New York University, PhD Modern European History
Jennifer Homans
Distinguished Scholar in Residence
Cultural History Europe and America; History of Dance; Criticism and the arts
Jennifer Homans is the author of Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet (2010), named one of the ten best books of the year by the New York Times and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is the Dance Critic and a Contributing Writer at The New Yorker; and the Founder and Director of The Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University. Homans was a critic for The New Republic for over a decade and has also written for the New York Times, New York Review of Books, among others. She holds a B.A. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Modern European History from New York University. Before becoming a writer and scholar, Homans was a professional dancer and performed with the Pacific Northwest Ballet and other companies. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, NEH, and The Leony Levy Center for Biography. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her new book comes out this fall: Mr. B.: George Balanchine's 20th Century (2022).
Written for the New Republic (Dance Critic, 2001-2015), New York Review of Books, New York Times, among others
Books
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George Balanchine: A Historyforthcoming, Random House
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Apollo's Angels: A History of BalletRandom House, 2010
“Agon: ‘The Acute Edge of Risk,” The New York Review of Books, May 12, 2016
“Balanchine: Making and Being Don Quixote,” The New York Review of Books, June 4, 2015.
“In Balanchine’s Beautiful Forest,” The New York Review of Books, March 5, 2015.
“The Unknown Young Balanchine”, review of Elizabeth Kendall, Balanchine and the Lost Muse, The New York Review of Books, October 24, 2013.
“The Feel of Not to Feel it”, The New Republic, October 7, 2013.
“A Woman’s Place”, review of Hanna Rosin, The End of Men, New York Times Book Review, September 13, 2012.
“The Universalist”, Alonzo King, Lines Ballet, The New Republic, Aug. 23, 2012
“Tony Judt: A Final Victory”, New York Review of Books, March 22, 2012.
“Back in the USSR”, The New Republic, October 20, 2011.
“René Blum: Life of a Dance Master”, review of Judith Chazin-Bennahum, Rene Blum and the Ballets Russes, New York Times Book Review, July 8, 2011.
“Arts Czars”, review of Solomon Volkov, Romanov Riches: Russian Writers and Artists Under the Tsars, New York Times Book Review, February 25, 2011.
“Swan Fake”, review of Black Swan, The New Republic, March 3, 2011
“Is Ballet at a Breaking Pointe?”, You Magazine (UK), November 28, 2010.
“The Cinderella Art”, The Guardian (UK), December 4, 2010.
“The Art of Work” Frederick Wiseman’s La Danse, The New Republic, Dec. 28, 2009.
“Swept Away”, review of Julie Kavanagh, Nureyev: The Life, The New Republic, November 19, 2007.
“The Memory of an Art”, The New Republic, November 27/December 4, 2006.
“The Little Apple”, review of American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Carolina Ballet, James Sewell Ballet, The New Republic, September 11/18, 2006.
“Baby Ballerina” review of Irina Baronova, Irina: Ballet, Life and Love, New York Times Book Review, September 10, 2006.
“Revolutionary Movement”, review of Marcia B. Siegel, Howling Near Heaven: Twyla Tharp and the Reinvention of Modern Dance, New York Times Book Review, April 16, 2006.
“The Skin Trade”, review of Michael, The Sleeping Beauty Notebook, Birdbrain:
“Flight of Mind”, 16 [R]evolutions, The New Republic, April 14, 2006.
“England on Pointe”, New Republic, November 7, 2005.
“Swan Lake and Stalin”, The New Republic, February 21, 2005
“A Real Bard”, review of Christopher Wheeldon’s Shambards, The New Republic, July 19, 2004.
“The Balanchine Couple”, The New Republic, March 8, 2004.
“Geniuses Together”, review of Charles M. Joseph, Stravinsky and Balanchine: A Journey of Invention, The New York Review of Books, December 19, 2002.
“Movin’ In”, review of Twyla Tharp and Susan Stroman, The New Republic, December 2/9, 2002
“Where is the Heartbeat in the Balanchine Legacy?” The New York Times, May 26, 2002.
“The Day is Past and Gone”, review of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The New Republic, April 22, 2002.
“Steps, Steps, Steps” review of American Ballet Theater, The New Republic, February 18, 2002.
“Dancing in the Dark”, review of dance after 9/11, The New Republic, December 3, 2001.
“The Undying Swan”, review of Maya Plisetskaya, I, Maya Plisetskaya, The New Republic, November 12, 2001.
“Fiddler on the Hoof”, review of Gregg Lawrence, Dance With Demons: The Life of Jerome Robbins, The New Republic, July 9/16, 2001.