Dance for a City - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0231115466 ISBN 13: 9780231115469

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 1999

Synopsis

Since its inception fifty years ago the New York City Ballet has been a vital force in American dance and an essential component of American cultural life. As the vehicle for the development and expression of George Balanchine's immensely influential artistic vision -- as well as that of other eminent choreographers -- the company has created a vast and significant body of work. Its dancers, choreographers, and artistic directors have seeded new dance companies around the nation, disseminating both the NYCB's repertory and its lofty standards of virtuosity. The company's numerous close ties with the overlapping New York artistic and intellectual worlds have played an important part in the foundation of many of the artistic movements of the twentieth century. Exploring these and other achievements with critical acumen, Dance for a City -- produced in conjunction with a major exhibition at the New-York Historical Society -- examines the rich history, cultural significance, and continuing accomplishments of America's premier ballet company.

Lavishly illustrated with a wide range of extraordinary photographs, this collection of essays -- edited by dance scholar and exhibition curator Lynn Garafola and historian Eric Foner -- takes a new and provocative look at the history of the New York City Ballet, placing it within the context of the city's changing intellectual and cultural life and underscoring its role in the development of a distinctly American aesthetic. Drawing on the perspectives of dance scholars, urbanists, musicologists, art historians, and scholars of gay history, Dance for a City explores the many art forms and artistic figures associated with the company, revealing the complex forces that contributed to its success, its representation in the broader cultural milieu, and its formative role in American dance during the past half-century.

Dance for a City includes:

· Lynn Garafola's interpretive history of the New York City Ballet, beginning with its origins in the 1930s

· urban historian Thomas Bender on the company's place in postwar intellectual life

· dance historian Sally Banes on the New York City Ballet's surprising relationship with modern dance

· musicologist Charles M. Joseph on the sources of Agon, George Balanchine's avant-garde masterpiece of the 1950s

· Richard Sennett on the New York City Ballet audience of the 1960s as it appeared to an aspiring musician

· art historian Jonathan Weinberg on the ballet photographs of photographer George Platt Lynes

· an unpublished interview with George Balanchine by Nancy Reynolds

· a portfolio of photographs of Jerome Robbins

· the first complete list of Jerome Robbins's ballets and musicals

About this title

About the Author

Lynn Garafola is a feature writer and critic for Dance Magazine, the author of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, and the former editor of the book series Studies in Dance History.Eric Foner is professor of history at Columbia University and the author of many books, most recently The Story of American Freedom.

From Booklist

This companion volume to the New York Historical Society's exhibition of the history of the New York City Ballet captures the beauty and reverie of the world of dance that ballet itself evokes. Garafola and Foner have compiled a lovely and interesting look at this amazing company and its lush history. Master of choreography George Balanchine founded the company in the 1930s, and it rose from a fledgling dance troupe to become world class. The company maintained a virtuosity that rivaled the major companies of Europe, with performances ranging from the classical to the avant-garde, and Balanchine himself was the principal choreographer. Such notables as Maria Tallchief and Mikhail Baryshnikov have been among its ranks, and the company has planted the seeds for the founding of numerous ballet companies throughout the country. The book features writing from dance scholars, urban historians, and musicologists. Lavishly illustrated with photographs throughout, some published for the first time, this lovely volume pleases the eye and the mind--much like the NYCB itself. Michael Spinella

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0231115466
• ISBN 13: 9780231115469
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Garafola Lynn, Foner Eric