New York City Ballet

George Balanchine was born on January 22, 1904, Saint Petersburg, Russia. He died April 30, 1983 in New York City. His parents were Meliton Balanchivadze, and Maria Nikolayevna Vasilyeva. He started dancing at the age of 10. He studied music and ballet in Russia before moving to America. While he was there, he mixed together many different techniques he had learned and created his own signature "neoclassical style".Balanchine was the artistic director and chief choreographer of the New York City Ballet. Also, he co-founded the New York City Ballet (NYCB) with Lincoln Kirstein. Nearly every ballet companies in the world has performed his work. George Melitonovich Balanchivadze was born the son of a composer he was exposed to music at a young…

Jerome Robbins was known as one of the great choreographers of all time, as a genius, as a friend to the rich and famous (and, indeed, “one of them”: He danced with Lauren Bacall at Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball), as one of the four closeted gay Jewish men who made West Side Story , as a person who enjoyed humiliating young male ballet dancers during rehearsals and referring to some of the female ones with the four-letter word that begins with a “c,” as an informer, and as co-founding…

alright?” one of my friends asked. I was better at that moment than I have been in almost a year. In the summer of 2015, which was the same year I started high school, ballet was the center of my life. Two of my closest friends and I attended to an intense summer program for over a month. We were constantly together dreaming of future careers in ballet. In our free time we watched videos of the New York City Ballet. I dreamed of eventually becoming a part of that company. My goals were set…

having a thin body was a recent development by the famous George Balanchine. Commonly referred to as the ‘Balanchine Body’, this ideal body type that first began in the 1900’s shapes what we see as the perfect ballet body yet what is said and done in whispers behind closed theater doors, dressing rooms, and practice rooms, is often nowhere near perfect. Balanchine is often described as one of the best ballet choreographers of all time, and often revered by the New York City Ballet, but his work…

On December 6th, I saw the Moscow Ballet 's Great Russian Nutcracker at the Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo, MI. The Moscow Ballet was on their 2016 National Tour. The choreographer Stanislav Vlasov, former soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet. Stanislav Vlasov reimagined the ballet and showcased his own view of the Great Russian Nutcracker. It was practically special because Western Michigan University symphony orchestra had the opportunity to play along side of the dancers. Throughout the ballet,…

My mother tells the story how I fell in love with dance by starting by describing the first time I saw the Nutcracker ballet. I pointed to the stage and said, “I want to do that.” I was a toddler and I found my passion. From that moment all the way to my freshman year of college, I thrived on the dedication and joy that ballet brought to my life. Spending my dance career from age three to nineteen studying ballet, I decided to expand my dance training. Trying out for my college’s dance team…

Anna Pavlova was born on February 12, 1881 in St. Petersburg, Russia. After she attended the Imperial Ballet School she made her own company debut in 1899 and she quickly became the prima ballerina. Her breakthrough performance was in The Dying Swan in 1905 which became her signature role. Contracting double pneumonia while she was on tour Pavlova died in 1931. Anna’s active imagination and love of fantasy drew her to the world of ballet. Looking back to her childhood she described her budding…

She has had a profound impact on not only the ballet community, but the world as a whole. Struggling with being an underprivileged, non-white dancer herself, she decided to give back and help those in similar situations. She established ABT’s Project Plié, which works to promote ethnic minorities and give them exposure to ballet (Collins). Similarly to how she was introduced to ballet, the project works in conjunction with the Boy’s and Girl’s Club, as well as ballet companies such as Orlando…

Cinderella Ballet The cultural experience I chose to attend was the Gwinnett Ballet Company’s presentation of Cinderella. This experience was the first time I had ever been to a ballet or any kind of live play. I am the type of person who enjoys the outdoors, playing in the mud, hunting and fishing, and I am a tomboy by most people’s standards. When I was getting ready to go to the ballet, I was not sure what to expect, I felt as though I was going to be out of place. I thought only prim and…

Margot Fonteyn Margot was born on the 18th May 1919 with the name Margaret Hookham (Margot Fonteyn was a stage name). She was born in Reigate but later died of cancer on 21st of February 1991 in Panama City, Panama. She started ballet lessons at 4 years old in Ealing before she moved to China with her family to study in Shanghai for about 6 years. At age 14 she returned as her mother wanted to give her a chance to develop her ballet career and she done so by joining Sadler’s Wells School.…