Ballet & Classical Dance, Dancers & Choreographers - Biography

From Petipa to Balanchine

Name: From Petipa to Balanchine
Author: Tim Scholl
ISBN: 9780203359778

by Tim Scholl

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Overview

In this rich interdisciplinary study Tim Scholl provides a provocative and timely re-evaluation of the development of ballet from the 1880s to the middle of the twentieth century. In the light of a thoughtful re-appraisal of dance classicism he locates the roots of modern ballet in the works of Marius Petipa, rather than in the much-celebrated choreographic experiements of Diaghilev's Ballet Russe.
Not only is this the first book to present nineteenth- and twentieth-century ballet as a continuous rather than broken tradition, From Petipa to Balanchine places works such as Sleeping Beauty, Les Sylphides, Apollo and Jewells in their proper cultural and artistic context.
The only English-language study to be based on the original Russian soures, this book will be essential reading for all dance scholars. Written in an engaging and elegant style it will also appeal to anyone interested in the history of ballet generally.

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Editorials

Library Journal

This is an original and potentially controversial study of the evolution of modern ballet. Scholl (Russian studies, Oberlin Coll.) constructs a convincing argument that the choreography of George Balanchine was a 20th-century response to the innovations of Marius Petipa of 19th-century Russia. He contradicts the prevailing interpretation that modernism's beginnings lie in the work of Mikhail Fokine and Diaghilev's Ballet Russes. Balanchine rejected Diaghilev's formula for synthesizing dance, music, and the visual arts, choosing instead to return to a more basic format. Scholl's thesis is formulated from careful reading of key ballets (e.g., Les Sylphides, Sleeping Beauty, Apollo, and Jewels). Based on extensive research of dance and the related arts during this period, this book offers intelligent and insightful analyses in sensitive, clearly written prose. Highly recommended for serious dance collections.-Joan Stahl, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.