Upon his death in 1983, choreographer and renowned ballet dancer George Balanchine did not anticipate his 465 works to live on without him. However, this could not be further from the truth.: Balanchine is commonly referred to as the “father of American ballet.” The School of American Ballet (SAB) and New York City Ballet (NYCB), both of which he founded, continue to preserve his choreography as well as reflect his purpose and distinctive choreographic style. Balanchine also impacted both the United States and Soviet Union during the Cold War and continues to inspire the next generation of ballet dancers, despite the lasting controversy about the authenticity of modern Balanchine stylistic portrayals.
As a student in Tbilisi, Georgia, Balanchine trained in the Russian style of ballet — the Vaganova method. His career began with a tour of Europe throughout the 1920s. In 1933, Balanchine left the Soviet Union and moved to New York City, where he co-founded SAB in 1934. Once the school was established, he began to create choreography for his students, and the next year produced his first ballet, Serenade. Set to Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings and featuring simple blue costumes, Serenade utilizes captivating, sweeping movements which embody the music in a way that even the most iconic choreographers had not yet achieved, and serves as a profound demonstration of the emergence of the themes of the Balanchine style of ballet..
Balanchine choreographed a collection of revolutionary ballets in his time, 75 of which are still performed today across the globe. The main focus of his career was to develop the Balanchine style which led ballet in a more modern and abstract direction. The Balanchine style is known for balancing speedy dynamics and sudden movements without reducing emphasis on precision or strength. Another key characteristic of Balanchine’s work is its attention to arranging the movement to intimately convey the fluidity of the music despite also featuring sharp and intense steps. The Balanchine style also emphasizes the precision of the lines the dancers create with their bodies and employs many abstract and unconventional placements of the arms and hands. In fact, many Balanchine ballets do not have a set plot to allow the dancers to reflect the music in nuanced ways and for each audience member to observe their own adaptations of the story. Dancers feel that Balanchine’s work grants them the ability to dance much more freely, so they seek to understand and incorporate Balanchine’s aesthetic to the best of their ability. Additionally, Balanchine was innovative in how he gave opportunities to members of the corps de ballet, or lower ranking company members, to occupy a larger presence on stage and dance more difficult steps in order to develop their artistry.
“I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a dancer, even if Balanchine was foreign to them, who did not have an epiphany, a wow feeling, dancing his ballets,” former NYCB dancer Nikolaj Hübbe said to the New York Times. “Our dancers love them, revel in them. There’s a logic that speaks to all classically trained dancers. The choreography sings well. I don’t think that will ever go away.” Yet, the permanence of Balanchine’s legacy remains uncertain. Balanchine himself was uncertain about this, referring to his works as butterflies, saying that they would only last for a season and then die off. While many companies continue to perform Balanchine ballets and certain ballet schools train young artists in the Balanchine style, the question of the authenticity of these portrayals still stands. Among the ballet community, there is now a large debate over whether Balanchine works not staged and rehearsed by Balanchine himself could even be considered Balanchine nor have the potential to live up to what it was intended to be. He even suggested this himself as he believed his legacy would die with him– Brian Seibert discussed this controversy in the New York Times.
“Always, there have been questions about authenticity. Balanchine frequently changed his choreography — for different dancers and stages — so which was the right version and in whose memory of it? And beyond the steps, was the spirit transferable, the elusive and usually unspoken ideas, the all-important musicality? … For many viewers, Balanchine after Balanchine wasn’t Balanchine at all, and couldn’t be.”
However, Balanchine still managed to create a lasting legacy outside of the choreography he staged in New York City. According to the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, Balanchine aimed to make a point to serve as an “artistic public diplomat in his ancestral country of Georgia.” The height of Balanchine’s career took place between the 1940s and 1960s, the same time the USA and USSR were engaging in the Cold War. Throughout this period, Balanchine brought his dancers on tour to the Soviet Union, including his homeland of Georgia, and in exchange, the leading Soviet Dance companies such as the Bolshoi Ballet traveled to the USA to perform their repertoire. As Balanchine was a respected Soviet individual who became successful in the United States during the Cold War, the choreographer helped loosen tensions between the two nations, as well as build respect for the American ballet industry across the Soviet Union. Balanchine was especially well-respected by his fellow Georgians who saw him as an inspiration.
In addition, parts of the Bolshoi Ballet choreography and programming conveyed messages of Soviet cultural advancement and superiority, according to USC Center on Public Diplomacy, whereas Balanchine’s work aimed to display American ideals and represent themes such as freedom, independence, hope and joy. For example, Balanchine’s ballet Stars and Stripes
displays American traits, featuring dancers in costumes which resemble the American flag. The ballet’s leading character, the Liberty Bell, performs salute-like movements and marches in front of a grand red, white, and blue backdrop. Although the ballet is plotless, its challenging, powerful movements and upbeat music collaborate to deliver a message of American patriotism and the ideals highlighted by American culture. The ballet Western Symphony, which features dancers dressed in cowboy hats and is set to American folk tunes, also demonstrates a similar American message and received a deluge across the USSR.
