By the time of his death on April 30, 1983, George Balanchine had created over 400 works and was recognized as a 20th-century master alongside Picasso and Stravinsky. Here is the story of how the man born Georg Melitonovitch Balanchivadze in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1904 went on to become the artistic director and primary choreographer of the New York City Ballet:

The man who would one day rank among the greatest choreographers in the history of ballet came to the United States in late 1933 following an early career throughout Europe. His trip came at the invitation of Lincoln Kirstein, a Boston born dance connoisseur whose dream it was to establish an American school of ballet and company equivalent to those in Europe.

The first result of the Balanchine-Kirstein collaboration was the School of American Ballet, founded in early 1934. It later became known as the premier American ballet academy and breeding ground for the New York City Ballet, which Balanchine and Kirstein were to establish together after 14 more years, in 1948. Balanchine’s first ballet in this country was “Serenade,” set to music by Tchaikovsky, which was premiered outdoors on the estate of a friend near White Plains, New York, as a workshop performance by students of the school.

In 1935, Balanchine and Kirstein set up a touring company of dancers from the school and called it the American Ballet. That same year the Metropolitan Opera invited the company to become its resident ballet, with Balanchine as the Met’s ballet master. On October 11, 1948, Morton Baum, chairman of the City Center finance committee, saw Ballet Society, formed two years earlier by Balanchine and Kirstein, in a City Center Theater program that included “Orpheus,” “Serenade” and “Symphony in C” (a ballet Balanchine had created for the Paris Opera Ballet under the title “Le Palais de Cristal” the previous year).

Baum was so impressed that he negotiated to have the company join the City Center municipal complex. Balanchine’s talents had found a permanent home. That home was to become known as New York City Ballet and Balanchine would serve as its artistic director until his death in 1983.

With a company initially strapped for cash, Balanchine eschewed elaborate costumes and sets and presented his dancers in practice clothes, an innovation he continued to use for selected ballets long after money was no longer an issue. Among the “practice-clothes ballets” in the Balanchine repertory: “Agon,” “Episodes,” “Ivesiana,” “Kammermusic No. 2,” and more than 20 Stravinsky/ Balanchine collaborations.

At this time, he also choreographed “The Nutcracker,” New York City Ballet’s first full-length ballet and an enduring popular success. Although it took a long while for New York City Ballet to become a popular company, by the time Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opened in 1964, Balanchine’s reputation was established and he was ready to reach a larger audience on a larger stage.

To many observers who followed New York City Ballet through the lean years, the opulent and elaborate productions that began to emerge at the New York State Theater must have seemed out of character. For those, however, who realized that Balanchine had dreamed of creating for America what the Maryinsky had been for Russia, the development was perfectly logical, and ballets such as “Don Quixote,” “Union Jack,” “Jewels,” and “Vienna Waltzes” soon followed.

The legacy left by Balanchine when he died remains as profound as it is extensive.

“I get my energy, I think, from being afraid to choreograph, being afraid to fail.”

In 1952, a 22-year old athlete with little training or experience won a work scholarship to the American Dance Festival. Powerfully built, he immediately captured the attention of dance giants Martha Graham, José Limón, and Doris Humphrey. This young dancer had a commanding presence, instinctive talent, and a unique way of moving. Taylor was invited to join the Martha Graham Dance Company, where he began his professional career. While starring as a soloist with Martha Graham’s company, Paul Taylor assembled The Paul Taylor Dance Company. Throughout the long career that has followed, his company became one of America’s premier troupes. Today, Taylor is considered by many to be the greatest living choreographer.

Born in Wilkinsburg, PA, in 1930, Taylor had a turbulent and lonely childhood, often separated from his parents. After attending Syracuse University on scholarships in painting and swimming, he began to study dance. Two years later he joined the Martha Graham Dance Company, where he performed in a number of pieces, including “Clytemnestra” (1958), “Alcestis” (1960) and “Phaedra” (1962). While still with the Martha Graham Dance Company, he danced for a number of other great contemporary choreographers, including Merce Cunningham and George Balanchine. It was, however, with his own dance company, which he founded in 1954, that Taylor made his greatest contribution to the art of dance.

In the mid-fifties, as New York was confidently asserting its position as the major cultural center for the arts, Taylor’s emerging talent was beginning to be recognized. Excited by the experimental arts of the time, Taylor became friends and collaborators with the painters Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Taylor shared their desire to bring the vernacular into high art. Using gestures and stances from the street, Taylor’s work reflects the beauty and pathos of society. In a number of his early pieces, Taylor composed dances of everyday gestures, such as checking a watch or waiting for a bus. Once seen separated from their context, one can recognize the richness of these everyday movements. For Taylor, a dance is the first step in returning the viewer to the street more aware of the beauty in the simple movements he or she sees every day.

Throughout the late 50s, 60s, and 70s he performed some of the most exciting and inventive dances of the time. “Duet” (1957) was an experimental piece in which Taylor stands next to a reclining woman in street clothes, and neither one moves. This four-minute piece was a distillation of many essential elements of dance, calling attention to posture and the interconnection of people within a space. Similar to other minimalist experimental artists of the time, Taylor’s break with convention was simply a starting-off point for further investigation. His later pieces combine this minimalist performance with ballet. Among the best known of these are “Three Epitaphs” (1956), “Orbs” (1966), “The Book of Beasts” (1971), and “Airs” (1978). His “Aureole” (1962) is one of the most highly respected dance works of the time for its grace and technical difficulty. It is Taylor’s combination of the subtlety of ballet with the spontaneity of everyday gesture that has made him such a powerful force in modern dance.

No longer dancing himself, Taylor has spent the past two decades devoted completely to directing his company and teaching the younger generations the rigors and beauty of dance. Taylor continues to find his inspiration both in the streets and in the studio. For him, watching the dancers move and responding to those movements is an essential part of his work. In this way the choreography becomes both an individual and communal endeavor. Among the dancers to move through his company on the way to starting their own were Laura Dean, Twyla Tharp, Dan Wagoner, and Senta Driver. Through these students and through the continued productions of his dance company, Paul Taylor’s work continues to inspire people throughout the world.