Jennifer A. Homans (born 1960) is an American historian, author, and dance critic. Her book Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2010.
Following her PhD, Homans accepted a position as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at NYU, where she wrote her first book, Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet.[3]Apollo's Angels traced back the origins of ballet from the Renaissance to modern times.[4] The book was described by The New York Times as "the only truly definitive history of ballet".[5] It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award[6] and was named as one of the "10 Best Books of 2010" by the New York Times.[7] Homans' claim that ballet is a dying art form generated controversy.[8] Art critic Claudia La Rocco rebuffed Homans' claims and critiqued the book for its alleged lack of attention to post-George Balanchine developments in ballet, including William Forsythe.[9]
From 2012 to 2013, Homans was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship as she began writing her second book, a history of George Balanchine.[10] The following year, she established the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help "establish ballet as a serious subject of academic inquiry."[11] In its inaugural cohort, the institute accepted seven fellows; John Carrafa, Gregory Mosher, J. David Velleman, Heather Watts, Frederick Wiseman, Christopher d'Amboise, and John Michael Schert.[12]
In 2016, Homans was selected as a Fellow of the New York Public Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.[13] In 2019, Homans' Center for Ballet and the Arts received a three-year $2 million grant.[14] She was also named The New Yorker's dance critic, replacing Joan Acocella.[15]
