The twentieth century's foremost name in classical choreography, George Balanchine has inspired a wide range of art, thought, and criticism. Nancy Goldner's Balanchine Variations is being hailed as the new definitive companion to the great master's work. The New Yorker calls it "an indispensable guide to dancers and spectators alike"; the New York Times says that "she has the best ear for music and dance musicality of any dance critic writing today...[and] best of all, Ms. Goldner is a true writer." In the New York Review of Books, dance critic Robert Gottlieb writes, "The only serious quarrel one can have with
Balanchine Variations is that there isn't more of it....[it] immediately takes its place among the half-dozen or so essential books on George Balanchine."
This event will include personal stories of Balanchine, his technique and performance style, New York City Ballet lore, and the current state of classical ballet.
Nancy Goldner is also the author of
The Stravinsky Festival of the New York City Ballet. She has been the dance critic of The Nation, The Saturday Review of Literature, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, and has also written about dance for The New York Times, Raritan, and Dance Now. She was the education director of the Balanchine Foundation and conducted its annual lecture program, often appearing with Merrill Ashley, and also served as director of Duke University's Dance Critics Workshop.
Merrill Ashley, a celebrated principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, is the author of Dancing for Balanchine (1984). The leading role in Balanchine's Ballo della Regina was created for her, and she has danced principal parts in many major Balanchine ballets. She is currently Teaching Associate at the NYCB, and she stages Balanchine's ballets in companies around the country under the auspices of the Balanchine Trust. She has lectured on Balanchine across the country.
