Two new biographies of George Balanchine

Two new biographies of George Balanchine were published most recently. They are Wall Street Journal theatre critic Terry Teachout’s All in the Dances ­– A Brief Life of George Balanchine, and New York City Ballet board member and New Yorker Magazine editor Robert Gottlieb’s George Balanchine – The Ballet Maker. Since good biographies, critical collections and memoirs are available already, can additions to this library really be useful?
Gottlieb’s book (at Harper Collins, 224 pp) aims for authority. It winnows out scandal and drama, and adds to the story in two dimensions.

One is its presentation of Lincoln Kirstein, who was more than the tool that moved Balanchine from Europe to the States. He established funding, created alliances and helped build repertory. Second is Balanchine’s relationship with his family and Russia. NYCB dancers remember the 1962 tour to the Soviet Union for its shabby accommodations, lousy food, and weird limits. Especially they remember that Balanchine suddenly abandoned them for a week, right in the middle of the tour. But Gottlieb tells about uneasiness Balanchine felt confronting his past and the Soviets, who seemed to be using the tour to prove ...