A wild romp amid the plush seats of an empty during rehearsals for , an elaborate tryst between two perfectly-toned dancers, and ‘a fair amount of lesbian action’: how could Melanie Hamrick begin to top the erotic thrill of her ballet bonkbuster ? Well, as Rachel Johnson found out when she visited the prima at the townhouse she shares with partner , often the truth is just as daring as fiction. Hamrick may have stepped down from the American Ballet Theatre in 2019, but she is very much still rushed off of her feet. Between raising her son with the rock legend, penning a Rolling Stones inspired ballet, and releasing (a lusty, luxurious follow-up to ), it’s a good thing Melanie’s balance is impeccable.
Of course, she found time to show around their 17th-century riverside bolthole. And who better to get the on Autumn’s hottest read than Rachel Johnson? ‘Unlike yours truly,’ writes the politician in our October issue, ‘I don’t think Hamrick is going to win the Bad Sex in Fiction award’. How could she, when both books in her compulsively readable canon are dedicated to rock’n’roll boyfriend Mick Jagger? The 81-year-old is Hamrick’s best reader, getting first eyes on her books before publication date.
His take on : prepare for lots of throbbing. But it’s not all and kinky power plays. Amid the busts and bronzes of Hamrick’s home, she gets candid with Johnson about the difficulties of raising a child amid the gruelling schedule of elite dance.
Her retirement was headline , but with new muses and motherhood on her mind, this new era is one of constant inspiration, she hints – and those headlines were true, but only to a point...
Whether it’s choreographing – with a score by The Rolling Stones themselves – or researching romance novels from the family’s French chateau, there’s barely time to catch her breath. Dancing through life then, for Melanie Hamrick. But for the inside story of how a lauded dancer from Williamsburg, Virginia, won the heart of Mick Jagger and set pulses racing among the literati, look no further than the October issue of .
Where else could you learn about one of the most ancestry tests to hit high society since Benedict Cumberbatch traced his family tree back to Richard III?.
