Ballet Society Ballet Society Ballet Society is a non-profit educational institution founded in 1946 by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine. At its founding, Balanchine was the Artistic Director and Kirstein served as the Secretary. The president of Ballet Society is Nancy Lassalle, an original Board member of both the School of American Ballet and the New York City Ballet, currently Emerita. The first performance took place on November 20, 1946 at the Central High School of Needle Trades in New York City. In its first season, it opened with "The Four Temperaments" and the "Spellbound Child". Ballet Society's purpose was to develop
New York International Ballet Competition careers by producing performances in New York City, and promote international understanding and goodwill. NYIBC's unique format in the ballet world provided its participants with a fair level playing field, and distinguished it from all other ballet competitions. For the three-week intensive program of dance education and professional training, all 48 dancers from around the world received full scholarships to participate. The dancers learned the same choreographic version of the pas de deux and contemporary duet chosen for each progressive round. Prior to arriving to New York City, none of the dancers knew the choice of repertoire, thus increasing the