# Dancing the Dream

Dancing the Dream is a 1992 book of poems and reflections written by American singer and recording artist Michael Jackson, his second book following his 1988 autobiography Moonwalk. The book also contains an assortment of around 100 photographs of Jackson.
Dancing the Dream was published by Doubleday on June 18, 1992, seven months after the release of Jackson's 1991 Dangerous album. It was not a significant commercial success. The book was reissued by the British publisher Transworld on July 27, 2009, following Jackson's death on June 25.

## Content

Jackson dedicated Dancing the Dream to his mother Katherine, and the book has an introduction written by his longtime friend Elizabeth Taylor.
The volume consists of 46 pieces of poetry and essays. The subjects Jackson writes about are primarily children, animals and the environment. For example, one specific poem titled "Look Again, Baby Seal" promotes environmentalism as Jackson imagines anthropomorphic seals who brood about the fate of being killed by hunters. Another poem ("So the Elephants March") presents elephants that refuse to be killed in order for ivory pieces to be made from their tusks. A third piece ("Mother Earth") describes a struggle to cope with the discovery of an oil-covered seagull feather. To stress the theme of environmentalism and the necessity for action, Jackson writes in the essay, "We've been treating Mother Earth the way some people treat a rental apartment. Just trash it and move on."
Jackson also writes about the degree to which the 1990 death of the AIDS sufferer Ryan White affected him in a poem titled after the youth, and as he presents in the poem, Jackson believes the teenage boy suffered through general ignorance of the disease. The poem "Mother" was written for his mother Katherine, whom Jackson loved deeply. In one stanza Jackson writes, "No matter where I go from here/You're in my heart, mother dear." The poem had previously been published by his mother in her 1990 autobiography My Family, and was not the only material in Dancing the Dream to have appeared elsewhere. The poems "Dancing the Dream" (titled as "The Dance") and "Planet Earth" were included in the sleeve notes for Jackson's 1991 Dangerous album (and in its 2001 special edition re-release). Furthermore, the lyrics to the songs "Will You Be There" and "Heal the World" — also from the 1991 album — were included in Dancing the Dream. A spoken version of the poem "Planet Earth" appeared on the 2009 posthumous album This Is It.
Dancing the Dream includes approximately 100 photographs. Some photographs had been previously published, such as those that were published in the 1985 Jackson calendar, and others that had been published in magazines such as Ebony and People. Furthermore, the volume includes photographs converted from stills of Jackson's music videos such as "Black or White" (1991) and "Remember the Time" (1992). Jackson commissioned artwork for Dancing the Dream from Nate Giorgio and David Nordahl, whom Jackson met in the 1980s and with whom he subsequently developed a professional relationship.

## Poems & Essays

| Dancing the Dream | Planet Earth | Magical Child Part 1 | Wings Without Me |
| Dance of Life | When Babies Smile | But the Heart Said No | Children of the World |
| So the Elephants March | The Boy and the Pillow | Enough for Today | Mark of the Ancients |
| Heal the World | Children | Mother | Magic |
| The Fish That Was Thirsty | Innocence | Trust | Courage |
| Love | God | How I Make Music | Ryan White |
| The Elusive Shadow | On Children of the World | Two Birds | The Last Tear |
| Ecstasy | Berlin 1989 | Mother Earth | Wise Little Girl |
| I You We | Angel of Light | I Searched for My Star | A Child Is a Song |
| Child of Innocence | Will You Be There | Magical Child Part 2 | Are You Listening? |
| Breaking Free | Once We Were There | Heaven Is Here | Quantum Leap |
| That One in the Mirror | Look Again, Baby Seal |

## Publication history

Dancing the Dream was first published on June 18, 1992, by Doubleday. It followed Jackson's 1988 autobiography Moonwalk, which was also published by the American company. Prior to publication, Dancing the Dream was hailed by the publishers as a book that would "take us deep into [Jackson's] heart and soul", as well as "an inspirational and passionate volume of unparalleled humanity". In his only interview to promote Dancing the Dream, Jackson described the book as being "just a verbal expression of what I usually express through my music and my dance." After his death on June 25, 2009, the British company Transworld reissued the book the following month on July 27, 2009.
A representative for Doubleday (Marly Rusoff) revealed in March 1993 that the company shipped 133,000 copies of the book, and took around 80,000 returns and 3000 reorders. Thus, the project was close to 60% down in total sales. Rusoff stated that the commercial performance of Dancing the Dream was low because an anticipated Jackson tour of the United States never occurred. He commented, "The reviews—and there were some—were rather discouraging. He did do a Europe tour and the British edition did quite well. This kind of book depends on celebrity visibility."
Suzanne Mantell of Publishers Weekly felt that Dancing the Dream did not create the "important buzz that gives a book a life and saves it from cultural oblivion ... Jackson may draw an audience of 65 million when he appears on Oprah, but the consensus among booksellers is that bookbuyers don't care, and that this one was a dog."
During a Simulchat in 1995, Jackson stated, "I wrote a book called Dancing the Dream. It was more autobiographical than Moonwalk, which I did with Mrs. Onassis. It wasn't full of gossip and scandal and all that trash that people write, so I don't think people paid much attention to it, but it came from my heart. It was essays, thoughts and things that I've thought about while on tour."