George Balanchine: New York City Ballet

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George Balanchine was the co-founded of the New York City Ballet and a very talented choreographer. He was born in Russia, where he studied ballet, and then later came to America. He influenced ballet greatly to the point that almost every ballet company in the world has performed his spectacular work. Not only did he greatly influence ballet, but ballet also influenced him and his life. Balanchine was born on January 22, 1904 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He began dancing at the Imperial School of Ballet but devastatingly, the theatre closed for several months in 1917. It was reopened in 1918 as the Soviet State School of Ballet, where he had to support himself with odd jobs here and there, until he could graduate three years later. In 1920, …show more content…
The Nutcracker has been performed time after time by people all around the world still to this day. The Nutcracker was his first complete length work that he had produced for the New York City Ballet. It became so famous because of the tree and the children so happy around it, bring to everyone the warmth of the Christmas holiday. He was able to make people connect emotionally to his ballet work. Some of this other famous works he had choreographed as the artistic director of the New York City Ballet was Firebird (1949), Bouree Fantasque (1949) , La Valse (1951), Allegro Brillante (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1958), and so much more. He produced over 465 works alone or in part.
I chose George Balanchine because I admired his dedication and determination. He supported himself for a little while just to keep himself in school in Russia so that one day he could achieve his dream. Also, moving from Russia to America just to keep his dream alive is pure dedication. Additionally, even when he was under very difficult financial budgets while trying to put on a performance he didn’t give up. He found ways to work around the obstacles and he let noting in stand in his way. I admired him and his willpower, devotion, and