Transcript Ballet History

Ballet History
Ballet in the United States
Neoclassical and Contemporary
Ballet
United States
• Following the Ballet Russes move to Paris, Ballet
began to expand to the United States.
• Fokine split from the Ballet Russes and settled in
New York City.
• Fokine continued to choreograph and set his
most famous work, The Dying Swan, performed
by Anna Pavlova.
• In the 1930s George Balanchine relocated to the
United States and started the School of American
Ballet and began the ballet company named
American Ballet.
Neoclassical Ballet
• George Balanchine is often considered to have been
the first pioneer of what is now known as Neoclassical
ballet, a style of dance between classical ballet and
today's contemporary ballet.
• Neoclassical ballet draws on the advanced technique of
19th century Russian Imperial dance, but strips it of its
detailed narrative and heavy theatrical setting.
• George Balanchine's Apollo in 1928 is considered to be
the first neoclassical ballet. Apollo represented a return
to form in response to Serge Diaghilev's abstract
ballets.
George Balanchine
American Ballet Company
• George Balanchine had an extensive career in
performing and choreographing in Russia and Western
Europe.
• After working as the choreographer and ballet master
for Serge Diaghilev, Balanchine relocated to the United
States and formed the School of American Ballet with
Lincoln Kirstein in 1934 which is still open today and
trains dancers for the New York City Ballet.
• Balanchine and Kirstein collaborated to create the
American Ballet touring company in 1935 and shortly
after were invited to become the resident company for
the Metropolitan Opera in NYC.
George Balanchine
New York City Ballet
• In 1946 Balanchine and Kirstein embarked on
another project and formed the Ballet Society
which performed to a subscription-only audience.
• The Chairman for the City Center saw a
performance and invited the Ballet Society to join
the City Center group as the “New York City
Ballet.”
• On October 11, 1948 the New York City Ballet was
born and Balanchine served as the artistic
director until his death in 1983.
Contemporary Ballet
• One dancer who trained with Balanchine and absorbed
much of this neo-classical style was Mikhail Baryshnikov.
• In 1980 he was appointed as the artistic director of
American Ballet Theatre and worked with various modern
dance choreographers.
• Using classically trained dancers in pointe shoes executing
modern movement they created an innovative style of
dance called contemporary ballet.
• Modern dance choreographers continued to pair up with
ballet companies to explore the fusion of ballet and
modern dance and they paved the way for companies
today to be explicitly contemporary ballet.
Names to Remember
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George Balanchine
American Ballet
Ballet Society
New York City Ballet
Mikhail Baryshnikov
American Ballet Theatre