Event

A Memoir by Cheryl Y. Forrest

Book launch: Saturday, July 30th, 10:30 am 

Free and open to the public, the author will make some remarks and be available for signing books.

Cheryl Y. Forrest grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was born during the innocent 1950s, and spent her time reading, riding her bike, playing with friends, and taking ballet lessons. Ballet eventually called to her. She spent her teenage years at the studio, and was accepted into the company now known as Tulsa Ballet.

Cheryl left the ballet world to attend college and graduate school, and earned two degrees. After marriage, she and her husband moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where she taught school, taught ballet, danced in a contemporary company, and founded the local arts council. Cheryl later moved to New York City, where she began research on the book Roman Jasinski: A Gypsy Prince from the Ballet Russe, co-authored with another former dancer, Georgia Snoke.

Her second book, The Girl on the Belvedere—Finding Meaning Through Travel, Friendship, and French: A Memoir, is the story of her well-traveled youth, life in the ballet company, and her experiences—late in life—traveling to French immersion courses in Quebec City and the South of France. The terror attacks nearby in Nice and Germany profoundly influenced her, and caused her to look upon life in America with different eyes. The foreign friends she made, however, were the greater influence, and those friendships continue to this day.

Cheryl lives in Tulsa with her husband John, pet poodle Truffle, and sees her children, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren frequently, as well as her granddogs and grandcats. She serves as the chief historian of Tulsa Ballet, and travels whenever and wherever she can. Cheryl can be reached through her blog, www.thegirlonthebelvedere.com.