Jerome Robbins: A Life in Dance

by Wendy Lesser

Overview

A lively and inspired biography celebrating the centennial of this master choreographer, dancer, and stage director

Jerome Robbins (1918–1998) was born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz and grew up in Weehawken, New Jersey, where his Russian-Jewish immigrant parents owned the Comfort Corset Company. Robbins, who was drawn to dance at a young age, resisted the idea of joining the family business. In 1936 he began working with Gluck Sandor, who ran a dance group and convinced him to change his name to Jerome Robbins. He went on to become a choreographer and director who worked in ballet, on Broadway, and in film. His stage productions include West Side Story, Peter Pan, and Fiddler on the Roof. In this deft biography, Wendy Lesser presents Jerome Robbins’s life through his major dances, providing a sympathetic, detailed portrait of her subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300240429
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	10/09/2018
Series:	Jewish Lives Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	216
Sales rank:	737,878
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Wendy Lesser is the founder and editor of The Threepenny Review and the author of a novel and ten previous books of nonfiction, including the widely acclaimed You Say to Brick: The Life of Louis Kahn. She has written for the New York Times Book Review, the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, and other publications.

Table of Contents

Overture 1

Fancy Free 12

Age of Anxiety 28

The King and I 39

The Cage 56

Afternoon of a Faun 69

West Side Story 85

Fiddler on the Roof 104

Dances at a Gathering 119

The Goldberg Variations 135

In Memory Of … 155

Coda 170

Notes 181

Acknowledgments 191

Index 193

Editorial Reviews

This brisk biography…is light and bright, utterly persuaded by its subject and intoxicatingly in love with movement…And while there are richer and more expert books on Robbins, some readers will want this digest version…specifically for its brevity: It's a swift journey through the outrageous stories…and a more leisurely one through his masterpieces.

The New York Times Book Review - Helen Shaw

08/20/2018
This brief but carefully researched biography (part of the Jewish Lives series) builds a persuasive case for the importance of Jerome Robbins’s career as a choreographer who explored “the overlapping terrain between ballet and modern dance.” Lesser, founder and editor of The Threepenny Review, uses original sources, including Robbins’s journals, to create a portrait of the tortured, angry, guilt-ridden perfectionist, whom composer Stephen Sondheim described as “the only genius I ever met.” Although it touches on Robbins’s personal life, the book focuses most intently on his choreography, from the famous dance scenes in such Broadway shows as Fiddler on the Roof and West Side Story to such ballets as The Cage and The Goldberg Variations. About the scene in Fiddler in which Jews and Cossacks encounter one another, she writes, “Here is cultural opposition presented theatrically... here is fear, a rare emotion in dance, made palpable through aggressively choreographed movement.” Stories of Robbins’s famously difficult personality are contrasted with examinations of his productive working relationships with colleagues like composer Leonard Bernstein and mentor George Balanchine. The results is an evenhanded portrait of an important choreographer. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"[Lesser] deftly introduces readers to her complex subject and his many remarkable creative achievements."—Joel Lobenthal, Wall Street Journal

"This brisk biography . . . is light and bright, utterly persuaded by its subject and intoxicatingly in love with movement."—Helen Shaw, New York Times Book Review

"A compact and incisive portrait of the great dancer and choreographer. . . . A breezy and inviting biography."—Kirkus Reviews

"This brief but carefully researched biography (part of the Jewish Lives series) builds a persuasive case for the importance of Jerome Robbins’s career as a choreographer . . . . An evenhanded portrait."—Publishers Weekly

"This slim volume . . . drills down to the essential core of a complicated man. . . . In a skillful blend of personal biography and professional profile, Lesser reminds us of Robbins’ place in twentieth-century dance and theater and fosters a new appreciation for his legacy."—Booklist

"Jerome Robbins was the quintessential Jewish American genius."—The Forward

"The kind of biography that swallows you whole, an irresistible page-turner with equal parts acute dance criticism, psychological insight, and good old-fashioned theater gossip. No one would ever walk out of Fancy Free; no theater or ballet geek would put this book down midway."—Grace Parazzoli, Santa Fe New Mexican

“Can you separate the art from the artist? Through Robbins’s dances, Lesser intelligently and critically examines his work. Her writing inspires an exciting dialogue with the reader—and with Robbins’s art and process—that makes you feel up close and inside his dances.”—Pam Tanowitz
 

“Wendy Lesser’s book is a brief but concentrated look at the excellent and varied work of a complicated artist. Jerome Robbins made some of the best dances in town. Ever in Balanchine’s long shadow, he somehow had the chops and the chutzpah to choreograph for the same media (Broadway, movies, and the ballet) and with a similar expertise. This book answers questions I didn’t know I had. It is a fascinating and generous point of view.”—Mark Morris
 

“Through her own unique lens as a literary critic and writer with a strong appreciation for dance, Wendy Lesser presents a rich, unexpected portrait of Jerome Robbins. Lesser’s delicately crafted book is a boon to the study of Robbins and dance criticism.”—Emily Coates, Yale University
 
 
 

From the Publisher