New York City Ballet

New York City Ballet, prestigious American ballet company, based in the New York State Theater at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. Officially founded in 1948 by American writer and dance enthusiast Lincoln Kirstein and choreographer George Balanchine, the company has its origins in a series of ventures undertaken by the cofounders. In 1934 Kirstein and Balanchine opened the School of American Ballet, now the official school of the New York City Ballet. Subsequently, they were involved in establishing a series of acclaimed but short-lived companies before cofounding Ballet Society in 1946. In 1948 the company, under the new name of New York City Ballet, became the resident ballet company of the New York City Center for Music and Drama. Kirstein assumed the role of general director and Balanchine became artistic director.

In the 1950s the New York City Ballet began touring and gained worldwide renown. The innovative, neoclassical ballets that Balanchine created for the company, especially his plotless works, earned high praise. Among these works are Agon (1957), performed to commissioned music by Russian American composer Igor Stravinsky; Jewels (1967); and Vienna Waltzes (1977). Jerome Robbins, associate artistic director of the organization from 1949 to 1959 and ballet master from 1969 to 1983, also received wide acclaim for his imaginative and theatrical choreography in pieces such as The Cage (1951); Watermill (1972), which drew on Japanese music and Nō theater; and Glass Pieces (1983), performed to music by minimalist composer Philip Glass. In 1964 the New York City Ballet moved to facilities in Lincoln Center, and during the 1970s the company's roster grew to more than 100 dancers, becoming the largest dance organization in the United States. After Balanchine's death in 1983, Robbins and dancer and choreographer Peter Martins shared the title of ballet master in chief, overseeing the company. Upon Robbins's retirement in 1990, Martins assumed sole responsibility for directing the company's operations.

The company has an active repertoire of more than 100 works, choreographed chiefly by Balanchine, Robbins, and Martins. Other choreographers who created ballets for the company include Sir Frederick Ashton, Anthony Tudor, Todd Bolender, Jacques d'Amboise, John Clifford, John Taras, William Forsythe, and Richard Tanner. The company's most celebrated principal dancers have included Maria Tallchief, Tanaquil LeClercq, Diana Adams, Allegra Kent, Patricia McBride, Violette Verdy, Suzanne Farrell, Gelsey Kirkland, Edward Villella, d'Amboise, Mikhail Baryshnikov, André Eglevsky, and Martins.

Reviewed by: New York City Ballet