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George Balanchine, choreographer
Balanchine (Georgi Melitonovich Balanchivadze) was born in St. Petersburg (Jan 22, 1904) into a very musical family and began studying the piano at age 5. He received a classical education, acting and dance training, beginning at age 9, from the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg. It was originally thought that young Georgi would become one of the Tsar’s cadets, so it was with the thought that if things didn't work out at the ballet school he could always join the army. In fact, in his first year he was not at all thrilled by what he was learning. It was only once he got to perform in the Maryinsky Theater that Balanchine became enamored of the theater. Balanchine was raised on the dance traditions of the classical Russian ballet established by Petipa. Despite having all the best teachers and dancers in the world at the time Balanchine states that "Contrary to popular belief, ballet was not taken very seriously by the Russian public. It was an entertainment almost exclusively for the aristocracy, among whom there were perhaps only a few gentlemen who were not primarily interested in what the ballerinas were doing after the performance." This changed with the revolution. Ballet was banned for a period until the Minister of Education, Lunacharsky, a balletomane, persuaded the authorities to gradually reinstate ballet. Balanchine joined the now Kirov ballet as a professional dancer at age 17 and at the same time entered the Conservatory of Music in St. Petersburg. For three years he studied theory, composition and piano. He became a skilled conductor and pianist and often played for graduating student performances at the Imperial Russian Ballet School. Balanchine’s choreography upset his traditionally minded superiors from early on; however, at age twenty he was able to form a group of four dancers and gained permission to tour with them outside the Soviet Union. It was on this tour of "Soviet State Dancers" in 1924 that he met Diaghilev who immediately offered him a job. It was when Balanchine began to work with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes that he became exposed to a stimulating array of choreographers, composers and artists such as Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Satie, Ravel, Picasso, Cocteau and Chagall. Diaghilev promoted Balanchine as a choreographer and in 1925, at age 21, made him ballet master for his company. A knee injury that limited his dancing career gave Balanchine more time to concentrate on choreography. After the death of Diaghilev, Balanchine spent a few years in Europe working on a variety of dance projects from ballet to film to revues. In Paris he formed his own company, Les Ballets 1933, where he worked with the likes of Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht and Darius Milhaud. It was in 1933 that Lincoln Kirstein persuaded Balanchine to go to the United States to help establish an American school of ballet equivalent to those found in Europe. In America Balanchine was stimulated by new dance forms and alloyed them to his broad experiences thus far. The founding of the School of American Ballet in 1934 and the New York City Ballet in 1948 gave Balanchine the forums to institutionalize and present new dance techniques and ideas to the world. Balanchine was married to four of his ballerinas, Tamara Geva, Vera Zorina (1938-46), Maria Tallchief (1946-52) and Tanaquil LeClerc (1952-69). Balanchine died in New York City, April 30, 1983.
Chronological List Of Works Of Balanchine
