The Uncompromising World Of Jerome Robbins

Rodney Greenberg looks at the life and work of American choreographer Jerome Robbins and talks to dancers, colleagues and critics in an attempt to fathom the man behind his work.

Robbins stamped his mark on the musical and the ballet from the 1940s until his death in 1998, but behind the energy, poetry and humour of his dances lay a perfectionist whose demands on his dancers amounted almost to cruelty.

And although his work was mostly apolitical, he was caught up in the Communist witch-hunt of the 1950s and named names.