Carolina Ballet in the Triangle region was not only needed but desired as well. Robert Weiss, former principal dancer with New York City Ballet and past artistic director of Pennsylvania Ballet, was selected in April 1997 as the founding artistic director of the new professional company, known as Carolina Ballet, Inc. Dancers of the Carolina Ballet, as of April 2016: Carolina Ballet Carolina Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1997 which performs primarily in Raleigh, North Carolina and throughout the state. It has toured to New York City, Hungary and China. Robert Weiss, the artistic director, danced for George Balanchine for
Kansas City Ballet in 1967, it performed a program at the Kansas City Music Hall featuring three guest choreographers. In 1968, the company moved to Treadway Hall on the University of Missouri–Kansas City Campus. In April 1968, choreographer Zachary Solov began a multi-year collaboration with the KCB, coming to Kansas City to choreograph and stage two world premiere ballets with the KCB: an abstract piece set to Mozart's Symphony No. 40 and a theater ballet based on Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns. The program also included performances by New York City Ballet guest artists Edward Villella and Patricia McBride. For the opening