Making Ballet American: Modernism Before and Beyond Balanchine (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780199342242)

George Balanchine's arrival in the United States in 1933, it is widely thought, changed the course of ballet history by creating a bold neoclassical style that is celebrated as the first American manifestation of the art form. In Making Ballet American, author Andrea Harris challenges this narrative by revealing the complex social, cultural, and political forces that actually shaped the construction of American neoclassical ballet. Situating American ballet within a larger context of modernisms, the book examines critical efforts to craft new, modernist ideas about the relevance of classical dancing for American society and democracy. Through cultural and choreographic analysis, it illustrates the evolution of modernist ballet during a turbulent historical period. Ultimately, the book argues that the Americanization of Balanchine's neoclassicism was not the inevitable outcome of his immigration or his creative genius, but rather a far more complicated story that pivots on the question of modern art's relationship to America and the larger world.

Author: Andrea Harris
ISBN-10: 0199342245
ISBN-13: 9780199342242
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 11/01/2017
Pages: 288
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.70d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 04/01/2018