| If you're a professional dancer, a student of dance, or just love the art form, may we recommend a book-or two or three-that we know you'll find to be nothing short of fascinating? |
| Freed Reads is the place where devotees of dance gain inspiration from the life stories of famous ballerinas and choreographers, as well as the immortals of the silver screen. |
| This time, we celebrate the art and lives of esteemed choreographer and New York City Ballet's founder George Balanchine and the current Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins, Balanchine's handpicked successor. |
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George Balanchine: The Ballet Maker
by Robert Gottlieb |
| George Balanchine was not only the greatest choreographer of the 20th century, but perhaps also, the greatest ever. This book, written by longtime editor and dance critic Robert Gottlieb (who served for many years on the board of directors of the New York City Ballet), paints a sharp and sophisticated portrait of the famed choreographer as only an ardent fan and admirer who knew Balanchine could do.
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| In the introduction, Gottlieb observes that Balanchine "carried within him all of ballet, past and present, and was constantly redefining its future. Looking backward and looking forward were not separate matters for him; he summed up everything even as he was reinventing everything." The book vividly details the role fate played in placing the very young Balanchine into the Imperial School of Ballet and Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia, rather than in the Imperial Naval
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| Academy as intended. We learn of his extensive musical education in Russia, his dancing career (cut short by an injury), and his many failed attempts to gain ground in the West. |
| Yet, once in America, Balanchine embraced his new home with the zest, confidence, and joy of creation that were his hallmark. Balanchine's work for Broadway and Hollywood is chronicled, choreographing four shows for Rodgers and Hart, and The Goldwyn Follies, respectively. |
| Serving on NYCB's board afforded Gottlieb a close look at Balanchine both on and off-stage. Standing in the wings, Balanchine revealed to him how he wanted Peter Martins to succeed him upon his retirement from the company. As Gottlieb wrote, "[Balanchine] was always calm, always courteous, always realistic, and always impersonal . . . To me, too, he was a god, and I saw my role as being some kind of messenger of the gods." |
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| Download this article now (PDF) |
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