It seems Robb persisted in her training at other schools until finally accepting that ballet was not going to be her career, which would suggest her SAB teachers were onto something. She seems to have talent as a writer and worked to make the most of that talent, so good for her.
I’ll be interested to check the book out, although it’s not exactly revelatory at this point that it’s very hard to succeed in ballet and many aspiring dancers have to cope with disappointment, body-image issues, and other problems. At least Robb doesn’t seem to have had any money worries.
I had the same thought, nanushka. It’s a clear misuse of Balanchine’s quote, and likely an intentional one. It's not that difficult to figure out what Balanchine meant.
From the article:
Probably he couldn’t at that time. The memoirs of dancers from the company’s early years have plenty of anecdotes about Balanchine paying for this and that out of his own pocket because funds couldn’t be found even with Kirstein’s support.