Pas de Don’t is Chloe Angyal’s first novel, a story of romance informed by the author’s years spent reporting on gender and power in American ballet.
Angyal, an Australian-born writer now based out of Coralville, is the author of the 2021 nonfiction book Turning Pointe: How a New Generation of Dancers Is Saving Ballet from Itself, examining how ballet as a form is grappling with gender, racial and class inequities in the modern day. Beyond that book, more of Angyal’s writing on ballet has appeared in Jezebel and the Washington Post, as well as being quoted in the New York Times.
The story of Pas de Don’t follows Heather Hayes, a recently promoted principal dancer in the New York City Ballet’s company, who must suddenly navigate the fallout of an emotionally abusive relationship with one of the world’s most famous ballet dancers.
In the wake of this tumult, Heather accepts a guest position with the Australian National Ballet (ANB) — the only company that will hire her following the break with her ex-fiancé — to prove that she rose to the top on her own merits. There she meets Marcus, her reluctant tour guide recovering from a torn Achilles tendon and mourning the death of his father, and finds herself at odds with company policies put in place by the ANB’s new artistic director.
Angyal’s thorough knowledge of ballet is on show throughout the novel, but never makes the story feel weighed down by technical terms and trivia. She deftly balances the frequently lighthearted, swoon-worthy forbidden workplace romance with heavier subjects, pulling into view the behind the scenes politics of ballet companies in the #MeToo era. Pas de Don’t covers the power imbalances that can strip dancers of their ability to protect themselves and speak up, the policies that both protect and inhibit them, the physical toll that dance takes on their bodies, sexual harassment and grief.
The title is a play on the phrase “pas de deux,” or a duet between two dancers, and makes reference to a policy within the ANB that strictly forbids relationships between dancers. This policy, of course, ends up playing a major role in Heather’s time at the company.
While Pas de Don’t probably only qualifies as a slow-burn for slow readers, it’s the momentum of Heather and Marcus’s relationship, as well as the high stakes of their decisions that make this novel impossible to put down.
Angyal has another romance book, Pointe of Pride, planned for release next year.
This article was originally published in Little Village’s August 2023 issue.
