Movement & metaphor : four centuries of ballet / by Lincoln Kirstein.

Includes index.

Bibliography: p. 274-278.

Foreward -- I. Choreography: Materials and Structure -- II. Gesture and Mime -- III. Ballet Music: Key Composers -- IV. Dress for Dancing: Antique and Historical -- V. Décor for Dancing -- VI. A Conspect of Ballets 1573-1968 -- Acknowledgements -- Notes to Illustrations -- Bibliography -- Index.

The exotic world of ballet, once the province fo the cultural elite, has in our day become accessile to many, and familiarity has not diminished its mesmerism. Still little known, however, are the ballet's rich and varied roots and the constructs upon which, as an art form, it is built.
Now, in MOVEMENT AND METAPHOR: Four Centuries Ballet of Ballet, Lincoln Kirstein, for thirty years America's most eloquent advocate te dance, discusses ballet - as movement, as art, as theatrical spectacle, as history. With erudition and enthusiasim, he brings to life the beauty, enchantment, and mystery of the dance, evoking its visions, lush or spare, outlining its splendid history, and capturing the knit essence of its raw material - the body in motion. Mr. Kirstein's observations are enhanced by more than 500 rare illustrations, treasures from Europe and American archives and from his personal collection, many never before reproduced.
The author first surveys five basic elements of theatrical dance - choreography, gesture and mime, music, costume and décor - as they have developed over 400 years of performance in the West. The "hero" of his story is choreography, for the evolution of ballet as spectacle is paralleled by an increasing mastery in dance design, to te point where, in the mid-twentieth century, choreographic sophistication is perhaps the most salient characteristic of modern ballet.
Centrepiece of the work is the author's unique and penetrating interpretation of fifty seminal ballets, beginning with the French court spectacles of the late sixteenth century and including major productions of Balanchine, Ashton, and Robbins. Here Mr Kirstein's source material is the entire history of ideas. Fr he not only sets each ballet within a performing tradition, to highlight ays in which it broke new ground, but also draws on social, historical, even philosophical currents and events to detail the personalities - from kings to impresarios - and conditions - royal birthdays, forbidden liaisons, jealousies on stage and off - that were as influential in creation of many ballets as ant inspiration of the artists. Only a student of the humanistic disciplines, with, behind him, a lifetime of service to the dance, could have so placed the growth and full flowering of the ballet as an expressive medium within the context of social and cultural history since he Renaissance in Europe and America. He offers, however, far more than a historical chronicle: with an aesthetician's eye, he masterfully captures the quintessential element or mood of the individual work - the pristine elegance of Apollon Musagète; the nihilism of Parade; the motorised clarity of Agon; the unabashed and touching nostalgia of Enigma Variations - to provide a compelling description of the ballets in performance as well as in conception. Throughout, Mr. Kirstein's selection of material and its presentation - exposition through metaphor - make a stunning and highly personal contribution to the slim literature of history and philosophy of dance." -- Book Jacket