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George Balanchine (, 1983 ) was an American ballet Choreographer of Georgian descent. Balanchine is one of the 20th century's foremost choreographers, and one of the founders of American Ballet . His work formed a bridge between classical and modern ballet. RUSSIA Balanchine was born Giorgi Melitonis dze Balanchivadze(Georgian: გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე) in Saint Petersburg , Russia to Georgian parents. His father, noted Georgian composer Meliton Balanchivadze ( 1862 - 1937 ), was one of the founders of the Georgian Opera . George's brother, Andria Balanchivadze ( 1906 - 1992 ), became a well-known Georgian composer. Balanchine himself, as a child, was not paticularly interested in ballet. His mother had always loved it and auditioned him and his sister. His family was mostly composers and soldiers. It was said that George could always enter the army if it turned out he wasn't any good at dancing. It was his sister who really wanted to take ballet and auditioned as well. He was selected. She wasn't. In 1913 at the age of nine, Balanchine was enrolled in the Imperial Ballet School , principal school of the Imperial Ballet , where he studied under Pavel Gerdt and Samuil Andrianov (Pavel's son-in-law). With the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Revolution , the school was disbanded as an offensive symbol of the Tsarist regime. To survive the privation and Martial Law of this period, Balanchine played the piano--for food, not for money--at cabarets and silent movie theatres. Eventually the Imperial Ballet School reopened amid greatly reduced monetary funds. After graduating with honours in 1921 , Balanchine enrolled in the Petrograd Conservatory in tandem with his '' Corps De Ballet '' duties at the The State Academic Theatre for Opera and Ballet (formerly the State Theater Of Opera And Ballet ). In 1922 when Balanchine was eighteen, he married Tamara Geva , a fifteen year old dancer. His studies at the conservatory included advanced piano, music theory, counterpoint, harmony, and composition. Balanchine graduated from the conservatory in 1923 , and he was a member of the corps until 1924 . While still in his teens, Balanchine choreographed his first work, a Pas De Deux called ''La Nuit'' ( 1920 , music by Anton Rubinstein ). This was followed by another duet, ''Enigma'', danced in bare feet. In 1923, with fellow dancers, he formed a small ensemble, the Young Ballet . The choreography proved too experimental for the new authorities, who strongly encouraged the group to disband. Balanchine, Tamara Geva, Alexandra Danilova , and Nicholas Efimov were granted permission to tour Western Europe in 1924. While performing in London , England , Serge Diaghilev asked the group to join his Ballets Russes , prompting the four to defect. BALLETS RUSSES Diaghilev soon promoted Balanchine to Balletmaster of the company, and allowed him to develop his own choreography. Between 1924 and Diaghilev's death in 1929 , Balanchine created nine ballets, as well as smaller choreographies. Unfortunately, he also suffered a serious knee injury at this time, which limited his dancing and effectively ended his performance career. In 1926 , Balanchine and Tamara Geva divorced. Shortly after, Balanchine commenced a relationship with dancer Alexandra Danilova which lasted a few years. Danilova is considered his second wife. After Diaghilev's death, the Ballets Russes fell into disarray. Balanchine began to stage dances for the , one of the original " Baby Ballerinas ". When René Blum passed control of the company to Colonel W. De Basil , Balanchine again left the Ballets Russes. This time he formed his own company, Les Ballets 1933 , with the financial backing of Edward James and Diaghilev's former secretary and companion Boris Kochno as an advisor. The company lasted only a couple of months in 1933 , but in that time several new choreographies were conceived by Balanchine, including artistic collaborations with Bertolt Brecht , Kurt Weill , Pavel Tchelitchew , Darius Milhaud , and Henri Sauget . and Diaghilev your oldest friends, is how to live one's life."]] It was after a performance by Les Ballets 1933 that Lincoln Kirstein , an American arts patron with a dream of establishing a ballet company in the U.S., met and quickly persuaded Balanchine to move to the United States. By October of that year, Balanchine had landed overseas for the first time and launched his influence on the character of American dance. AMERICA Upon arriving in the United States, Balanchine