"In this beautiful, affecting book . . . an unabashed, heartfelt love letter to Balanchine . . .  Bentley, a poetic writer, eloquently captures the essence of Serenade . . . [which] she describes as a map of Balanchine's soul . . . She dissects this 32-minute ballet in precise, unflinching detail, interweaving reminiscences of her time at the School of American Ballet, which she attended from the age of 10, and life inside the New York City Ballet . . . This moving  book will not only appeal to lovers of ballet, it will make wistful reading for those dancers who will never have the good fortune to work with such a genius as George Balanchine." 

- Moira Hodgson, Wall Street Journal

"Bentley, who danced under Balanchine's direction at the New York City Ballet for a decade in the 1970s and 80s, tells a history that is as vivid and poetic as the dance itself . . . Serenade is about more than the making of a single ballet; it is an introspective nod to the life lessons taught through movement . . . I felt the spirit of the movements through Bentley's descriptive prose. She weaves in impressive detail about the actual technique of ballet, articulating the dancer's physical experience for the reader . . . Reading Bentley's Serenade made me feel as alive as I felt on the stage the moment that I fell in love with ballet: with its grounded fantasy, physical demands, intellectual challenge, structure and beauty . . . Serenade is a book that will delight balletomanes for generations to come; but it will also appeal to those newer to the dance world, with its delicate balance of personal memoir, rarefied elegance, history of the arts and pure human interest."

- Misty Copeland, New York Times Book Review

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"Taking its title [Serenade] from that of George Balanchine's first American ballet, which premièred in 1934, this personal history by a former New York City Ballet dancer blends various accounts of the work's—and the company's—creation and evolution. In addition to providing a wealth of ballet lore, trivia, and insightful interpretation, Bentley is not afraid to get technical; she describes steps, combinations, entrances, and exits from the perspective of the corps. In endeavoring to conjure the transcendent lyricism of Balanchine's vision and Tchaikovsky's score, the book goes further, touching on deeper, stranger ideas about the symbiosis between life and art."

- The New Yorker

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"At 8:04, everything is secure, in place. It’s all I’ve got, all I can control. Once the ballet begins, who knows? The variables are endless—the tempos, the new girl, a blown light in the fourth wing, a slip. A slip that could end in tearful embarrassment, or end your career completely with a torn Achilles tendon, or a chipped hip bone. We were dancing on the edge before we knew what it was. But we knew where it was. And so I learned early on that everything, anything, that is beautiful is perched on a precipice. Mr. B just placed us there, and it was trust in him that gave us balance."

- This is an excerpt from Serenade.

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"I was mourning my capacity to read in the way that I did when I was teenager, when I would devour books like food. When I was a ballet dancer I would walk to Lincoln Center with a book in front of me and read. I wondered if I could get that back. The pandemic provided a perfect opportunity to try. I set time aside every day to read. Then it was question of what I would read. I never had read Edith Wharton . . . “

- Interview by Amy Sutherland, The Boston Globe

- Peter Tonguette, National Review

"Beautifully composed [Serenade] provides a three-dimensional experience of Balanchine's titular ballet: historical, artistic and personal. Between chapters narrated in the first person—putting readers onstage within the ballet's split-second timing and exact positioning—Bentley provides fascinating background on Balanchine . . . As in all her books, she gives generously of her finely tuned emotions, her experience and her own polished opinions. In short, Serenade: A Balanchine Story has earned a place on the shelf."  

- Martha Anne Toll, Pointe Magazine 

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"As a thin, athletic girl with a springy jump and “not-so-great feet,” Toni Bentley was 11 when she entered the School of American Ballet; she was invited into the New York City Ballet company by George Balanchine at 17, and she performed with them for 10 years, until a hip injury cut her career short. With her prolonged devotion to Balanchine as the backdrop, it is their shared passion for the art form that drives the plot of her new book, Serenade."  

- Barbara Morris, Artillery

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"Serenade is Bentley’s sixth book, and her fourth dealing with the New York City Ballet. She started writing it in 2007, and originally intended it to be about Balanchine and his !rst American work, Serenade. But between that time and its release this spring, it grew into what it is today: part memoir, part history, and part love letter—to Balanchine, to Serenade, and to a life given to ballet."  

- Sophie Bress, Fjord Review

"Serenade is Toni Bentley's intelligent, expansive, and beautiful exploration of George Balanchine's signature ballet...Toni's ability to convey what it was like to work with him is part of the joy of reading Serenade. She takes us deep into his personal history, and his spiritual connection with Tchaikovsky....A writer of exquisite sensitivity and talent, Toni's latest contribution gives breadth and depth to Serenade as a ballet of great significance."

-Martha Anne Toll, FF2 Media

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