Ballet History

Ballet in the United StatesNeoclassical and Contemporary

Ballet

United States• Following the Ballet Russes move to Paris, Ballet

began to expand to the United States.• Fokine split from the Ballet Russes and settled in

New York City.• Fokine continued to choreograph and set his

most famous work, The Dying Swan, performed by Anna Pavlova.

• In the 1930s George Balanchine relocated to the United States and started the School of American Ballet and began the ballet company named American Ballet.

Neoclassical Ballet

• George Balanchine is often considered to have been the first pioneer of what is now known as Neoclassical ballet, a style of dance between classical ballet and today's contemporary ballet.

• Neoclassical ballet draws on the advanced technique of 19th century Russian Imperial dance, but strips it of its detailed narrative and heavy theatrical setting.

• George Balanchine's Apollo in 1928 is considered to be the first neoclassical ballet. Apollo represented a return to form in response to Serge Diaghilev's abstract ballets.

George BalanchineAmerican Ballet Company

• George Balanchine had an extensive career in performing and choreographing in Russia and Western Europe.

• After working as the choreographer and ballet master for Serge Diaghilev, Balanchine relocated to the United States and formed the School of American Ballet with Lincoln Kirstein in 1934 which is still open today and trains dancers for the New York City Ballet.

• Balanchine and Kirstein collaborated to create the American Ballet touring company in 1935 and shortly after were invited to become the resident company for the Metropolitan Opera in NYC.

George BalanchineNew York City Ballet

• In 1946 Balanchine and Kirstein embarked on another project and formed the Ballet Society which performed to a subscription-only audience.

• The Chairman for the City Center saw a performance and invited the Ballet Society to join the City Center group as the “New York City Ballet.”

• On October 11, 1948 the New York City Ballet was born and Balanchine served as the artistic director until his death in 1983.

Contemporary Ballet• One dancer who trained with Balanchine and absorbed

much of this neo-classical style was Mikhail Baryshnikov.• In 1980 he was appointed as the artistic director of

American Ballet Theatre and worked with various modern dance choreographers.

• Using classically trained dancers in pointe shoes executing modern movement they created an innovative style of dance called contemporary ballet.

• Modern dance choreographers continued to pair up with ballet companies to explore the fusion of ballet and modern dance and they paved the way for companies today to be explicitly contemporary ballet.

Names to Remember

• George Balanchine• American Ballet• Ballet Society• New York City Ballet• Mikhail Baryshnikov• American Ballet Theatre