Alice answers “When you began writing BALLROOM, did you...”

Lucy Sanna asked this question about Ballroom:

When you began writing BALLROOM, did you know how it would end? Or did you let the characters emerge with their own stories through the course of the writing?

Alice Excellent question, Lucy. I wanted to write about individual characters, who meet every Sunday night to dance, transformed by the seeming glamour of a…moreExcellent question, Lucy. I wanted to write about individual characters, who meet every Sunday night to dance, transformed by the seeming glamour of a New York ballroom. I began with how they present themselves, how they appear to one another.

Then, using meditation and sensory techniques, and working with one character at a time, their personal stories beyond the ballroom emerged and intertwined in surprising ways. Sometimes this became quite difficult. On a three-day train ride across country, I locked the doors of my compartment, pulled the shades closed, and set myself the difficult task to find and write Joseph's sexual life.

In the anonymity of the ballroom—Joseph never needs to reveals his last name, Sarah imagines that Gabriel is a movie star, and any man who is a masterful dancer has his choice of willing partners.

I never intended for BALLROOM to have an "end." The music plays, the dance and masquerade continue. Dreamers dream.

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