Balanchine Variations

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 160 pages
• Published by: University Press of Florida
• Edition: 1st Edition May 11, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0813032261
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0813032269
• Book Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Weighs: 8 ounces

From The New Yorker
This book’s essays on twenty Balanchine ballets are based on pre-performance lectures. That’s bad—the essays are too short—and it’s good, because, for the lay reader, they are perfect Friday-night previews of a Saturday matinée. But this is armchair reading, too. With each ballet, Goldner addresses a different facet of Balanchine’s work: abstraction ("Concerto Barocco"), economy ("Valse Fantaisie"), tension ("Agon"), classical technique ("Ballo della Regina"), pacing (" Theme and Variations"), dreamwork ("A Midsummer Night’s Dream"). In every case, she draws on her long experience, her great common sense—this is the least churchy book ever published on Balanchine—and, rarest of all, her ability to relate choreography to heart and soul without sounding gaseous. The book is modest and, at the same time, utterly self-assured. Anyone who cares about Balanchine should buy it immediately.
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Product Description
The literature on Balanchine is vast, but it is primarily biographical. Balanchine Variations is the first book to concentrate on the ballets themselves, providing critical analysis and detailed descriptions of what the dancers actually do.   Beginning with Apollo (1928), Balanchine's first extant work, and ending with one of his last ballets, Ballo della Regina (1978), Nancy Goldner offers detailed insights into more than twenty individual ballets. Based on lectures given across the United States, under the auspices of the Balanchine Foundation, they are intended to illuminate his art.   Goldner discusses the history of each ballet, places each in the context of Balanchine's life and sensibility. She also addresses his taste in music and whether his style can be considered particularly American.   The ballets Balanchine choreographed for the New York City Ballet are danced by companies around the world, and this innovative book is sure to become an indispensable guide to dancers and spectators alike.

Reader Reviews
This book is written and researched with care and detail. The author has a superb degree of observation and understands the subject matter, as well as being familiar with the person for whom the book written.