George Balanchine

George Balanchine is regarded as the foremost contemporary choreographer in the world of ballet. St Petersburg-born Balanchine had both the music and dance of Russia in his blood. Extensive musical training put him on equal grounds in communicating with great composers and enabled him to reduce orchestral scores on the piano, which is an invaluable aid in translating music into dance. Balanchine’s style has been described as neo-classical, de-emphasising plot in ballets and preferring to let “dance be the star of the show”. In his lifetime, he created 465 works, including Jewels as one of the renowned pieces.