A century ago, on January 22, 1904, George Balanchine, the foremost contemporary choreographer in the world of ballet, was born in Russia.
A major artistic figure of the 20th century, Balanchine reinvented first himself, then ballet.
He revolutionized the look of classical dance. Taking classicism as his base, he heightened, quickened, expanded, streamlined, and even inverted the fundamentals of the 400-year-old language of academic dance. This had an inestimable influence on the growth of dance in the United States.
Although at first his style seemed particularly suited to the energy and speed of American dancers, especially those he trained, his ballets are now performed by all the major classical ballet companies throughout the world.
As George Balanchine's centenary approaches, ballet companies from his homeland Russia to the US where he established his name, from the United Kingdom to Puerto Rico, are saluting the choreographer's genius with all-Balanchine seasons, festivals, or shows.
For ballet professionals and fans as well, it is impossible to imagine today's choreographic scene without George Balanchine. Not only are his works still performed everywhere, but there are few dance-makers who would not acknowledge him as a landmark presence.
Balanchine's style has been described as neoclassic, a reaction to the Romantic anti-classicism, which had turned into exaggerated theatricality -- the prevailing style in Russian and European ballet when he began to dance.
Combining modern America with imperial Russia and the European avant garde, his most typical ballets not only dispensed with characters and plots but threw out elaborate designs -- for both sets and costumes.
As a choreographer, Balanchine generally de-emphasized plot in his ballets, preferring to let "dance be the star of the show," as he once told an interviewer.
He created moves that no one had ever seen before and put them together with a speed, scale and logic that were unique.
Balanchine himself wrote: "We must first realize that dancing is an absolutely independent art, not merely a secondary accompanying one. I believe that it is one of the great arts. Like the music of great musicians, it can be enjoyed and understood without any verbal introduction or explanation.
"The important thing in ballet is that movement itself, as it is sound which is important in a symphony. A ballet may contain a story, but the visual spectacle, not the story is the essential element.
"The choreographer and the dancer must remember that they reach the audience through the eye -- and the audience, in its turn, must train itself to see what is performed upon the stage.
"It is the illusion created which convinces the audience, much as it is with the work of a magician. If the illusion fails, the ballet fails, no matter how well a programme note may try to convince the audience that it has succeeded."
Judith Mackrell, dance writer with The Guardian comments, "Balanchine possessed two requirements for genius: clarity of purpose and a wide-ranging curiosity."
Clement Crisp, a dance writer, summed up his contribution to the world of ballet:
"It is hard to think of the ballet world without the colossal presence of George Balanchine... But we have not lost Balanchine -- not the essential Balanchine, who lives in the great catalogue of masterpieces that have so shaped and refined our understanding of ballet and given it -- and us -- thrilling life."
George Balanchine died at the age of 79 on April 30, 1983.
(China Daily January 16, 2004)
