George Balanchine

George Balanchine was one of the 20th centurys most prominent choreographers. Styled as the father of American ballet, he cofounded the New York City Ballet and remained its Artistic Director for more thanyears.

Balanchine was born Giorgi Melitonovitch Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, in the family of noted Georgian opera singer and composer Meliton Balanchivadze, who was one of the founders of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre and later served as the culture minister of Democratic Republic of Georgia, which became independent in 1918, but was later subsumed into the Soviet Union. The rest of Balanchines Georgian side of the family comprised largely artists and soldiers. Little is known of Balanchines Russian, maternal side. His mother, Melitons second wife, Maria Nikolayevna Vasilyeva, was fond of ballet and viewed it as a form of social advancement from her lower reaches of the St. Petersburg society.23 She was eleven years younger than Meliton and rumored to have been his former housekeeper, although she had at least some culture in her background as she could play piano well.

Source: Wikipedia