Keeping their legacy alive
Suggested Reading List
Click on the topic you're interested in browsing below. Each book is linked so you can purchase your own copy if you're ready! Every book on the page is one that I own and keep in my personal library. I refer to them often in my research.
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*The links below are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through this link, at no extra cost to you.
New York City Ballet
Repertory in Review: 40 Years of the New York City Ballet by Nancy Reynolds
The New York City Ballet by Lincoln Kirstein
Balanchine's New Complete Stories of the Great Ballets by Francis Mason
New York City Ballet by Anatole Chujoy
The New York City Ballet in Action by Roger Wood
Dance For a City: Fifty Years of the New York City Ballet by Lynn Garafola
Tributes: Celebrating Fifty Years of New York City Ballet by Christopher Ramsey
Costumes by Karinska by Toni Bentley
Dance is a Contact Sport by Joseph H. Mazo
Stravinsky Festival of the New York City Ballet by Nancy Goldner
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George Balanchine
Balanchine: A Biography by Bernard Taper
George Balanchine: Ballet Master by Richard Buckle
I Remember Balanchine by Francis Mason
Portrait of Mr. B: Photographs of George Balanchine by Ballet Society
Serenade: A Balanchine Story by Toni Bentley
Balanchine's Mozartiana: The Making of a Masterpiece by Robert Maiorano & Valerie Brooks
Balletmaster: A Dancer’s View of George Balanchine by Moira Shearer
Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century by Jennifer Homans
Balanchine: Celebrating a Life in Dance by Costas
Balanchine Then and Now by Anne Hogan
A Celebration of George Balanchine: The Television Work by John Green
Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky: Conversations with Balanchine on His Life, Ballet, and Music by Solomon Volkov
Stravinsky and Balanchine: A Journey of Invention by Charles M. Joseph
Balanchine Technique
Suki Schorer on Balanchine Technique
All in the Dances: A Brief Life of George Balanchine by Terry Teachout
The Classic Ballet: Basic Technique and Terminology by Muriel Stuart
Balanchine Variations by Nancy Goldner
More Balanchine Variations by Nancy Goldner
Balanchine the Teacher: Fundamentals That Shaped the First Generation of New York City Ballet Dancers by Barbara Walczak and Una Kai
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Balanchine's Muses
Balanchine’s Ballerinas: Conversations with the Muses by Robert Tracy
Balanchine and the Lost Muse: Revolution and the Making of a Choreographer by Elizabeth Kendall
Split Seconds: A Remembrance by Tamara Geva
Choura: The Memoirs of Alexandra Danilova by Alexandra Danilova
Zorina by Vera Zorina
Maria Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina by Maria Tallchief
Dancing into the Light by Orel Protopopescu
Once a Dancer...: An Autobiography by Allegra Kent
Holding on to the Air by Suzanne Farrell
Dancing for Balanchine by Merrill Ashley
NYCB Memoirs & Biographies
I Was A Dancer by Jacques d'Amboise
Far from Denmark by Peter Martins
Leap Year by Christoper d'Amboise
Striking a Balance: Dancers Talk About Dancing by Barbara Newman
In Balanchine’s Company: A Dancer’s Memoir by Barbara Milberg Fisher
Balanchine’s Dancing Cowboy by Frank Ohman
Nothing to Hide: A Dancer’s Life by Robert LaFosse
Balanchine's Apprentice: From Hollywood to New York and Back by John Clifford
The Private World of Ballet by John Gruen
Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins by Amanda Vaill
Erik Bruhn by John Gruen
Prodigal Son: Dancing for Balanchine in a World of Pain and Magic by Edward Villella
The Boy Who Danced by Ronald Young
Jerome Robbins by Himself edited by Amanda Vaill
Ballerina: A Biography of Violette Verdy by Victoria Huckenpahler
Wilde Times (Patricia Wilde) by Joe Lobenthal
Winter Season: A Dancer’s Journal by Toni Bentley
Melissa Hayden: Off Stage and On by Melissa Hayden
NYCB Documentaries
Dancing for Mr B - Six Balanchine Ballerinas / Moylan, Tallchief, Ashley, Kistler, Hayden, Kent
Balanchine by Merrill Brockway
Afternoon of a Faun (Tanaquil LeClercq)
Jacques D'Amboise: Portrait of a Great American Dancer
The Dance Goodbye (Merrill Ashley)
Something to Dance About (Jerome Robbins)
School of American Ballet
But First a School: The First Fifty Years of the School of American Ballet by Jennifer Dunning​
Twins on Toes: A Ballet Debut by Joan Anderson​
I Am a Dancer by Bruce Curtis
A Very Young Dancer by Jill Krementz
A Very Young Skater by Jill Krementz
Ballet Criticism
Ballet Chronicle by B.H. Haggin
Dancers, Buildings and People in the Streets by Edwin Denby
Dance Writings by Edwin Denby
Looking at the Dance: More than a decade of dancing—from the Ballet to Broadway by Edwin Denby
Buckle at the Ballet: Selected Dance Criticism by Richard Buckle
Sight Lines by Arlene Croce
After Images by Arlene Croce
The Dance in America by Walter Terry
Balletomania Then and Now by Arnold L. Haskell
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Nutcracker Books
The Nutcracker: A Story & a Ballet by Ellen Switzer
Grand Jeté by Allegra Kent
The Nutcracker by Martha Swope
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker by Joel Meyerowitz
The Story Orchestra: The Nutcracker by Jessica Courtney-Tickle
The Nutcracker by New York City Ballet Production​
The Nutcracker: A Dancing Primer by Jennifer Adams
Charlotte and the Nutcracker: The True Story of a Girl Who Made Ballet History by Charlotte Nebres
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