The world of dance knows Jacques d’Amboise as the ultimate Apollo, as the dancer and choreographer whose life intertwined with George Ballanchine, the School of American Ballet and the New York City Ballet.

His newly published memoir, “I Was a Dancer,” published this month by Knopf, reveals that he is much more.

Born in 1934 in Dedham, Mass., to a Quebecoise mother and an Irish father who met in Lewiston, d’Amboise shares with readers the many people and events that have shaped his life.

While d’Amboise inherited his passion for the arts from his mother, he seems to have benefited from his father’s penchant for storytelling.

His autobiography begins with stories of his parents before he was born – his mother worked in a Lewiston shoe factory at age 12. His father worked as a personal telegraph operator for Joseph Kennedy and on Wall Street until the economy and technology made the job obsolete.

There are stories of his childhood in New York’s Washington Heights, running with gangs on the streets, surviving the nuns at school and being dragged from lesson to lesson by his mother, always referred to as The Boss.

Most of the book recounts the events that shaped d’Amboise as a dancer, which means the book is as much about the beginning of America’s presence on the international ballet stage and the man who put it there – Ballanchine – as it is about d’Amboise.

As a protege and principal dancer for Ballanchine, d’Amboise shares eye-witness accounts of the ballet master’s many love affairs with his prima ballerinas, of collaborations with composer Igor Stravinksy, of feuds with artist Marc Chagall and of personal conflicts with his escape from the newly formed Soviet Union and eventually a return tour to the still Communist collective.

Besides Ballanchine, two other figures loom large in d’Amboise’s life. They are the women who adored him and whom he adored – his mother, Georgette d’Amboise, and his wife, Carolyn George. D’Amboise dedicated “I Was a Dancer” to these two women who encouraged, supported and understood him as a dancer.

In the book’s prologue, d’Amboise writes, ‘Who am I? I’m a man, an American, a father, a teacher, but most of all, I am a person who knows how the arts can change lives, because they transformed mine. I was a dancer.”

D’Amboise’s gratitude to the arts comes to life as he describes the beginning of the National Dance Institute in 1976. Dedicated to giving children, at no cost, an opportunity to explore and hone their talents, the institute allows d’Amboise to continue learning and teaching dance. Although located in New York, NDI also reaches out to children throughout the world.

“Each time I can use dance to help a child discover that he or she can control the way they move, I am filled with joy,” d’Amboise wrote. He shares the stories of children he met on a return trip to Russia, as well as children in Asia and on Native American reservations. He notes as a proud father the accomplishments of his own children.

D’Amboise’s work with NDI was made into an Academy Award winning documentary, “He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin,’” in 1983. He has received numerous honors and honorary degrees, including a doctorate of fine arts from Bates College.

But through the 464 pages and dozens of photos, d’Amboise comes across as merely someone who happened to be in the right place at the right time surrounded by the right people. “Everything was given to me,” d’Amboise wrote. “And all of it was the best of the best. … But, above all, and central to everything, I was a dancer.”