1920 La Nuit, Schön Rosmarin 1921 Poème 1922 Waltz, Waltz and Adagio, Romanza, Waltz, Valse Triste, Matelotte, Orientalia, Hungarian Gypsy Dance. 1923 Valse Caprice, Columbine’s Veil, La Mort du Cygne, Adagio, Spanish Dance, Marche Funèbre, Waltz, Extase, Pas de deux, Polka, Le Coq d’Or, Enigma, Ceasar and Cleopatra, Eugene the Unfortunate, Chorus Reading, Étude, Oriental Dance, Elegy 1924 Pas de Deux,Invitation to the Dance, Le Boeuf sur le Toit and Pulcinella 1925 Pizzicato Polka, Valse Caprice, Carmen, Thaïs, Manon, Le Hulla, Le Démon, Hopac, Fay-Yen-fah, Faust, Hérodiade, Un Début, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, La Damnation de Faust, Étude, Polka Mélancholique, Le Chant du Rossignol, Barbau 1926 Boris Godunov, Judith, L’Hirondelle, Lakmé,Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Jeanne d’Arc, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, La Pastorale, Jack in the Box, The Triumph of Neptune 1927 Aurora’s Wedding: Ariadne and Her Brothers, Samson et Dalila, La Traviata, Turandot, La Damnation de Faust, Ivan le Terrible, Obéron, La Chatte, Grotesque Espagnol, Sarcasm, Swan Lake 1928 Mireille, Les Maitres Chanteurs, Venise, Sioir Todéro Brontolon, Un Bal Masqué, Don Juan, La Fille d’Abdoubarahah, Aleko, Apollon Musagète, The Gods Go A-Begging 1929 Roméo et Juliette, La Gioconda, Rigoletto, La Femme Nue, Martha, Wake Up and Dream!, La Croisade des Dames, Le Bal, Le Fils Prodigue, Pas de Deux (Moods), Les Créatures de Prométhée, Dark Red Roses 1930 Aubade, Charles B. Cochran’s 1930 Revue, Den Trekantede Hat, Schéhérazade, Lagetøjsbutiken (La Boutique Fantsque), Fyrst Igor (Prince Igor), Rosendrømmen. 1931 Josef-Legende, Dances for Sir Oswald Stoll’s Variety Shows, Charles B. Cochran’s 1931 Revue,Orphée aux Enfers 1932 Les Amours du Poéte, Tannhäuser, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Le Prophète, Une Nuit á Venise, Lakmé, Samson et Dalila, Faust, Patrie, Hérodiade, Turandot, Rigoletto, Manon, La Traviata, Roméo et Juliette, Fay-Yen-Fah, Aïda, Carmen, La Périchole, Cotillon, La Concurrence, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Suites de Danse, Numéro les Canotiers 1933 Mozartiana, Les Songes, Les Sept Péchés Capitaux, Fastes, L’Errante, Les Valses de Beethoven, Dans l’Elysée 1934 1935 Alma Mater, Errante, Reminiscence, Dreams, Transcendence, Jeanne d’Arc, Mozartiana, La Traviata, Faust, Aïda, Lakmé, Tannhäuser, Carmen, Rigoletto 1936 Mignon, Manon, La Juive, La Rondine, Ziegfeld Follies: 1936 Edition, Die Mastersingers von Nüremberg, Serenata: ‘Magic’, Concerto, On Your Toes, The Bartered Bride, Lucia di Lammermoor, The Bat, Orpheus and Eurydice, Samson et Dalila 1937 Le Coq d’Or, Caponsacchi, La Gioconda, Babes in Arms, Apollon Musagete, The Card Party, Le Baiser de la Fée, Mârouf, Roméo et Juliette 1938 Don Giovanni, I married and Angel, The Boys from Syracuse, The Great Lady, Goldwyn Follies 1939 On Your Toes 1940 Keep Off the Grass, Louisiana Purchase, Pas de deux-Blues, Cabin in the Sky, I Was an Adventuress 1941 Balustrade, Serenate, Ballet Imperial, Concerto Barocco, Divertimento, Alma Errante, Apolo Musageta, El Murciélago, Fantasia Brasiliera 1942 The Lady Comes Across, The Ballet of the Elephants, Pas de Trois for Piano and Two Dancers, Maruf, Concierto de Mozart, Rosalinda, The Opera Cloak, The Fair as Sorochinsk, La Vie Parisienne, The Queen of Spades, Macbeth, Star Spangled Rhythm 1943 Helen of Troy, The Crucifiction of Christ, The Merry Widow, What’s Up 1944 Dream with Music, Song of Norway, Danses Concertantes, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Waltz Academy, Sentimental Colloquy 1945 The Tempest, Aïda, Fausto, Sansón y Dalila, Mr. Strauss Goes to Boston, Circus Polka 1946 Resurgence, The Night Shadow, Raymonda, Giselle: Act II Grave Scene, The Spellbound Child, The Four Tempraments 1947 Renard, Divertimento, The Chocolate Soldier, Le Palais de Cristal, Symphonie Concertante, Theme and Variations 1948 The Triumph of Bacchus, Symphony