Americana The core of ballet and choreography in this era can best be described as all-American: American dancers doing American choreography based on American themes that spoke to American audiences. At this time Jerome Robbins, Jacques D’Amboise, and Maria Tallchief presented themselves as iconic figures in American Ballet. BALLET IN THE 20 TH CENTURY

EMERGING AMERICAN BALLET New American Ballet dancers and choreographers were itching to make their mark on ballet history. Emerging choreographers based their work on Western themes and American folk heroes. They began to explore, create, and refine a new American Ballet style. During this decade, ballet companies emerged in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. This was the result of United States’ isolation in the early years of World War II. This isolation allowed American Dancers and choreographers to gain confidence in their talents and artistic worth. The process was slow; the new emerging American ballet took over a decade to develop.

IMPORTANT FIGURES AGNES DE MILLE ( ) Agnes de Mille was born in New York City. She was the daughter of a playwright and niece of the famous movie director Cecil B. de Mille. A brilliant dancer who studied under Anthony Tudor, she turned her focus to choreography. Her first choreographic hit was titled, Rodeo, which showcased de Mille dancing in the lead role. This work premiered in This ballet was an instant success which led her to work on Broadway. Her musical theatre credits include: Oklahoma! (1943) Carousel (1945) Brigadoon (1947) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949) Paint Your Wagon (1950) Her work in ballet and on Broadway quickly became synonymous with the newly founded Americana Style.

GEORGE BALANCHINE ( ) George Balanchine was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Art and musical talented was in his DNA as both of his parents were composers. In 1914 he entered the Imperial Ballet School on accident as he initially went to escort his sister after he was turned down my naval academy. George was accepted into the school, but his sister was not. After graduating from the Imperial school with honors, Balanchine toured around the world and caught the eye of Serge Diaghilev, the director of Ballets Russes. With the Ballets Russes, Balanchine danced and choreographed some of his most famous works including Apollo (1928), and Prodigal Son (1929). Balanchine left Ballets Russes to form his own company, Les Ballets. At this time, he caught the attention of Lincoln Kirstein (arts patron and dance historian) who invited him to come to the USA to direct the New School of American Ballet and the short-lived American Ballet Company, where Balanchine premiered his masterpiece, Serenade (1953). Other well known works of Mr. B include On Your Toes (1936) and The Four Temperments (1946). He has gone on to create more than 426 ballets in his long career and is known as the “Father of American Ballet”

BALANCHINE’S BALLETS 1928 Apollo Prodigal Son e1jWkF5mN5WbNCNq6J_RNl9IA 1935 Serenade

TWO WORLDS COLLIDE Beginning in the 1960s, the distinction between modern and ballet began to blur. In 1959 George Balanchine invited Martha Graham to collaborate on a work called Episodes. Balanchine made it his personal goal as a choreographer to seek out opportunities to collaborate which is how he developed what is known as neo-classical ballet.

NEOCLASSICAL BALLET Neoclassical ballet is a 20 th century style that developed from its Russian predecessor, using traditional ballet vocabulary but is much less rigid than classical. The dancing in neoclassical ballet is usually done at more extreme tempos and more technical, as well. George Balanchine had everything to do with this style of ballet. Balanchine deconstructed the ballet technique, ridding the performance of dramatic sets, stories, tutus and anything else that would take the focus away from the technique and virtuosity of the dance. Balanchine focused his ballets around clean lines, both in choreography and with his dancers. Balanchine favored dancers with long and lean physiques which quickly became the norm in American ballet.

ROBERT JOFFREY ( ) Robert Joffery initially began ballet classes to combat his asthma attacks. Originally from Seattle, Robert Joffery attended The School of American Ballet where he studied ballet and modern. He danced professionally for many years before he started his own company in The company moved to Chicago in 1995 and is still there today. There are many branches of the Joffery School around the country.

MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV (1948- Born in Latvia, Russia, Mikhail Baryshnikov trained at what is now known as the Vaganova Ballet Academy. While he was short in stature, his technical ability made him premiere dancer material and joined Kirov Ballet in In 1974, while on tour in Canada, Baryshnikov defected and moved to the United States, where he joined American Ballet Theatre. He has had many dances created for him by Balanchine and Twyla Tharp. His work with those contemporaries gave him a thirst for creation using different genres of dance such as modern. He has created many dances with his own company, White Oak Dance Project. In 2005 he established the Baryshnikov Arts Center, in New York, and continues to perform and create to this day. Mikhail Baryshnikov in Don Quixote:

RUDOLF NUREYEV ( ) Rudolf Nureyev is considered one of the foremost male dancers of the 20 th century. Trained at the Maryinsky school of the Kirov Ballet and joined the company in 1958 as a soloist. He performed all over the world and with just about every major dance company in the West and with modern dance companies as well. In 1983 he became director of the Paris Opera Ballet.

