Mr. B: George Balanchine's 20th Century

This is a very long, precisely referenced bio of Mr B, from his earliest, awful years in Russia through to his death in NYC, and everything in between. His personal life--e.g., his five marriages, dalliances with numerous other dancers and his tumultuous, long affair with Susanne Farrell--is not given short shrift here, but is presented in some detail. This is important because his personal beliefs, worldview, early life experiences, and his abiding love of "woman" hugely influenced his ballet-making. This bio also gives a great deal of intricate detail about Mr. B's professional development, his ballet creations, relationship with famous composers, with Lincoln, Robbins, and other luminaries. The comprehensive discussions on the background and creation of individuals may be a bit overwhelming, even tedious, to the casual reader, but is of inestimable interest to those with ballet experience, even no-professional experience. Bottom-line is that this is a superb book--even for those who may want to skip or skim the behind-the-scenes details in some parts.

Love to the book was shocking to read some of this poetry he wrote to his ballerina and Muse, but I guess those were the times. I love how the writer really goes deep into a spirituality. And the connection with music and spirituality in the body. The writer does seem to have a bias towards one of the female dancers karin, who also got the rights to many of his ballets when he died Felt like something was affecting her writing there but that’s the only thing I didn’t like about it . It’s a very informative book with just a little bit of gossipy stuff which is always fun.

Balanchine, a brilliant and complex character, comes to life, along with the many people, places and events of his time. This book ia an education and a joy to read. Brava!

The title is so appropriate. The author presents a thoroughly researched and well written survey of the culture, events and certain characters of the eras in which Balanchine was trained and grew artistically and professionally. The interaction among these influences on his art and his life is shown. This gives depth to one's ability to try to understand and grasp what Balanchine was doing. The author writes some especially wonderful prose and is very thoughtful in many of her comments. All together it makes a person want to be able to watch his ballets again.

Beautifully written biography.

The author is not only a talented historian and biographer, she has the skill of developing a story where the ending of one chapter creates an immediate need to move to the next chapter and satisfy the curiosity she so cleverly cultivated. Beyond that, her excellent writing gives great clarity to the characters she introduces.

So many Russian names and geneology I couldn't get into the dance portion of the book.

I thank Jennifer Homans for a well-detailed and invigorating book. I learned so much about ballet, Suzanne Farrell, and all of the hard work and hours of dedication it takes. I never took ballet, but I love the elegance of it and how successful both the dancers and choreographers make it.

Super book very interesting and delivered fast

Anyone who has read JH's "Apollo's Angels" knows how wonderfully she writes and how assiduously she researches. This is even better. (The footnotes alone reward the attention of the strictest footnote geek.) JH was a dancer before she was a scholar and accomplishes the unique feat of making readers understand exactly what it takes and what it feels like to be a dancer. In fact she trained at Mr B's school and was in his orbit. She knew many of his dancers well, which allowed her access to an enormous number of unpublished sources including diaries, letters and interviews. Mr B was an endlessly fascinating, deeply sympathetic character and the book does indeed encompass his 20th century. Great history and great biography, cannot recommend it highly enough. JH knows so much that one can only wish it could have been twice as long; presumably her publishers gave her a page limit.Many excellent photos.PS: His death was unbearably sad. The very sensitive may wish to skip Chapter 27.