Sorry to sound so down right bah humbuggish, but this book is a disappointment. Haglund can't claim to have even an elementary knowledge of photography or "art" photography, but blur doesn't do anything but make him strain his eyes. This book is filled with blurry pictures of remarkable dancers known the world over for the crystal clarity of their art -- and we see precious little of it in these images. The black and white photos look like they were processed to try to achieve a 1950s historical feel to them, but who cares about making 2012 look like the 1950s.
If someone made a recording of Dmitri Hvorostovsky singing a Verdi aria and then scratched it up to make it sound like it was an old 78 rpm record being transmitted over a bad radio signal, would people call that art?
The color portraits in the back of the book are lovely and are the same ones that have been circulating within NYCB brochures for the past year.