The literature on Balanchine is vast, but it is primarily biographical. "Balanchine Variations "is the first book to concentrate on the ballets themselves, providing critical analysis and detailed descriptions of what the dancers actually do. Beginning with "Apollo" (1928), Balanchine's first extant work, and ending with one of his last ballets, "Ballo della Regina" (1978), Nancy Goldner offers detailed insights into more than twenty individual ballets. Based on lectures given across the United States, under the auspices of the Balanchine Foundation, they are intended to illuminate his art. Goldner discusses the history of each ballet, places each in the context of Balanchine's life and sensibility. She also addresses his taste in music and whether his style can be considered particularly American. The ballets Balanchine choreographed for the New York City Ballet are danced by companies around the world, and this innovative book is sure to become an indispensable guide to dancers and spectators alike.

Praise for Balanchine Variations "If you like Balanchine, you must read Nancy Goldner's Balanchine Variations. She has the best ear for music and dance musicality of any dance critic writing today."--Alastair Macaulay, New York Times "The book is modest and, at the same time, utterly self-assured. Anyone who cares about Balanchine should buy it immediately."--Joan Acocella, New Yorker "A remarkable new book. Immediately takes its place among the half-dozen or so essential books on George Balanchine."--Robert Gottlieb in the New York Review of Books In this deliciously evocative new volume, Nancy Goldner returns to offer in-depth discussions of twenty more of George Balanchine's ballets. As in the critically acclaimed Balanchine Variations, Goldner's focus is not on history or biography but on the dances themselves: the technique, the coordination with music, the storytelling, and the evolution of Balanchine's style. This encore performance features provocative and insightful descriptions and analyses of a group of works spanning forty years (1941-1981) and includes profiles of Ballet Imperial, Bugaku, Coppelia, Divertimento No. 15, La Valse, Symphony in C, and Union Jack, among many others. Inspiring, exquisite, and thought-provoking, More Balanchine Variations is both a delightful meditation on and an essential critical examination of some of the twentieth century's most extraordinary works of art. "Pure joy. Even more exciting and wonderfully imaginative than the author's previous volume, this collection of personal essays about some of George Balanchine's most beloved ballets takes a reader through deep levels of Balanchine's sensibility. Nancy Goldner illuminates the organization of the works, their construction on the level of dance technique and its coordination with music, and--most marvelous--the spooky and passionate stories embedded within their 'plotless' maneuvers."--Mindy Aloff, editor of Leaps in the Dark Nancy Goldner, author of Balanchine Variations, was a dance critic for the Christian Science Monitor, the Nation, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Dance News for twenty five years. BALANCHINE is a registered trademark of The George Balanchine Trust.