Balanchine connection: Faculty member and former New York City Ballet principal Violette Verdy, whom
Balanchine created many roles on, coaches work.
It was
Balanchine whose work bridged classical and modern ballet;
Balanchine who founded the New York City Ballet; and
Balanchine who in 1954 turned the idea of "Nutcracker" into the biggest moneymaker the ballet world has today.
Petersburg at the Imperial Theatre School,
Balanchine began appearing at the Mariinsky Theatre as a student with the ensemble known today as the Kirov Ballet.
Recounting
Balanchine's refusal to cast Alexandra Danilova because he judged her, at twenty-seven, "too old," Tamara Tchinarova remarks in the film that ballet is "a cruel business, very cruel." In Ballets Russes, the performances and the recollections, the sparkle of youth and the retrospect of age, divided by that cruelty, are presented in dazzlingly rapid succession.
The core of Joseph's book is a thorough and close analysis of Stravinsky's scores for his "Greek" ballets: Apollon musagete (1928, known as Apollo), Orpheus (1948), and Agon (1957), as well as George
Balanchine's Stravinsky Violin Concerto (1972).
The "
Balanchine 100" celebration will include the first full-evening ballet for the company from Broadway choreographer Susan Stroman.
Now in
Balanchine & the Lost Muse she embarks on a search for the Russian wellsprings of the choreographer's imagination and a parallel quest for Lidia Ivanova, the ballerina who drowned on the eve of his departure from Russia.
According to Ellen Sorrin, director of the George
Balanchine Trust, the organization that controls the licensing and staging of
Balanchine's works, Serenade is one of the Trust's most requested ballets.
After our common pro forma genuflection before
Balanchine (which being pro forma makes it no less sincere), it seems self-evident that a like-minded group of former dancers, administrators, foundation executives, and critics has stifled alternatives to
Balanchine in the name of a sometimes pedantic, even hysterical fidelity to their own youthful memories.
We interviewed artistic directors, teachers, and choreographers and found each of them to be thrillingly articulate about
Balanchine's gifts and bracingly honest in their readiness to move forward.
government to export
Balanchine and Graham to England, which in turn made both of them more celebrated artists at home.
Merrill Ashley, former star of New York City Ballet, was one of the last ballerinas to be entirely trained by George
Balanchine himself.