Balanchine: A Biography

Marcia B. Siegel, Washington Post Book World
"The most readable and reliable introduction to the sphinxlike Russian who inspired his own brand of balletomania from the Diaghilev era to the present day."

Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Examiner
"Balanchine emerges a unique compendium of fact, quotation, and interview. . . . Future biographers will have a difficult time matching Taper's compassion, coherence, and class."

Book Description
Written with wit, insight, and candor, Balanchine is a book that will delight lovers of biography as well as those with a special interest in dance. For this edition the author has added a thoughtful yet dramatic account of the working out of Balanchine's legacy, from the making of his controversial will to the present day. The author explores the intriguing legal, financial, and institutional subplots that unfolded after the death of the greatest choreographer of the century, but the central plot of his epilogue is the aesthetic issue: In the absence of their creator, can the ballets retain their wondrous vitality? Taper illuminates the fascinating transmission of Balanchine's masterworks from one generation to another, an unprecented legacy in the history of ballet, that most evanescent of the arts.

About the Author
Bernard Taper is Emeritus Professor of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley.


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Written with wit, insight, and candor, this updated edition of Balanchine is a book that will delight lovers of biography as well as those with a special interest in dance. For this edition the author has added a thoughtful yet dramatic account of the working out of Balanchine's legacy, from the making of his controversial will to the present day.


Buy from Barnes & Noble     Compare Prices