George Balanchine

George Balanchine (1905-1983)

George Balanchine was a contemporary ballet chorographer born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1905; one of the most famous 20^th century chorographers, Balanchine helped develop ballet in the United States and was also a co-founder and ballet master of New York City Ballet. In his life he choreographed more than 400 ballets, thirty-nine of which where choreographed to music by Igor Stravinsky. He expressed music with dance and will always be remembered for his musicality. He died after years of illness aged 79 in New York City of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.

Balanchine grew up with a large family of composers and soldiers, his father a Georgian composer Meliton Balanchivadze helped initiate the Georgian Opera. His brother is also a well known Georgian composer. His mother had a love for ballet as did his sister. He first auditioned for Imperial Ballet School with his sister aged 9 years old and was later accepted into the Imperial Ballet School. There he was a student of Pavel Gerdt and Samuil Andrianov (Pavel's son-in-law). In 1921 he graduated with honors. However during the Russian Revolution in 1917 Balanchine played the piano for food, at cabarets and silent movie theaters, this gave him another talent which he fell in love with and after graduating went on to study advance piano, music theory, counterpoint, harmony, and composition at Petrograd Conservatory. Whist studying he worked in the corps de ballet at which he continued to dance with until 1924. He graduated from the Conservatory in 1923.

Balanchine choreographed his first work still in his teens a pa de deux named ‘La Nuit’ which means ‘Night’. His next duet was called ‘Enigma’ which is another word for puzzle; this piece was performed in bare feet. In 1923 with the dancers he formed a small ensemble ‘The Young Ballet’ however the chorography proved too experimental for the new authorities. Balanchine arrived in the U.S in 1933 which he stayed until his death in 1983. America made him who his was. He moved there to establish a ballet school to develop dancers who had the strong technique and style he wanted. In all of his pieces we see how strong his dancers body strength was, especially their upper body strength and foot work. Balanchine work was all about flexibility of the lower half, in most performances dancers legs wouldn’t look attached to their bodies. In 1934 Balanchine formed his first ballet company ‘American Ballet’. By 1938 the company had moved to Hollywood in which the company soon became known as the ‘American Ballet Caravan. The company toured North and South America. Unfortunately the company collapsed after several years however Balanchine quickly formed a new dance company and named it ‘Ballet Society’. Many successful performances later, the company became resident company of the New York City Centre for Music and Drama. In 1948 ‘Ballet Society’ was renamed ‘New York City Ballet’ which is still performing today.

He’s biggest influence was Fred Astaire, Balanchine described him as "the most interesting, the most inventive, the most elegant dancer of our times... you see a little bit of Astaire in everybody's dancing—- a pause here, a move there. It was all Astaire originally."

By Ellouise Champion