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Finis Jhung is a former soloist for the San Francisco and Joffrey Ballets and a principal dancer with the Harkness Ballet. Since 1972 he has been a mainstay of the New York dance scene, teaching at all the major New York studios, as well as at festivals, workshops and ballet competitions throughout the US and Europe. He is a master teacher who is dedicated to elucidating the principles of classical ballet technique, both in his classes in New York City and through his teaching videos.

Before he retired from the stage, he trained with many illustrious teachers, including Valentina Pereyaslavec, Vera Volkova, Stanley Williams, Erik Bruhn and Rosella Hightower. To read an interview with Finis on his journey from Hawaii to Broadway, click here.

Finis was chosen to coach the boys cast in the lead role in the Chicago production of Billy Elliot after the show’s choreographer, Peter Darling, and director, Stephen Daldry, saw Finis’ impressive teaching methods. To see him at work with the three Billys, click here.

This is what Finis said about The Double Happiness Company: ‘This is a wonderful book! It’s true-to-life and captures the thoughts and feelings of a dancer struggling with her family and career, past and present. And, as good dancing does, it will stir your memories and lift you up.’

Anne Aylor has had short stories published by the Arts Council of Great Britain, The Literary Review, London Magazine and Stand Magazine. She was twice an award winner in the Dixon-Ward Short Story Competition and an excerpt from her first novel, No Angel Hotel, was a winner in the BBC Radio 3 Short Story Competition. No Angel Hotel was published in the UK by HarperCollins and in the US by St Martin’s Press (title: Angel Hotel). The BBC have broadcast a number of Anne’s short stories, including one which became a chapter in The Double Happiness Company. In 2008 she was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize with her story, ‘The Speed of Dark’ .

Her stage play, Children of the Dust, won a playwrighting award and was staged by the Soho Theatre and the Theatre Warehouse, Croydon (director: Terry Johnson). Her recent play, The Trainer, had a rehearsed reading in May 2009 at the Hackney Empire with Corin Redgrave, Tim Pigott-Smith, Roger Lloyd Pack and Janie Dee (director: Tom Platten).

She is the founder of Anne Aylor Creative Writing Courses which offers workshops in the UK and abroad. Anne has danced with the Oakland Ballet, worked in the Big Apple at the Salvation Army Trade Department, sold brass and wind music of the 17th and 18th centuries and practiced as an acupuncturist. Several years ago she gave up needles to concentrate on writing. She loves to teach because it doesn’t involve high maths or high heels.

James Wilson, designer of barebonebooks.com, has worked commercially as a web and multimedia designer and developer since 1999, architecting, designing and building a wide range of projects. These have included websites, microsites, intranets, content management and e-commerce systems, games, widgets, viral ad campaigns and multimedia presentations. His clients are both large and small, corporate and boutique.

James is the founder of Subtense, co-founder and technical director of PeaPancake and co-founder and creative director of  We3commerce. He has worked for AOL, Heinz, ITV, Harrods, Holmes Place, Sony BMG, Vodafone, Opodo, Gumtree and Haymarket Publishing. among others. To see James’ portfolio, go to www.subtense.com

In this post the limelight falls on the multi-talented Elise Valmorbida. She is in the spotlight as our first imprint’s logo and book designer. She runs Word-Design, a design and writing agency. Elise is also a novelist and a teacher of creative writing at Central St Martins.

Honoured as a Trailblazer by the Edinburgh International Film Festival (2007), she is the producer of award-winning indie film Saxon, released in 2009.

This transplanted Italian-Australian is also a brilliant novelist whose published works include Matilde Waltzing, The Book of Happy Endings, The TV President and The Winding Stick.

She teaches beginners and intermediate writing courses at the University of the Arts in London.

Photo courtesy of Steve Mullins.

Christian Holder was a leading dancer with the City Center Joffrey Ballet from 1966 to 1979 where he worked with some of the choreographic masters of 20th century, including Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille, Alvin Ailey, Kurt Jooss and Leonide Massine. His eclectic repertoire ranged from The Green Table to Parade.

He appeared as guest solo dancer with San Francisco Opera from 1979 – 1981 and in ’81 choreographed their production of The Merry Widow with Dame Joan Sutherland. He performed in the 50th anniversity of the Chicago Joffrey Ballet’s production of Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella as one of the Ugly Sisters (pictured below with Gary Chryst).

Christian has choreographed and designed costumes for the Joffrey Ballet, Washington Ballet, Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico, Ballet Théâtre de Bordeaux and American Ballet Theater. He has taught ballet for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, ABT’s open class, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Ballet Arts Minnesota and Broadway Dance Center.

In 2001 Christian choreographed the San Francisco Opera’s production of Aida. To read his article in Dance Magazine celebrating the Joffrey Ballet’s 2006 golden anniversary, click here.

At BBB we are grateful that Christian was willing to read the 375-page typescript of a stranger and give The Double Happiness Company his endorsement.

BBB is grateful to three prominent members of the international dance world who were kind enough to read The Double Happiness Company and endorse it. The first of these is Rosanna Seravalli.

Rosanna joined the Joffrey Ballet shortly after her arrival in the US from her native Italy, before moving to American Ballet Theatre. She spent 11 years at ABT, dancing the classics and working with many of the most acclaimed choreographers of the last century, including George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Anthony Tudor, Agnes de Mille, Frederick Ashton, José Limón and Leonide Massine. After leaving American Ballet Theater, she joined the faculty of the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College where she is a tenured professor. She is also a faculty member of ABT’s Summer Intensive Program.

In 1984 she worked with the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and the National Institute of the Arts in Taiwan and also taught at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She received a SUNY Research Foundation Grant to travel to the former USSR to develop methods for adapting Russian classical training for American dancers. In 1995 she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Chile to give seminars and master classes. In recent years, Rosanna has choreographed, staged productions and taught master classes for the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore. She has also consulted as an educator and ballet mistress with dance companies in the Philippines, Australia, Italy, South America and China.

This is what Rosanna had to say about BBB‘s first book: ‘Katie Rivers is a heroine for anyone who’s ever had a real dream. Coming from the most unlikely of places, the wastelands of the New Mexico desert, this ballerina in training pursues her destiny with a passion that is both admirable and reckless. This sweeping family saga, set against the background of the Vietnam War, takes the reader from the rural Southwest to the New York City of Katie’s dreams and back again, as a young girl and her family strive for resolution and confront their special demons. The Double Happiness Company is a wonderful story and a cautionary tale that will stay with readers long after they have set this compelling book down.’

The first person in the glare is Charles Boyle, polymath and poet. He had a long career with Faber and Faber (14 years in editing and production) and now works as a freelance editor which allows him more freedom to run the publishing company he set up, CB editions. Charles edited our first book and is shown here at the launch of one of his own publications, Elise Valmorbida’s The TV President.

Books are something Charles is fiercely passionate about. He has been kind enough to let me pick his brains about this publishing lark. He also writes a smashing blog. Click here for an interview with him.

Hats off to Steve Mullins who took the picture.

From time to time at BBB, we will be spotlighting individuals who have made our books possible. It’s our small way of saying a big thank you to the people behind the scenes who are deserving of time ‘in the limelight’. But where exactly does the phrase come from?

In theatres and music halls, limelight used to be the primary focus of lighting on stage. Followspots used a block of lime which was heated until it became incandescent. Limelight is also, of course, a 1952 film written, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. His co-star was Claire Bloom. In the dance sequences, Bloom was doubled by the New York City Ballet ballerina, Melissa Hayden.