George Balanchine By Emily White

The Life of George Balanchine George Balanchine was born January 22, 1904in St. Petersburg, Russia. His full name is Geori Melitanovitch Balanchivadze. He was born into a musical family and started studying piano at the age of 5. Also at the age of 9 he started classical education, acting, and dancing classes. When he started ballet, he was not sure if it would work out, so in a back- up plan he joined Tsar’s cadets (the army in Russia). He wanted to go to America when he wanted to start his own ballet company. But the Russian government didn’t want him to,so he escaped from Russia to America. This was were he founded the American Ballet and the New York City Ballet. That is were he found his 6 wives.

George Balanchine’s Ballets George Balanchine made and did many ballets. His favorite was “ Sleeping Beauty.” He made the ballets for his wives and his legends. Here is a list of some of the ballets that he performed: Don Quote, Sleeping Beauty, Firebird, Nutcracker, Seven Deadly Sins, Stars and Stripes, A Midsummer's Dream, Harlequinade, Swan Lake, and Jewels. These are also some of his most successful ballets.

George Balanchine’s Wives George Balanchine had 4 wives in his life time all of them dancers. There names are Tamaqua Le Clerq, Maria Tallchief, Vera Zorina, and Tamar Geva. All of them where divorced by Balanchine. They called him “Mr. B.” Also all of them were his muse. He gave his dancers perfumes as a gift. But then Suzanne Farrell came along and stole his heart. He made many ballets for her with her the lead role for many performances. He finally asked her to marry him, but she said, “No.”

George Balanchine died in April 30 th, George Balanchine died of Mad Cow disease. P.S.

Quotes “The ballet is purely a female thing, it is a woman, a garden of beautiful, and man is the gardener.” “One is born to be a great dancer.” “First comes the sweat. Then comes the beauty - if you're very lucky and have said your prayers.” “In my ballets, woman is first. Men are consorts. God made men to sing the praises of women. They are not equal to men: They are better.”

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