Overview
Based on a decade of unprecedented research, theĀ first major biography of George Balanchine, aĀ broad-canvas portrait set against the backdrop of the tumultuous century that shapedĀ the man The New York Times called āthe Shakespeare of dancingāāfrom the bestselling author of Apolloās Angels
Arguably the greatest choreographer who ever lived, George Balanchine was one of the cultural titans of the twentieth centuryāThe New York Times called him āthe Shakespeare of dancing.āĀ His radical approach to choreographyāand lifeāreinvented the art of ballet and made him a legend. Written with enormous style and artistry, and based onĀ more than one hundredĀ interviews and research in archives across Russia, Europe, and the Americas, Mr. B carries us through Balanchineās tumultuous and high-pitched life story and into the making of his extraordinary dances.
Balanchineās lifeĀ intersected with some of the biggest historical events of his century. Born in Russia under the lastĀ czar, Balanchine experienced the upheavals of World War I, the Russian Revolution, exile, World War II, and the Cold War. A co-founder of the New York City Ballet, he pressed ballet in America to the forefront of modernism and made it a popular art. None of this was easy, and we see his loneliness and failures, his five marriagesāall to dancersāand many loves. We follow his bouts of ill health and spiritual crises, and learn of his profound musical skills and sensibilityĀ and his immense determination to make some of the most glorious, strange, and beautiful dances ever to grace the modern stage.
With full access to Balanchineās papers and many of his dancers, Jennifer Homans, the dance critic for The New Yorker and a former dancer herself, has spent more than a decade researching Balanchineās life and times to write a vast history of the twentieth century through the lens of one of its greatest artists:Ā the definitive biography of the man his dancers called Mr. B.
This book title, Mr. B (George Balanchine's 20th Century), ISBN: 9780812994308, by Jennifer Homans, published by Random House Publishing Group (November 1, 2022) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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