encounters with an international cast of dancers (Anna Pavlova, Harald Kreutzberg, Frederic Franklin, Alicia Markova), composers (William Grant Still, Aaron Copland, Jerome Moross, Darius Milhaud), visual artists (Noguchi, Pavel Tchelitchew, Antoni Clavé), and companies (Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Ballets des Champs-Elysées, London Festival Ballet). Disrupting notions that New York was the only cradle of the American ballet, and George Balanchine, its exponent to eclipse all others, Ruth Page explores the woman's unique sensibility, corporeal praxis, and collaborative ethos to reveal her Chicago-centered network of creativity. âPage's creations truly come to life and jump off the page thanks to Meglinâs thorough descriptions.... The analysis is particularly strong in exploring the music for each dance and how it contributed to the dramaturgy. There are fascinating collaborators for each work, and the chapters function as a making-of or behind-the-scenes look at her dances. -- Ellen Chenoweth, Dance Chronicle "this lengthy tome (429 jam-packed pages) blossoms into a delicious dive into the imagination and artistic journey of a gutsy innovator... Meglin offers the reader a visceral understanding of Page's creative process." -- Lynn Colburn Shapiro, Wendy Perron / Notable Dance Books "an absolutely admirable work of dance scholarship. Although full of detail and history, the writing is fluid and highly readable--it often feels like storytelling." -- Thea Flaum, Chairman & President, Ruth Page Foundation "Meglin's expertise as well as her passion for her subject matter shine through in her generous, rigorously researched, and comprehensive biography of Ruth Page. Meglin makes a compelling argument for a renewed examination of Page's overlooked contributions: this is a readable and engaging study of an American Midwestern choreographer whose works were unorthodox, experimental, inflected by the rhythms of jazz--and female." -- Karen Eliot, Emerita Professor, Department of Dance, The Ohio State University " Ruth Page: The Woman in the Work is an inspiring portrait of an innovative and boundary-breaking artist. Finally, a full-length study of a major woman leader in ballet, whose prolific career brought her into contact with many of the most celebrated artists in twentieth-century modernism. Meglin's rich analysis of Page's work―experimental, collaborative, populist, and committed to a female point of view―offers a timely and much-needed alternative to the discourse of neoclassicism that has long monopolized ballet history. Impeccably researched and elegantly written, this book is an extraordinary and essential contribution." -- Andrea Harris, Associate Professor of Dance, University of Wisconsin - Madison "Dancer, choreographer, daughter, sister, wife, impresario, and visionary, Ruth Page... was an American dance treasure... The author uncovers Page's inquisitive boldness, spotlighting choreography-e.g., Alice in the Garden (1970) - that championed feminism and challenged gender roles." -- Choice "Meglin, who has published widely on Page, is an established dance historian, choreographer, and dance re-imaginer. She expertly infuses methodologies from these areas into this meticulously researched, skillfully written, accessible tome. At its heart, this biography also functions as cultural history and dramaturgical analysis, weaving together engaging movement description, critical reception, sociopolitical and aesthetic contexts. The book wonders: What might a womanâs artistic directorship of a major ballet company in the United States look like? This central question ponders ... what experimentalism it might offer to ballet creativity, repertory, and audience development.... Meglin's biography reveals a strong counter-narrative to monolithic ballet histories that present the art form as a purely highbrow, heteropatrichal product emanating from the genius of men in New York City" -- Jen Atkins, Dance Research (Edinburgh, UK) "The book is very thorough and detailed, and if that's the kind of writing that speaks to you, this bo