JA: So let's jump right into your newest work, a book called Hippo in a Tutu: Dancing in Disney Animation, which studies dance in Disney's animated shorts and features; you have been a professional critic and teacher of dance for quite some time, and have even written a book called Dance Anecdotes, which contains stories about dancing all over the globe. So why Disney for the subject of your book, and when did the idea first come to you?
MA: The idea for the book, as such, wasn't mine: it was a longtime concept of an editor at Disney Editions, Christopher Caines, who is also a working choreographe – nd, not incidentally, the author of the title Hippo in a Tutu. He noticed that although there was a fair amount of published writing about music at Disney, there was little about dance, and he thought such a study could fill in an important gap. Around six years ago, he approached me with the suggestion that I might write the book; I drafted a proposal, and the editorial director of Disney Editions, Wendy Lefkon, liked it, even though I didn't have an animation background.
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