Jennifer Homans

She was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.

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. In 2019, Homans' Center for Ballet and the Arts received a three-year $2 million grant. She was also named The New Yorker's dance critic, replacing Joan Acocella.

From 2012 to 2013, Homans was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship as she began writing her second book, a history of George Balanchine. 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." 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.

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. Apollo's Angels traced back the origins of ballet from the Renaissance to modern times. The book was described by The New York Times as "the only truly definitive history of ballet". It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named as one of the "10 Best Books of 2010" by the New York Times. Homans' claim that ballet is a dying art form generated controversy. 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.

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.