Jerome Robbins

A Life in Dance

Lesser Wendy

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.

About the Author

Wendy Lesser, the editor of "The Threepenny Review", is the author of seven previous nonfiction books and one novel. Winner of awards and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and numerous other organizations, she has written book, theatre, film, dance, and music criticism for a variety of print and online publications. She divides her year between Berkeley and New York.

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