George Balanchine

Russian-born George Balanchine (1904-1983), regarded as the foremost contemporary choreographer in the world of ballet, came to the United States in late 1933 at the urging of Boston-born Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996), whose great passion for the contemporary arts included the dream to establish an American school of ballet that would equal -- even rival -- the established European schools. In addition, he wanted to establish an American ballet company. Kirstein met Balanchine and saw in him the means by which this dream could be realized.

Balanchine agreed to come to America and the first product of the Balanchine-Kirstein collaboration was the School of American Ballet, founded in 1934 (the first day of class, in fact, was January 1 of that year). The School remains in operation to this day training students for companies throughout the United States and the world as well as for New York City Ballet. The first original ballet Balanchine choreographed in this country, Serenade to music by Tschaikovsky, was created as a performance with dancers of the School and had its world premiere outdoors on the estate of Kirstein's friend, Edward Warburg, near White Plains, New York.

The intervening years were not without their incidents and frustrations. Several ballet companies were created and dissolved: American Ballet (1935-38), Ballet Caravan (1936) and American Ballet Caravan, (a touring company created by combining the efforts of both American Ballet and Ballet Caravan (1936-1940). Following World War II, Balanchine and Kirstein joined forces again to form Ballet Society in 1946, a company which introduced New York subscription-only audiences over the next two years to such new Balanchine works as The Four Temperaments (1946), Stravinsky's Renard (1947) and Orpheus (1948). Morton Baum, chairman of the City Center of Music and Drama, saw Ballet Society during one of their subscription programs at City Center. Baum was so highly impressed, that he initiated negotiations that led to the Company's being invited to join the City Center municipal complex (of which at the time the New York City Drama Company and the New York City Opera were a part) as the "New York City Ballet." At last, Balanchine's talents had found a permanent home. On October 11, 1948, the New York City Ballet was born, dancing a program consisting of Concerto Barocco, Orpheus and Symphony In C (a ballet which Balanchine had created for the Paris Opera Ballet under the title Le Palais de Cristal the previous year).

Balanchine's style has been described as neoclassic. A gifted musician himself, his response to the Romantic classicism was to de-emphasize the plot in his ballets, preferring to let "dance and music be the star of the show." Nevertheless, tantalizing hints of a story color his works in such ballets as Agon, Apollo, Harlequinade, Liebeslieder Walzer, Scotch Symphony, La Sonnambula and La Valse. Full-length works including The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Coppélia integrate the elements of dancing and narrative.

Balanchine served as ballet master for the New York City Ballet from 1948 until his death in 1983. An authoritative catalogue of his works lists 425 works created by Balanchine in his lifetime from 1920 to 1982. Among them were Firebird (restaged with Jerome Robbins, 1970) and Bourrée Fantasque (1949); La Valse (1951); The Nutcracker, Ivesiana and Western Symphony (1954); Allegro Brillante (1956); Agon (1957); The Seven Deadly Sins (a revival of the original Les Ballets 1933 production) and Stars and Stripes (1958); Episodes (1959); Monumentum Pro Gesualdo and Liebeslieder Walzer (1960); A Midsummer Night's Dream (1962); Movements For Piano And Orchestra and Bugaku (1963); Don Quixote (in three acts) and Harlequinade (in two acts) (1965); Jewels -- his first and only full-length plotless ballet -- (1967); Who Cares? (1970); Duo Concertant, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Symphony In Three Movements (1972); Coppélia (1974); Pavane (1975); Union Jack (1976); Vienna Waltzes (1977); Ballo della Regina and Kammermusik No. 2 (1978); and Robert Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze (1980).

In 1970, U.S. News & World Report attempted to summarize Balanchine's achievements:

The greatest choreographer of our time, George Balanchine, is responsible for the successful fusion of modern concepts with older ideas of classical ballet ... often working with modern music, and simplest of themes, he has created ballets that are celebrated for their imagination and originality. He has made American dance the most advanced and richest in choreographic development in the world today.

Under the direction of Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins, the New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet remain dedicated to the preservation of Balanchine's ideals.