When Heidi Giersch asked me to write her memoir with her, I jumped at the opportunity. We are so pleased to announce 'Dancing Into Freedom' has just been published by award winning Ginninderra Press, and is now available.
Heidi’s unique story of growing up in East Berlin,
behind the Iron Curtain and in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, begins the moment she was chosen to go to
ballet school at ten years of age. Eventually
she performed with major East German dance companies. She shared with me her heartfelt recollections of family, life and her career in
East Germany. Facing the challenges of the Cold War in that communist society, every person was under the surveillance of the Stasi regime which infiltrated all aspects of social and private life.
Heidi's life changed forever in 1980 when she ran away after the final Sydney performance of the prestigious Komische Oper Berlin Ballet Company's Australian tour. Following her defection, she made her home in Melbourne where she still lives today.