JEROME ROBBINS Born Jerome Rabinowitz in New York City and raised in New Jersey, Jerome Robbins studied many forms of dance as well as the violin and piano. He attended New York University studying dance and choreography. Upon graduation, he performed in many Broadway shows before joining Ballet Theatre in 1940 where he worked his way up to important roles like Petrouchka. As a choreographer, Robbins’ first full-length ballet was Fancy Free (1944). Audiences could easily relate to the American sailor characters since the country was currently in World War II. Robbins joined New York City Ballet in 1950 as a dancer and choreographer and the following year he became associate artistic director. Fancy Free:

JEROME ROBBINS Robbins returned to the Broadway stage in 1957 with his hit West Side Story. This work was in collaboration with composer Leonard Bernstein. A friend of Robbins and budding composer of the time, they had worked together on previous ballets but nothing landed the way West Side Story did. Another Broafway hit of Robbins’ is Fiddler on the roof (for which he won a Tony for best Choreography and Direction). The 2015 revival of Fiddler on the Roof is currently running on Broadway. During his life he received many awards and academic honors including five Tony Awards, Kennedy Center Honors, two Academy Awards, one Emmy, and three honorary doctorate degrees. West Side Story: America (at 2:00mins)

JACQUES D’AMBOISE (1934-) Dancer, choreographer, teacher, and director Jaques D’Amboise, was born in Massachusetts and attended the School of American Ballet and performed with the New York City Ballet. During the 1950s he created many leading roles in Balanchine ballets. His most notable being Apollo. D’Amboise was featured in dancing roles in many movies including Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and Carousel (1956). D’Amboise is the founder of the National Dance Institute for the purpose of exposing New York City youth, especially boys, to dance. Stars and Stripes at 4:33:

SUZANNE FARRELL Born in Cincinnati, Suzanne Farrell attended the School of American Ballet and joined New York City Ballet in 1961 at age 16. Quickly she became Balanchine’s muse gathering exceptional repertory. After a rift with Balanchine over her marriage to fellow dancer, Paul Mejia, she left NYCB to dance in Brussels. In 1975 she returned to NYCB and became the partner to Peter Martins. Since retiring, she has staged Balanchine ballets around the world and headed her own company, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Her company found residence at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

GELSEY KRIKLAND Pennsylvania born, Gelsey Kirkland, attended the school of American ballet and joined NYCB in 1968, where she created many roles in works by Balanchine and Robbins. In 1974 she joined American Ballet Theatre, where she became Mikhail Baryshnikov’s partner. Giselle:

BALLET COMPANIES AND SCHOOLS A New Era in the history of American ballet companies presented homegrown choreographers and grew the foundation of American arts throughout the country. Ballet Theatre The company prided itself on a diverse repertory of classical, romantic, and contemporary ballet. The company changed its name to American Ballet Theatre in Ballet Society Created by Kirstein and Balanchine, the company featured work by Balanchine, Merce Cunningham and John Taras. It’s most notable work was Balanchine’s Orpheus during their second and final season. New York City Ballet Artistic Director, George Balanchine, heavily influenced the company’s repertory and neoclassical choreography. It’s permanent home is in New York City at Lincoln Center.

COMPANIES CONT. San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet, the oldest professional ballet company in America, has emerged as a world-class arts organization since it was founded as the San Francisco Opera Ballet in Initially, its purpose was to train dancers to appear in opera productions, but it separated from the opera in 1942 and was renamed SF Ballet - See more at: The Houston Ballet In 1955, the founding members of Houston Ballet Foundation had a vision for dance in Houston: to create a resident ballet company and to start a school which would train its dancers. Houston Ballet Academy was established that same year under the leadership of Tatiana Semenova, a former dancer with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. The Joffery ballet Founded by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey in The Joffrey Ballet continues to thrive under internationally renowned Artistic Director Ashley Wheater. The Joffrey Ballet has become one of the most revered and recognizable arts organizations in America and one of the top dance companies in the world.