Review by Choice Review
Buckle and Taras's biography of George Balanchine covers all of the important areas in the great choreographer's life--the severing of his life and career in Russia, his struggles to form an American ballet company with the help of Lincoln Kirstein, his relationships with several of his many brilliant ballerinas, and, most important of all, his lasting legacy: the ballets. All this appears in a clear, well-written style, yet there is something missing. Compared with the dance writings of Arlene Croce, or even the early Balanchine biography by Bernard Taper, this work comes off as rather flat and emotionless, not quite capturing the essence of the man that many called a true genius. Perhaps the written page cannot do that, but there could have been more about Balanchine's classes, the creation of some of the ballets, and certainly more about the company's interaction with the New York ballet world. Also, a complete listing of Balanchine's choreographic works surely would have been welcome at the conclusion of the book. General readership. -J. L. Cohen, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Buckle-dance critic and author of Diaghilev (Booklist 76:469 N 15 79)-collaborates with former New York City Ballet associate ballet master Taras on this biographical and choreographical portrait. Tracing Balanchine's dancing career from its influential Russian origins, the book uses a number of interviews with the choreographer's friends, relatives, colleagues, and dancers to trace its subject's artistic development and influence on modern ballet. While many fascinating facts about Balanchine as a private person-his cooking skills, his marriages and love affairs, his sense of humor-are revealed here, it is his professional life that occupies stage center as the authors study the man as he worked in the schoolroom, in rehearsal, and in performance, all the while pursuing a muse who was personified by the dancers and repertory of the New York City Ballet. Bibliography, notes; to be indexed. JB. 792.8'2 (B) Balanchine, George / Choreographers-U.S-Biography [CIP] 87-42667
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
This addition to the Balanchine literature is by British dance critic Buckle (biographer of Nijinsky and Diaghilev) and Taras (assistant ballet master under Balanchine at the New York City Ballet). The book documents Balanchine's growth as a dancer/choreographer in Russia, ballet master for Diaghilev, innovator in the American musical theater, and artistic director of the New York City Ballet. The strength of the book is in new information on the early relationship between Lincoln Kirstein and Balanchine and inclusion of previously unpublished photos and letters. Though the writing style is choppy and slavishly chronological, the biography is responsible and will be enjoyed by dance fans. Joan Stahl, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., Baltimore (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A chatty march through the eight decades of Balanchine's life; Buckle makes few critical judgments, instead arranging a mass of interviews, other written accounts, letters, and so on into a rewarding chronicle. Buckle (Diaghilev, Nijinsky, Buckle at the Ballet) was an early Balanchine champion in London (when the choreographer's work was often panned there); he no longer needs to make many outright arguments for the presence of genius, but his respect and affection for his subject are always apparent. Buckle begins before the beginning: ""The Balanchivadze family came from the village of Banodzha in western Georgia, five kilometers from the mountain town of Kutaisi--whose coat of arms is the Golden Fleece--where distant cousins of Balanchine still live. . .""; follows Balanchine's career as a dancer (he accompanied a sister to her entrance examination for the Imperial Theater Ballet School and was himself accepted), and the transition to choreographer after leaving Russia for Western Europe (a glittering cast of characters here) before settling in the US at Lincoln Kirstein's invitation. The beginnings here were not auspicious: ""The American Ballet,"" as the first Kirstein/Balanchine company was billed, first performed in Hartford, where the theater ""proved unsuitable from every point of view. The stage-hands were volunteer Trinity students, and the chief electrician had to keep darting back to the campus to give lectures. . .the stage seemed to be on top of the fashionably dressed audience--which included George Gershwin and Salvador Dali--the dancers could be heard breathing, and their shoes squeaked."" Buckle continues on in engaging style through the glory days at the New York City Ballet, and on to the--bitter--end in April 1983. His final assessment: ""Balanchine was to the dance in the twentieth century what Michelangelo had been to sculpture in the sixteenth, and it could be argued that in one short ballet by the greatest of choreographers there were more ingenious 'sculptures' than the Florentine master carved in the course of his long life."" An engaging, straightforward accounting. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
