GEORGE BALANCHINE

George Balanchine was born in 1904 in Petersburg, Russia. He started his study at Imperial Theater School in 1913. He choreographed his first piece in 1920 and graduated in 1921. He joined Ballet Russes in Paris and changed his name to Balanchine there.

In 1934, he was invited by Lincoln Kirsten and together founded the School of American Ballet and in 1935 fouded the American Ballet. The american version of the Nutcracker was choreographed in 1954 and is also the first full length ballet for NYCB.

He died on April 30th, 1983 in New York at the age of 79.

For more information, please visit American Masters-George Balanchine on PBS



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