(click on George Balanchine above to go to the link)
As I was researching the New York City Ballet, I came upon this video about George Balanchine, the creator and choreographer of the NYCB, and his extraordinary variety of work. It discusses his three main styles in which he developed ballets: romantic, classic, and modern. Although they are all very different, they all take root in the classical style. For example, during the modern ballet clips shown, they have the same black leotards and tights with classical technique (turned out legs and such), but he added flexed feet and palms with more staccato music. The video then discusses Balanchine’s history and how the school, New York City Ballet, came about. He was invited to America by Lincoln Kirstein, and they started the school together; it folded and there were a few things that held it back, but then they developed NYCB. Watching the video and seeing the different clips of the ballets really pulled my interest. In my personal opinion, these are some the most well trained and technical dancers we have watched this far. Some of the ballets included are Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Stars and Stripes, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, and Who Cares? I would thoroughly enjoy watching any of these ballets further, and I am ready to learn more about Balanchine and the New York City Ballet on Thursday!
Madeline Roebuck
Everything is Beautiful at the Ballet 
I have watched a few clips of various ballets that Balanchine created and am in love with his style. In one of the videos I watched, some one said that the idea of the “Balanchine Technique” exist today, but in reality, there is no such technique; it is just classical ballet that Balanchine has perfected. He added in the concepts of flexed feet and hands and faster music like Madeline had mentioned. Some how these few changes in classical ballet has created a crazy turn of events for classical ballet though out time.
Lian Dellasala
I found George Balanchine to be vital the development of Ballet in America. I fact I’ve heard him referred to as the “father of American Ballet”. One of the things I know he is accredited for the Balanchine body. This is the optimal body for ballet. The girls must have long legs, a small oval shaped head, and they must be very thin. It is speculated that he even told some of the girls not to eat. With all that being said, this body worked well with the ballet technique and it allowed him to develop many beautifully skilled dancers like you mentioned above. The ballets he worked on were very challenging but they came out to be astonishing because he was so particular.
Ashley Driver