Kirstein, Lincoln

Kirstein, Lincoln

(kûr`stīn, kĭr`–), 1907–96, American dance and theater executive and writer, b. Rochester, N.Y. One of the most significant figures in 20th cent. American ballet, Kirstein was cofounder of the American Ballet and the School of the American Ballet in 1934 and of Ballet Caravan in 1936. He is best known for helping to establish the New York City BalletNew York City Ballet
(NYCB), one of the foremost American dance companies of the 20th and 21st cents. It was founded by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine as the Ballet Society in 1946.
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, and was its general director from 1948 to 1989. Together with choreographer George BalanchineBalanchine, George
, 1904–83, American choreographer and ballet dancer, b. St. Petersburg, Russia, as Georgi Balanchivadze. The son of a Georgian composer and a Russian mother, Balanchine attended (1913–21) the Imperial Ballet School, St.
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, whom he brought to the United States in 1933, Kirstein encouraged the development of a truly American style of dance. He was the author of many books on dance, including Dance (1935), a compendious history; Ballet Alphabet (1939); The Classic Ballet, Basic Technique and Terminology (with Muriel Stuart, 1952); Movement and Metaphor (1970); a history of the New York City Ballet (1973); Nijinsky Dancing (1975); and Ballet: Bias and Belief (1983).

A man of enormous refinement, varied interests, and definite tastes, Kirstein was also the author of numerous essays, many collected in By With To & From (1991); a novel (1932); two books of poetry (1965, 1987); dance and art criticism; and several works on modern figurative artists, including the definitive biography of Elie NadelmanNadelman, Elie
, 1882–1946, Polish-American sculptor, b. Warsaw. He spent some time in Paris and is said to have influenced Picasso. Before he settled (1914) in the United States his work was exhibited in New York City at the Armory Show in 1913.
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 (1973) and two studies of Pavel TchelitchewTchelitchew, Pavel
, 1898–1957, Russian-American painter. His first commissions, ballet designs, were given him while he was living in Berlin (1921–23), whence he had fled from the Russian Revolution. Moving to Paris (1923), he became associated with Diaghilev.
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 (1947, 1994). In the U.S. army during and after World War II, Kirstein was instrumental in recovering for their owners works of art plundered by Nazi officials during the war. As a producer he worked with the American Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford, Conn., and for many years presented the 12th-century musical drama The Play of Daniel annually at Christmas in New York. Kirstein also promoted cultural exchange programs between Japan and the United States.

Bibliography

See his memoirs, Thirty Years with the New York City Ballet (1978), Quarry (1986), and Mosaic (1994); biography by M. Duberman (2007).

Kirstein, Lincoln (Edward)

(1907– ) writer, impresario; born in Rochester, N.Y. Heir to a Filene (department store) fortune, he fell in love with the theater as a child and was profoundly inspired by Anna Pavlova in 1920. After graduating from Harvard, he reviewed dance and theater for Horn and Hound, which he cofounded. In 1933 he recognized George Balanchine's talents, sponsored his emigration to the United States, and, to provide vehicles for Balanchine's talents, founded the School of American Ballet in 1934 and the American Ballet Company the following year. The American Ballet became attached to the Metropolitan Opera the following year, when Kirstein also ran Ballet Caravan. In 1946 Kirstein and Balanchine founded the Ballet Society, and in 1948 they moved to New York's new City Center as the directors of what became one of America's top-ranking companies, New York City Ballet. Officially retired in 1989, Kirstein remained a presence in the American dance world and intellectual life. He wrote several books, including Dance (1935) and Movement and Metaphor (1970), as well as poetry, and was founder-editor of Dance Index Magazine (1942–48).