George Balanchine: Why we care about his ballets | Heather Watts | TEDxYouth@LFNY

As a former ballerina from the New York City Ballet under the leadership of George Balanchine, Heather Watts is going to talk about Balanchine's ballet and why they are important.
Former ballerina from the New York City Ballet
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@suziwood5239]

I enjoyed Heather's talk. However she made the mistake many do in saying that he brought the first Nutcracker to America. Balanchine presented it in 1954, but Willam Christensen presented his Nutcracker in San Francisco in 1944.

[@adelasussman3838]

Yes, I know that coming from Utah where Willem Christensen was the founder of Ballet West.

[@yesloow]

@@adelasussman3838 Before founding Ballet West, he and his brothers founded the San Francisco Ballet, which was where the Nutcracker was first performed in the USA, along with many other major ballets. While SF Ballet now has a different Nutcracker production, choreographed by their former Artistic Director, Helgi Thomason, my understanding is that the original Christensen choreography is still performed by Ballet West.

[@lazarocedeno5270]

Beautiful speech, brilliantly and with honor, sharing with us ,your deeply felt, knowledge and experience, as a great dancer, with the New York City Ballet. Bravo. I greatly appreciated your dancing and artistry. Dear Ms. Heather. You honor Mr Balanchine and also all of us. Thanks dear.

[@antbar8796]

God bless you Heather.I saw you dance numerous times with NYCB. Thank you dear.

[@ketevaniherfort6765]

George Balanchine’s real name was Giorgi Balanchivadze and he was Georgian🇬🇪The fact, that he was born in soviet era, doesn‘t make him russian.

[@bobcohen4008]

He was born in Petrograd, later Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. His family may have been from Georgia, but he wasn’t born there.

[@leslieens5406]

@@bobcohen4008 Also, wasn't his mother half Russian, not Georgian?

[@bobcohen4008]

@@leslieens5406 Could be. Wikipedia isn't helpful on this. I recently read Toni Bentley's book on Serenade, which goes into a lot of Balanchine's personal history, but I don't have access to that right now.

[@Dima.Demidov]

@@leslieens5406 She was a subject of the Russian Tsar, but with German roots, actually ethnic German.

[@dirgesinthedark5637]

Beautiful talk Heather!

[@Dane_Youssef]

Ballet was founded in Italy not France, Heather. France did take the great practice and allow it to flourish all the further. And then... Russia itself got ahold of it and... well, the rest is as they say, history. Huh. And this dear lady has been honored for lecturing all about ballet at Hunter College and Harvard, no less. Still, good talk, Heather.

[@jcliff26]

You're right, plus San Francisco Ballet did a full-length Nutcracker before Mr. B did his. Their's was done in 1944 (but Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova described to William Christensen what the original looked like) and Balanchine did his in 1954. Just hate it when people get Balanchine so wrong.

[@chocolatesouljah]

No disrespect Ms. Watts but as you've mentioned her facts are a bit off. Also I don't really find her that inspirational as a speaker. At least in this particular setting.

[@alekjovanovski3087]

in 3 minutes she mentioned america more than ballet or george, and the thing about selling tickets ..ugh made me wanna trow up bb

[@yesloow]

OK...but it's not wrong. The Nutcracker is a huge revenue generator that allows many ballet companies to even exist. The inclusion of children in a major production not only provides valuable performance experience for ballet students and trainees, but yes, also draws in wider audiences. Many smaller ballet schools have a Nutcracker production and the entire audience is made up of friends and family. In the USA there's almost a tradition of people going to see the nutcracker every year, and for many people it's the ONLY ballet they've ever heard of or seen. There's nothing wrong with realizing that in order to have the wonderful new choreography in new dance pieces throughout the season, you're going to need to have blockbusters that bring in the money to support that. That's why Alvin Ailey still performs Revelations during every single tour. I will pay money every year to see that piece yet again. That's why I can buy indie pop music because the record companies make their profits selling Taylor Swift albums that I don't buy. Adding Children to the Nutcracker was brilliant for so many reasons and nothing wrong with admitting that some of them were purely to make more money off the shows.

[@meredithsimonishvili9901]

by the way he was Georgian -American

[@lindaharrison3240]

LOVE Agon.

[@IA.P8]

Sorry but he was GEORGIAN 🇬🇪 -American. Even though he was born in St. Petersburg his whole family lived and still lives in Georgia. Please stop saying he is Russian, He was Georgian.

[@n33daccounttocomm3nt]

Greatest piece of dance of the 20th century? or greatest piece of ballet?

[@VincentAlessendri]

Her talk was rather incoherent. Why does Balanchine matter? Because he's russian, worked in France, and came to America? Because he was innovative? Is that her final conclusion?

[@duncanbarlow]

VincentAlessendri I’d say many other points were made, like how he pushed forward modernism with a blend of classicism and innovation, or his participation in the Cold War (and the civil rights movement that Agon is inexorably tied to).

[@Dane_Youssef]

One of the more notable ballerinas--not merely of the New York City Ballet alone, not merely in Ballet in American .... but in the entire annals of the sport of ballet dance itself... Linda Heather Watts. Especially observable worth for her critique of the endeavor. Watts first goal in life was to be an actress, but only found herself in the arena of ballet after a doctor made an off-hand suggestion as the poor girl wasn't so healthy--and remarkably clumsy to boot. She enlisted in the ranks of George Balanchine's own School of American Ballet at the ripe gray age of ten years old. The two somewhat fell in love with each other and Mr. B made her one of his very own disciples--doing what he could to see she graduates to the most illustrious Ivy League of Hallowed Halls, the New York City Ballet itself. She did more off the center stage than she did on it for the very science of ballet. Like mentor and father surrogate George Balanchine himself. Ms. Watts has expressed her signature caustic pointed opinions for Vanity Fair, Italian Vogue and of course, Dance Magazine. She has taught courses as Visiting Lecturer at Hunter College and no less than Harvard. For her work at Harvard, Ms. Watts received two Derek Bok awards for distinguished teaching. She has resided steadily as an officer at the Dance Advisory Board for said College of Hunter. Little Ms. Watts earned--yes, earned the Doctorate in Fine Arts honoris causa from the Hunter College she made it a point to enlighten about what ballet really was. Not really what she learned from Balanchine and his fellow visionary Jerome Robbins, but what all of ballet was about.

[@gochaleps8148]

Balanchine was Georgian,which was part of USSR at that time.But as of today its an independent nation,and to refer someone as Russian instead of Georgian,just shows lack of knowledge and ignorance.

[@maral3275]

His father was Georgian but his mother was Russian, and he was born in St. Petersburg

[@lingkejiang9244]

Geez I hate these talks that connect art to nationality and politics. Except for the last sentence

[@lingkejiang9244]

I take that back