George Balanchine Russia's contribution to the great effervescence of ballet in the United States is complete and comprehensive. The master of this long alliance was undoubtedly George Balanchine, one of the greatest if not the greatest choreographer of the twentieth century. Born in St. Petersburg in 1904 in a family of artists from Georgia, Balanchine met ballet and music from the cradle. Trained at the School of Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg in the best classical tradition, Balanchine evolved into a unique style that became known as "neoclassical", the revamped classical tradition within the greatest respect for the glorious past. It all began at the Imperial School in 1914, where he graduated seven years later. He debuted as a choreographer in 1923 with a small group of dancers, including Alexandra Danilova and in the following year, he founded his company called "The Dancers of the Russian State" by foreign incursion which fled to the West. In 1924, in Germany, he defected from the Soviet regime and fled to Paris, the center of a massive Russian colony in exile. There he was approached by the great Sergei Diaghilev (the inventor of Nijinsky) who had his own dance company, the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. Balanchine accepted the invitation to be the choreographer of this fashion company in a sophisticated society who frequented Monte Carlo, he worked with composers from 1924-1929 and created nine ballets, with the collaboration of Sergei Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, for the scenarios and as collaborators Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. In 1933, after Diaghilev's death in 1929 and the recession in Europe, Balanchine took a Lincoln Kerstein's invitation to go to the US and there together with Kerstein and Jerome Robbins created the School of American Ballet, the school aimed to train dancers in Russian rigorous method that Balanchine as well dominated.
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Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996) dreamed of creating a school and Ballet Company in America and with the help of Balanchine which developed a completely new dance styles from the classic ballets French, Italian and Russian contributed a completely new style of ballet in history. He had a long collaboration with Igor Stravinsky (Apollo was one of the choreographies they did together), and in 1934 founded in New York the School of American Ballet and in 1948, establishing the American Ballet Company, the New York City Ballet, passing then working as a ballet master and principal choreographer of the Company, until his death in 1983. The school was a success, and set a new high standard in classical dance in the United States, has evolved into a company, the American Ballet, true school of own movements based on classical tradition but not blindly imitate. This experience left a very important company, the New York City Ballet, which became an official company in New York City, receiving high donations from billionaire David Koch, who gave $ 100 million to make the ballet part of Lincoln Center and with the Metropolitan Opera House. With all its huge troupe of dancers moved in 1964 to the New York State Theater, located at Lincoln Center, which was specially built for him. When he died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the dancers from his company drove more than ten ballet companies in the United States, Switzerland, and Japan. Balanchine is recognized as the choreographer who revolutionized the thinking and vision of dance in the world, responsible for fusion of modern concepts with traditional ideas of classical ballet, the real creator of contemporary ballet and one of the biggest influencers of the dance masters today, like Antony Tudor, William Dollar, Agnes de Mille, Alvin Ailey, John Neumeier, Robert Joffrey, Harold Lang, Arthur Mitchell, Richard Tanner, William Forsithe, Twyla Tharp and to modern Alwin Nikolais, Eliot Feld and Merce Cunningham, and Jerome Robbins (Jerome Rabinovitz), ultimate expression of American neoclassical creation, also of Russian-Jewish origin. Balanchine had a fruitful 35-year career as a choreographer in the US, he was the father of American ballet where everyone is inspired, including Martha Graham and other icons of the art so appreciated in the US. Balanchine also collaborated with Hollywood and Broadway, he was a complete and eclectic professional but had also heavy critics. One of them was James Clive, who said he was one Balanchine "feudal lord" of his company
Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996) dreamed of creating a school and Ballet Company in America and with the help of Balanchine which developed a completely new dance styles from the classic ballets French, Italian and Russian contributed a completely new style of ballet in history. He had a long collaboration with Igor Stravinsky (Apollo was one of the choreographies they did together), and in 1934 founded in New York the School of American Ballet and in 1948, establishing the American Ballet Company, the New York City Ballet, passing then working as a ballet master and principal choreographer of the Company, until his death in 1983. The school was a success, and set a new high standard in classical dance in the United States, has evolved into a company, the American Ballet, true school of own movements based on classical tradition but not blindly imitate. This experience left a very important company, the New York City Ballet, which became an official company in New York City, receiving high donations from billionaire David Koch, who gave $ 100 million to make the ballet part of Lincoln Center and with the Metropolitan Opera House. With all its huge troupe of dancers moved in 1964 to the New York State Theater, located at Lincoln Center, which was specially built for him. When he died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the dancers from his company drove more than ten ballet companies in the United States, Switzerland, and Japan. Balanchine is recognized as the choreographer who revolutionized the thinking and vision of dance in the world, responsible for fusion of modern concepts with traditional ideas of classical ballet, the real creator of contemporary ballet and one of the biggest influencers of the dance masters today, like Antony Tudor, William Dollar, Agnes de Mille, Alvin Ailey, John Neumeier, Robert Joffrey, Harold Lang, Arthur Mitchell, Richard Tanner, William Forsithe, Twyla Tharp and to modern Alwin Nikolais, Eliot Feld and Merce Cunningham, and Jerome Robbins (Jerome Rabinovitz), ultimate expression of American neoclassical creation, also of Russian-Jewish origin. Balanchine had a fruitful 35-year career as a choreographer in the US, he was the father of American ballet where everyone is inspired, including Martha Graham and other icons of the art so appreciated in the US. Balanchine also collaborated with Hollywood and Broadway, he was a complete and eclectic professional but had also heavy critics. One of them was James Clive, who said he was one Balanchine "feudal lord" of his company