New York City Ballet, one of the foremost American dance companies of the 20th cent. It was founded by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine as the Ballet Society in 1946. In 1948 the company took its present name and began regular performances at the New York City Center. It moved to the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1964. Under Balanchine's direction the company developed a distinctly American style of dancing, combining Italian, French, and Russian traditions with an austere emotional control and flair for musicality. The company's works have ranged from the intensely dramatic Age of Anxiety (1950) and the highly comic Souvenirs (1955) to the formal abstractions of Agon (1958) and the lavish theatricality of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1962). Although Balanchine was closely identified with the company's development, other outstanding choreographers, including Jerome Robbins, have also created works for it. Its roster of exceptional performers has included Maria Tallchief, Melissa Hayden, André Eglevsky, Todd Bolender, Suzanne Farrell, Edward Villella, and Jacques d'Amboise. The company has toured extensively throughout the United States and abroad. Balanchine, who was involved with the company up until his death in 1983, was succeeded by Peter Martins and (until 1990) Jerome Robbins, who were named co-ballet masters in chief.
See study by L. Kirstein (1973, rev. ed. 1978); L. Garafola, ed., Dance for a City (1999).