insisted that his first project would be to establish a ballet school, and with the support of Lincoln Kirstein and Edward M.M. Warburg , the School Of American Ballet opened its doors to students on January 2 , 1934 , less than 3 months after Balanchine arrived in the U.S. The students premiered ''Serenade'' at the Warburg's summer estate later that year. During the 1930s and 1940s, in between his ballet activities, Balanchine worked as a choreographer for musical theater (with such notables as Richard Rodgers , Lorenz Hart and Vernon Duke ). He greatly admired Fred Astaire , describing him as "the most interesting, the most inventive, the most elegant dancer of our times... you see a little bit of Astaire in everybody's dancing--a pause here, a move there. It was all Astaire originally." {Link without Title} In 1935, a professional company was formed - the American Ballet . After failing to mount a tour, the company began performing at the Metropolitan Opera House . After being allowed to stage only two dance performances ('' Orfeo And Eurydice '' in 1936 , and an evening of dance choreographed to the music of Igor Stravinsky in 1937 ), Balanchine moved the company to Hollywood in 1938 . The company reconvened as the American Ballet Caravan and toured North and South America , although it too folded after several years. designed the New York State Theater to the specifications of Balanchine]] Balanchine served as resident choreographer for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo from 1944 to 1946, but soon formed a new dance company - the Ballet Society -again with the help of Lincoln Kirstein. With the success of several performances, the company was offered the opportunity to work at New York City Center For Music And Drama as the resident company. With that arrangement in place, Ballet Society became the New York City Ballet in 1948 . Balanchine's 1954 staging of '' The Nutcracker '', performed every year in New York City during the Christmas Season , is largely responsible for making the ballet a Christmas tradition in the United States. In the 1960s, Balanchine fell deeply in love with the young and talented Suzanne Farrell . He created many ballets for her, including '' Don Quixote '' (with him playing the ''Don'', and Farrell, ''Dulcinea''), and the ''Diamonds'' section of the full-length ballet '' Jewels ''. The romance suffered however, because Balanchine was still married to Tanaquil Le Clercq , and Farrell, a Roman Catholic , refused to consummate the romance. Farrell's position in the company was the cause of consternation -- some ballerinas, like his former wife, Maria Tallchief , quit, citing Farrell as the reason. Balanchine obtained a Mexican Divorce from Le Clercq, only to discover Farrell had married a NYCB dancer, Paul Meija. Heartbroken and enraged, Balanchine and Farrell became increasingly estranged, and in 1970 both Farrell and her husband quit the company. They then moved to Brussels and joined Maurice Bejart 's dance company. In 1975, Farrell returned to the NYCB. George Balanchine received the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 1978, the first year the awards were given. In 1983, Balanchine died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease , diagnosed only after his death. He first showed symptoms in 1978 when he began losing his balance while dancing. As the disease progressed his equilibrium, eyesight and hearing deteriorated. By 1982 he was incapacitated, and he died the following year at the age of 79. In his last years he also suffered from Angina and underwent Heart Bypass Surgery . After his divorce from Tamara Geva, Balanchine married and divorced three more times. All were dancers: Vera Zorina (December 1938 - 1946), Maria Tallchief (1946 - 1952), and Tanaquil Le Clercq (1952 - 1969), as well as his common law wife, Alexandra Danilova (1926 - 1933). He had no children. CHOREOGRAPHED WORKS ''for the Ballets Russes:''
''for the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo:''
''for Les Ballets:''
''for the American Ballet:''
''for On Your Toes (a musical comedy by Richard Rodgers - Lorenz Hart ):''
''for the American Ballet Caravan:''
''for the Ballet del Teatro de Colón:''
''for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo:''
''for the Ballet Theatre:''
''for the Ballet Society:''
''for the Paris Opera Ballet:''
''for the Ballet Theatre:''
''for the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas:''
''for the New York City Ballet:''
''for the New York City Opera :''
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