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
Kansas City Ballet of the 1969-70 season, Solov returned to Kansas City to create and present three world premiere ballets with the KCB: The World I Knew (set to Massenet's Scenes Alsaciennes), Zygosis, and Divertissement. Lead roles in the first piece were danced by New York City Ballet guest artists Jacques d'Amboise and Melissa Hayden. For the spring 1970 performance, the KCB presented the ballet Laurencia, staged by guest artists. In 1970, the mayor of Kansas City, Ilus Winfield Davis proclaimed a special “Civic Ballet Week." During the 1970-1971 season, the company name changed back to Kansas City Ballet. In the spring of