THE NEW YORK CITY BALLET

by Anatole Chujoy ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 13, 1953

A clean chronology, more episodic than analytical, of the developments in American ballet that led to the establishment of the New York City Ballet. Starting with the projects of Lincoln Kirstein, Balanchine and Dimitriew as they emerged from their respective backgrounds in 1933, Mr. Chujoy, who edits Dance News (see following report), tells the story of successive achievements and failures, mergings, tours, specific ballets, and the personalities around which they grew. With the desire to create a resident company came the establishment of the School of American Ballet to train a reserve of dancers from which to draw. The various stages that culminated in the now famous City Center group have seen work in opera and musical comedy ballet, the incorporation of Russian techniques in such a way as to free a typically American verve, the establishment in 1936 of the Ballet Caravan, a tour of South America, working with the New York World Fair, the exciting work of choreographing to the music of modern composers. An official history-but one with enough criticism and interesting sidelight to be of interest to the reader with a general interest in dance.

Pub Date: April 13, 1953

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1953

Categories: NONFICTION