Let me introduce one of the greatest choreographers in the history of ballet, George Balanchine – born as Georgi Melitonovitvh Balanchivadze in St. Petersburg, Russia in the year 1904. Originating in Italy, ballet remained a mainly  Euro-Russian form of  dance until Balanchine took it to America. Around 400 works in ballet; master & principal choreographer of the most famous ballet company in the world (The Ballet Russes in Paris) at an age of 21; founder & artistic director of the New York City Ballet – Balanchine was the magic man who did all that!

Balanchine was nine when he danced his first ballet – The Sleeping Beauty (at Imperial Ballet School). By 1921, Balanchine was working with the State Academy of Opera & Ballet as well as studying piano at St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music. Great knowledge of music gained here helped Balanchine to collaborate with composers (worked on more than 30 compositions with the American composer Igor Stravinsky).

Balanchine presented his first choreography (La Nuit, a pas-de-deux) while he was a teenager. In 1933, he was invited to America by Lincoln Kirstein, a Boston born dance connoisseur who dreamt to establish American School of Ballet. Their school, established in 1934, the School of American Ballet (later to be called the American Ballet Academy) performed Balanchine’s first original ballet in America – Serenade. They formed the company – the New York City Ballet in 1948. One of the most famous performances of ballet, The Nutcracker (1954), was New York City Ballet’s first full-length ballet.

Balanchine's Serenade

Balanchine died as the master at the New York City Ballet in 1983, setting a mark in the history and the name that can never die. From taking it to America to giving his unique styles to it, he dedicated his life to the dance form, that is, ballet.

This prolific choreographer’s work has been performed all around the world. Work hard, and in the future, you could be the first dancers to perform Balanchine here in India!

< back to posts