George Balanchine

George Balanchine (January 22, 1904 – April 30, 1983), born Giorgi Balanchivadze (Georgian: გიორგი ბალანჩივაძე) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet. He was a choreographer known for his musicality; he expressed music with dance and worked extensively with Igor Stravinsky. Thirty-nine of his more than 400 ballets were choreographed to music by Stravinsky.Diaghilev soon promoted Balanchine to balletmaster of the company and promoted his choreography. Between 1924 and Diaghilev's death during 1929, Balanchine created nine ballets, as well as lesser works. During these years, he worked with major composers, such as Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie and Ravel, and artists who designed sets and costumes, such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Rouault, and Henri Matisse, creating new works that combined all the arts. Among his new works, during 1928 in Paris, Balanchine premiered Apollon musagete (Apollo and the muses) in a collaboration with Stravinsky; it was one of his most innovative ballets, combining classical ballet and classical Greek myth and images with jazz movement. He described it as "the turning point in my life".Suffering a serious knee injury, Balanchine had to limit his dancing, effectively ending his performance career. After Diaghilev's death, the Ballets Russes became somewhat disorganized. To earn money, Balanchine began to stage dances for the Cochran Revues in London. He was retained by the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen as a guest ballet master.When part of the Ballets Russes settled in Monte Carlo, Balanchine joined them and accepted a job as ballet master; directed by Rene Blum, the company was then named the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. He choreographed three ballets: Cotillon, La Concurrence, and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. His paramour in Monte Carlo was the young Tamara Toumanova, one of the original three "Baby Ballerinas" which the director had selected from the Russian exile community of Paris.

Men of the Ballet Russe 2007 Gala Tribute. "To cross time and oceans withBalanchine and Diaghilev your oldest friends, is how to live one's life."

When Blum gave control of the company to Colonel W. de Basil, Balanchine left the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo to act as principal choreographer for the newly-founded Les Ballets 1933. The company was financed by Edward James, a British ballet patron. Boris Kochno, Diaghilev's former secretary and companion, served as artistic advisor. The company lasted only a couple of months during 1933, performing only in Paris and London, when the Great Depression made arts more difficult to fund. Balanchine created several new works, including collaborations with composers Kurt Weill, Darius Milhaud, and Henri Sauguet, and designer Pavel Tchelitchew.Lincoln Kirstein, a young American arts patron recently graduated from Harvard University, saw Les Ballets 1933. With the goal of establishing a ballet company in the United States, he met with and quickly persuaded Balanchine to relocate there with his assistance. By October of that year, Kirstein had brought Balanchine to New York, where he would begin influencing the character, training and techniques of American ballet and dance.

Legacy and honors

• 1978, Balanchine received the Kennedy Center Honors Award the first year the awards were given.
• With his School of American Ballet, New York City Ballet, and 400 choreographed works, Balanchine transformed American dance and created modern ballet, developing a unique style with his dancers highlighted by brilliant speed and attack.
• 1987, posthumously inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame.
• Presidential Freedom of Honor Medal.http://www.firstnamestore.com/?p=27131

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