Essay on George Balanchine - 1558 Words

George Balanchine One of the most important and influential people in the world of ballet is George Balanchine. He became a legend long before he died. He brought the standards of dance up to a level that had never been seen before, and he created a new audience for ballet. Balanchine was one of the greatest and most prolific choreographers in ballet history, choreographing at least 300 ballets; he was rivaled in quantity only by Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa. At the age of nine he started training at the Imperial School in St. Petersburg. He rarely saw his family because they lived far away and he became the ward of Grigory Grigorevich, who was in charge of the school. There Balanchine†¦show more content†¦In 1924, with Vladimir Dimitrievs help, Balanchine, Tamara Geva, Nicholas Efimov, and Alexandra Danilova formed the Soviet State Dancers, and were allowed to tour Germany during the Maryinsky vacation. They decided not to return to Russia, but to defect and go to England. The small comp any did so poorly in London that they were bought out of their contracts. They then went to Paris in hopes of finding work. Serge Diaghilev heard of this Russian company and sent for them. He hired the four dancers, and also allowed Dimitriev to work for the company. Diaghilev thought the Georgians name Balanchivadze was too difficult to pronounce and changed it to Balanchine. Diaghilev was immediately impressed with Balanchines creative ballets and wanted him to choreograph for the opera in Monte Carlo. For the Ballets Russes he created Apollo in 1928 and The Prodigal Son in 1929, which have remained Blanchines signature pieces to this day. In 1926 Geva divorced him and went to America, and Alexandra Danilova became his unofficial wife. In 1929, while still with the Diaghilev company. Balanchine choreographed and danced in Dark Red Roses, the first talking motion picture in England. It was at this time that Balanchine heard of Diaghilevs death, leaving him and the entire Ballets Russes without work. George Balanchine past successes found him work as a choreographer in London, Copenhagen, Paris and also for a new company in Monte Carlo under theShow MoreRelatedGeorge Balanchine Essay821 Words   |  4 PagesGeorge Balanchine Ballet is one of the worlds oldest and newest forms of dance. One man that created new audiences for ballet and mastered the dance to its fullest was none other than George Balanchine. He brought the standard ballet to levels no one has ever seen before. In the world of dance, there have been many wonderful and talented choreographers but Balanchines work affected the dance world so much that he was a legend long before his death. Not only was he legendary worldwide but alsoRead More George Balanchine Essay6674 Words   |  27 PagesGeorge Balanchine If composers are the masters of time, then the choreographer George Balanchine is the master of visual realization of that time in human terms. A master in both the kinesthetic and musical frames of creativity, he did not devote his energies to music visualization by assigning a certain number of dancers to represent strings, others the brass, and still others woodwinds or percussion but by creating a visual analogy in space that restates the musical structure with the trainedRead MoreGeorge Balanchine s The Nutcracker1636 Words   |  7 PagesFink Professor Christopher Connelly Humanities 101 6 December 2016 George Balanchine and The Nutcracker George Balanchine himself said, â€Å"The choreographer and the dancer must remember that they reach the audience through the eye. It’s the illusion created which convinces the audience, much as it is with the work of a magician.†  ³ Balanchine could be considered just that of a magician in the way that he brought his ballets to life. George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, could truly be described as an illustrationRead MoreGeorge Balanchine And Russian Ballet1058 Words   |  5 Pages As world has changed over the last century or so, the ballet world has been changing with it. There are many people who have helped shape that change. The changes in style were mainly influenced by George Balanchine. George Balanchine, a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer, also known as the father of American ballet, was the man who was said to have changed the style of ballet forever. Along with these changes in style came changes in visual design elements, inspirational figu res, and changesRead More Women In Ballet Essay examples1085 Words   |  5 Pagesis the Nutcracker who gives the Mouse King a mortal wound (Banes 60). Ultimately, The Nutcracker is Claras girlhood dream of love and marriage. In the Land of Sweets, Clara is finally able to be with her prince and with shining eyes adores him (Balanchine 249-253). The Nutcracker also restores the ideal that marriage for gentry women is sweet, pleasant, and fulfilling. In the metaphoric wedding feast in Act II, Clara is calm and docile watching the various antics, but not participating, which alsoRead MoreEssay on My First Semester of College1157 Words   |  5 Pagesclass if I was to take away one key element, or topic that made the biggest impact in my life it would be George Balanchine. Even though Balanchine appears in ballet no matter what time period an individual is talking about the name Balanchine can easily be connected to the topic of conversation and I think that is truly remarkable. One thing that I found truly remarkable about Balanchine was how he strived in the face of adversity. Even though he was in a sense kicked out of the Balle t RusseRead MoreBiography Of George Balanchine s The Ballet 1000 Words   |  4 Pages George Balanchine once said â€Å"The Ballet is purely a female thing; it is a woman, a garden of beautiful flowers, and man is a gardener† (Goellner and Murphy, 36) , but this ideology doesn’t apply to everyone. King Louis XIV of France wasn’t a gardener, but the beautiful flower. He started practicing ballet from a young age. The ballet was rising in the late 17th century and it had an important role both in social and political sections. Also named as the Sun king, Louis XIV had theRead MoreBallet : Women And Women1089 Words   |  5 Pages Although nowadays gender has no boundaries in the world of dance, dance has always been known for its gender significance towards women such as ballet as it is created to look graceful and according to Balanchine, â€Å"ballet was women† because the truest form of ballet was the long lines of the female body (â€Å"cite source†). Even though ballet was developed in the courts of Renaissance Italy by a man, King Louis XIV, it was actually introduced by an Italian noblewoman, Catherine de’ Medici and one ofRead MoreContemporary Ballet853 Words   |  4 Pagesand innovations of the 20th century modern dance; including floor work and turn-in and out of the legs. George Balanchine is often considerate to have been the first pioneer of the Contemporary Ballet. He used flexed hands and feet, turn-in legs, off centered positions, and non classical costumes; such as leotards, unitards, and/or tunics. One dancer who trained with Balanchine was Mekhair Baryshnikov. He was an artistic director of the American Ballet Theater. In 1980 he began workingRead MoreSearching For Nijinsky s Sacre By Millicent Hodson1611 Words   |  7 Pagesarticle’s main point. The Balanchine Woman: Of Hummingbirds and Channel Swimmers â€Å"The Balanchine Women: Of Hummingbirds and Channel Swimmers† was written by Ann Daly. Daly is an essayist who specializes in writing on women and women’s history. Many of her writings have appeared in journals such as The New York Times, Village Voice, and Texas Observer. The excerpt is a journal article from The Drama Review, which was published in 1987. In â€Å"The Balanchine Woman: Of Hummingbirds and Channel