Nobody hopes or expects to dance like Astaire, just as nobody really expects to write like Nabokov. Yet Prince and Jackson are nothing alike when they dance, and it’s very hard to bring to mind Prince dancing, whereas it is practically impossible to forget Jackson. How can you dance and dance, in front of millions of people, for years, and still seem like a secret only I know? They didn’t need to watch Beyoncé any more than soldiers need to look fixedly at the flag to perform their duties. But I watched his hands all the time, they were like a lesson in themselves – so elegant!”• Swing Time by Zadie Smith is published on 15 November (Hamish Hamilton, £18.99).

Source: The Guardian October 29, 2016 07:30 UTC