Eminent Lives

"Gottlieb captures both the divine and human, offering an elegant, sharp, and sophisticated take on the choreographer's life." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Written by the gifted author, editor, and dance critic Robert Gottlieb, George Balanchine describes the life and art of the celebrated, revolutionary ballet choreographer and founder of The New York City Ballet.

The foremost contemporary choreographer in the history of ballet, George Balanchine extended the art form into radical new paths that came to seem inevitable under his direction. He transformed movement and dance in classical and modern ballet, on the Broadway stage, and in the cinema.

George Balanchine chronicles the life and achievements of this visionary artist from his early, almost accidental career in Russia, where his lifelong collaboration with Igor Stravinsky was forged, to his extraordinary accomplishments in America. Gottlieb, one of the most knowledgeable dance critics in America, offers a superb and loving portrait of a genius who, though married many times to many ballerinas, remained truest to his greatest love, Terpischore, the Greek Muse of dance.

Here is a necessary and singular look at the life of one of the great figures of the 20th Century who was an inspiration to countless fans over the course of his long and storied career.