New York City Ballet New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's first music director. City Ballet grew out of earlier troupes: the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet, 1934; the American Ballet, 1935, and Ballet Caravan, 1936, which merged into American Ballet Caravan, 1941; and directly from the Ballet Society, 1946. In a 1946 letter, Kirstein stated, "The only justification I have is to enable Balanchine to do exactly
Oklahoma City Ballet celebrating Oklahoma’s 60th year of statehood. In 1970 the Board of Trustees formed a new group, Oklahoma City Metropolitan Ballet Society and with the generous support of Vernon Pellow, Sr. the company began as the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Ballet with Yvonne Chouteau staying on as founding artistic director. Ballerina and Oklahoma native Maria Tallchief worked together with Ms. Chouteau to audition dancers for the company. Yvonne Chouteau was succeeded by New York City Ballet principal dancers Conrad and Joy Ludlow, who directed the Company from 1973–1979. The Ludlow’s founded the company’s affiliate school and joined Oklahoma City's Allied Arts organization.