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...

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 BooksIn this...