- Quit dancing in his prime to choreograph.
- The co-founder of the New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet, he choreographed more than 80 works with his NYCB company.
- Two of his wives played the same role in different productions of Rodgers and Hart's musical "On Your Toes", and both danced the ballet "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" in it. Tamara Geva appeared in the 1936 original Broadway production, in which her leading man was Ray Bolger, best known for playing "The Scarecrow" in the iconic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz (1939). Vera Zorina appeared in the 1939 film version of "On Your Toes", and her leading man was Eddie Albert, who later starred in the hit television series Green Acres (1965). The film version, however, dropped all the songs, although it kept the ballet music.
- Son of Georgian composer Meliton Balanchivadze. Brother of Georgian composer Andrei Balanchivadze.
- His 1954 staging of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" is probably his most famous work. It is the version most responsible for making the complete ballet an annual Christmas tradition throughout the United States. It has been performed in New York City annually since 1954,and still continues its run there - and in 1965, Atlanta, Ga. was one of the first cities outside New York to be granted the rights to perform the Balanchine version. It has also been filmed.
- Had unrequited romantic intentions with close friend and artistic muse Suzanne Farrell, prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet, even while he was still married. Balanchine received a Mexican divorce from his wife in order to marry Farrell, but returned to New York and found she had already married boyfriend and fellow New York City Ballet dancer Paul Mejia. Heartbroken, he kicked Mejia out of the company and when Farrell attempted to stand up for her husband she was also exiled. Farrell eventually reconciled with Balanchine and rejoined the company several years later. Balanchine never married again.
- He choreographed his very first work, a pas de deux called "La Nuit" for himself and a woman.
- As a child, both he and his sister auditioned for the St. Petersburg's rigorous Imperial Theater School. His sister didn't make it, but he did. He was one of the few boys.
- During the Russian Revolution, he played the piano in cabarets and silent movie houses for food and drink (when money was worthless).
- (February 5, 1970) He was awarded the Handel Medallion, New York City's biggest award for cultural achievement at the State Theatre at Lincoln Center in New York City.
- Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 32-35. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
- A monument at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre in Georgia was dedicated in Balanchine's memory.
- Balanchine was invited to America in 1933 by a young arts patron named Lincoln Kirstein, and together they founded the School of American Ballet. Along with Kirstein, Balanchine also co-founded the New York City Ballet.
- George Balanchine Way is a segment of West 63rd Street (located between Columbus Avenue and Broadway) in New York City that was renamed in his honor in June 1990.
- He was a choreographer known for his musicality; he expressed music with dance and worked extensively with leading composers of his time like Igor Stravinsky.
- His choreography is characterized by plotless ballets with minimal costume and décor, performed to classical and neoclassical music.
- With his School of American Ballet, New York City Ballet, and 400 choreographed works, Balanchine transformed American dance and created neoclassical ballet, developing a unique style with his dancers highlighted by brilliant speed and attack.
- A crater on Mercury was named in his honor.
- After years of illness, Balanchine died on April 30, 1983, aged 79, in Manhattan from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which was diagnosed only after his death. He first showed symptoms during 1978 when he began losing his balance while dancing. As the disease progressed, his equilibrium, eyesight, and hearing deteriorated. By 1982, he was incapacitated. The night of his death, the company went on with its scheduled performance, which included Divertimento No. 15 and Symphony in C at Lincoln Center.
- In 1923, Balanchine married Tamara Geva, a sixteen-year-old dancer. After later parting ways with Geva, he became romantically involved with the ballerina Alexandra Danilova, from approximately 1924 to 1931. As The New York Times described their relationship in its obituary for Danilova: "She and Balanchine left the Soviet Union in 1924... Until 1931, she and Balanchine lived together as husband and wife, although they were never married. Balanchine was still officially married to another dancer, Tamara Geva, and he told Miss Danilova that because his marriage papers had been left behind in Russia, he feared it might be difficult to arrange a legal separation.".
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