in C., Élégie, Orpheus, Pas de Trois Classique, Carmen, Where’s Charley?, Concerto Barocco, The Marriage of Figaro, La Traviatta, Don Giovanni, Serenade, Aïda, Eugen Onegin, The Madwoman of Chaillot 1949 Troubled Island, Princess Aurora, The Tales of Hoffmann, Cinderella, Don Quixote pas de deux, Swan Lake pas de duex, La Mort du Cygne, Firebird, Bourée Fantasque 1950 Prodigal Son, Pas de Deux Romantique, Jones Beach, Trumpet Concerto, The Fairy’s Kiss, Mazurka from ‘A Life for the Tsar’, Sylvia pas de deux 1951 Music and Dance, The Card Game, Pas de Trois, La Valse, Romeo and Juliet, Capriccio Brillant, Courtin’ Time, The Sleeping Beauty (Variation), À la Francaix, Tyl Ulenspiegel, Apollo, Leader of the Muses, Swan Lake 1952 Caracole, Boyou, Scotch Symphony, Metamorphoses, Harliquinade pas de deux, One, Yuletide Square, Concertino 1953 Valse Fantasie, The Countess Becomes the Maid, The Rake’s Progress, La Favorita, Boris Godunov, Adriana Lecouvreur, Amahl and the Night Visitors 1954 Opus 34, The Nutcracker, Western Symphony, Ivesiana, House of Flowers 1955 Roma, Pas de Trois, The Tempest, Pas de Dix, Jeux d’Enfants 1956 The Magic Flute, Allegro Brillante, A Musical Joke, Divertimento No. 15 1957 Square Dance, Agon 1958 Gounod Symphony, Stars and Stripes, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, Waltz-Scherzo, The Seven Deadly Sins 1959 Native Dancers, Episodes, Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Warrior 1960 Night Shadow, Panamerica, Theme and Variations, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, The Figure in the Carpet, Donizetti Variations (Variations from Don Sebastian), Momentum pro Gesualdo, Liebeslieder Walzer, Ragtime 1961 Modern Jazz: Varients, Electronics, Raymonda Variations (Valses et Variations) 1962 A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Eugene Onegin, Noah and the Flood 1963 Bugaku, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Orpheus und Eurydice, Meditation 1964 Tarantella, Clarinade, Ballet Imperial 1965 Harliquinade, Don Quixote 1966 Variations, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Élégie, Ragtime(II) 1967 Trois Valses Romantiques, Jewels, Glinkiana 1968 Metastaseis & Pithoprakta, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Requiem Canticles, Diana and Actaeon pas de deux, La Source 1969 Ruslan und Ludmilla, Valse Fantasie, Le Lac des Cygnes 1970 Who Cares?, Suite No. 3 1971 Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra, PAMTGG 1972 Sonata, Symphony in Three Movements, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Danses Concertantes, Divertimento from ‘Le Baiser de las Fée, Scherzo á la Russe, Duo Concertant, Pulcinella, Choral Variations on Bach’s ‘Von Himmel Hoch", Symphony of Psalms 1973 Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2, Prince Igor,Cortège Hongrois, Begin the Beguine 1974 Variations pour une Porte et un Soupir, Coppélia, Boris Godunov 1975 Sonatine, L’Enfant et les Sortileges, Shéhérazade, Le Tombeau de Couperin, Pavane, Tzigane, Gaspard de las Nuit, Rapsodie Espagnole, Faust, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Orfeo et Euridice 1976 Chaconne, Union Jack, Pal Joey, The Reluctant King 1977 The Sleeping Beauty, Étude for Piano, Vienna Waltzes 1978 Ballo della Regina, Kammermusik No. 2, Tricolore 1979 Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Dido and Aneas 1980 Ballade, Walpurgisnacht Ballet, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Robert Schumann’s ‘Davidsbündlertänze’ 1981 The Spellbound Child, Mozartiana, Tempo di Valse; from Sleeping Beauty, Hungarian Gypsy Airs, Symphony No. 6 - Pathétique: Fourth Movement, Adagio, Lamentoso 1982 Tango, Noah and the Flood, Élégie, Perséphone, Variations for Orchestra. |
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