Small Town Big Dreams

This is a story of a young girl from a small town with a big dream that took her to Juilliard, Broadway, summer stock, the stage of the Metropolitan Opera and the Santa Fe Opera, and introduced her to her husband William Zeckendorf Jr.

Her memoir overflows with the glamour of a life lived among the famous figures of mid-century New York society and the grit necessary to succeed in the professional world of dance.Fascinated by art and architecture, the vivacious ballerina Nancy Zeckendorf became a formidable development partner with her husband and a philanthropic leader in the performing artsher fundraising ability is an art form unto itself.

“I love hardware stores and tools,” she said of her common-sense approach to construction projects. Indeed, Nancy was a guiding force in the expansion of the Santa Fe Opera, the Lensic Performing Arts Center, and the premier community of Los Miradores where she lives now in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Author Biography

Nancy King Zeckendorf, formerly a principal dancer for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and Santa Fe Opera, is a founding director and chair of the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe. After her years as a dancer, she began a new career creating special events and fundraising for the arts. A design partner on projects in Santa Fe and New York with her late husband and New York real estate developer William Zeckendorf Jr., she is as comfortable with an architect’s blueprints as with a choreographer’s direction.

Jane Scovell has written books with Elizabeth Taylor, Ginger Rogers, Tim Conway, Marilyn Horne, and a biography of Oona Chaplin. She is currently writing with director Brian Large.