468 Facts About Ballet

1. Mikhail Baryshnikov is widely hailed as one of ballet's greatest performers of all time.

2. Jerome Robbins gained a reputation as a show doctor, after taking over several troubled productions, including A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Funny Girl, which turned Barbara Streisand into a superstar.

3. Sir Frederick Ashton could mimic various well-known British personalities including the queen, who, it is said, retaliated with an Ashton imitation of her own when she heard about his routine.

4. Twyla Tharp graduated from Barnard in 1963 with a degree in art history.

5. Twyla Tharp began her dance lessons at the Vera Lynn School of Dance in San Bernardino, California.

6. The Joffrey Ballet performed as a soloist in the troupe, Miss O'Donnell's, during the 1953 season of "American Dance" at the Alvin Theater in New York.

7. Twyla Tharp used the Joffrey dancers and her own company in a work entitled "Deuce Coupe, " set to music by the Beach Boys.

8. Frederick Ashton worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue.

9. Ninette de Valois's set about establishing a British repertory, engaging Frederick Ashton as Principal Choreographer and Constant Lambert as Musical Director in 1935.

10. Joffrey Ballet School was intent on having his production emphasize simplicity and purity rather than extraneous or novel elements.

11. Ninette de Valois's is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of ballet and as the "godmother" of English and Irish ballet.

12. In New York Bronislava Nijinska was invited to come teach in Hollywood.

13. Joffrey Ballet School, located in New York City's Greenwich Village, was founded in 1953 by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino to develop and train professional dancers.

14. Leonide Massine had created the role of the male danseur while Alexandra Danilova became one of the most famous interpreters of the female can-can dancer.

15. Enrico Cecchetti created a ballet technique that is known as the Cecchetti method.

16. Frederick Ashton was chief choreographer to Ninette de Valois, from 1935 until her retirement in 1963, in the company known successively as the Vic-Wells Ballet, the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the Royal Ballet.

17. Joffrey Ballet School performed Pas des Deesses and Persephone while exhibiting there.

18. Mikhail Baryshnikov was the recipient of numerous awards, including a Kennedy Center Honor.

19. In 1996, Karen Kain reunited with Frank Augustyn to appear in her husband Ross Petty's panto production of Robin Hood at Toronto's Elgin Theatre.

20. In 1955, George Balanchine created his version of The Nutcracker, in which he played the mime role of Drosselmeyer.

21. Frederick Ashton could mimic various well-known British personalities including the queen, who, it is said, retaliated with an Ashton imitation of her own when she heard about his routine.

22. Joffrey Ballet School created Rememberances in 1973, Beautiful Dreamer in 1975, and Postcards in 1980.

23. Robert Joffrey is interred at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.

24. Royal Ballet employs about 100 dancers and has purpose built facilities in the Royal Opera House.

25. Jerome Robbins was awarded a fifth Tony Award for it.

26. Joffrey Ballet performed as a soloist in the troupe, Miss O'Donnell's, during the 1953 season of "American Dance" at the Alvin Theater in New York.

27. Twyla Tharp directed two full-evening productions on Broadway: "The Catherine Wheel" and the stage adaptation of the film "Singing in the Rain" (1985).

28. Enrico Cecchetti left the Imperial ballet in 1902 to accept the directorship of the Imperial Ballet School in Warsaw, Poland.

29. Frederick Ashton recruited African-American dancers from Harlem nightclubs to execute his innovative choreography.

30. Twyla Tharp was born to Lucille and William Tharp in 1941 in Portland, Indiana.

31. The Joffrey Ballet performed Pas des Deesses and Persephone while exhibiting there.

32. In 1973, Twyla Tharp choreographed the ballet Deuce Coupe to the music of The Beach Boys.

33. Frederick Ashton auditioned for Leonide Massine; at the unusually late age of twenty he was accepted as a pupil.

34. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

35. Bronislava Nijinska achieved this in Les Biches; Balanchine was to do so latter.

36. Bronislava Nijinska had first met Exter in Kiev during war and revolution.

37. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

38. Enrico Cecchetti had begun to teach ballet by this time and cast one of his star pupils, Luigi Albertieri, in the performance.

39. In 1890, Enrico Cecchetti performed in the ground-breaking production of The Sleeping Beauty, where his performance as the Bluebird caused a sensation in the audience at the Mariinsky Theatre.

40. The Joffrey Ballet created Rememberances in 1973, Beautiful Dreamer in 1975, and Postcards in 1980.

41. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

42. Twyla Tharp was inducted into the Academy of Achievement in 1993.

43. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

44. At the age of 12, Robert Joffrey began serious study of dance under the auspices of Mary Ann Wells.

45. In 1969 Suzanne Farrell left Balanchine and the New York City Ballet, and in 1970 she became the principal dancer in Ballet of the 20th Century, a Brussels-based company whose repertory was largely the work of Maurice Bejart.

46. Joffrey Ballet School accomplished all this besides his already heavy teaching load.

47. Leonide Massine choreographed and danced in the 1947 20th Century Fox color film Carnival in Costa Rica, and choreographed and appeared as Pulcinella in the film Carosello Napoletano.

48. Joffrey Ballet performed Pas des Deesses and Persephone while exhibiting there.

49. Mikhail Baryshnikov worked with George Balanchine and as a regular guest artist with the Royal Ballet.

50. Royal Ballet employs approximately 100 dancers and a complete list is shown below.

51. Leonide Massine created the world's first symphonic ballet, Les Presages, and many others in the same vein.

52. Sir Frederick Ashton may give it to the ballerina or to supporting dancers (Symphonic Variations, 1946).

53. In 1976 Karen Kain appeared in a televised version of the ballet Giselle as the highly coveted title role, alongside Nadia Potts, Frank Augustyn, and Anne Ditchburn.

54. The Royal Ballet created the ballet brainstate in 2001, as a collaboration between the Royal Ballet and his own company, Random Dance.

55. Leonide Massine died on March 15, 1979, in Cologne, West Germany.

56. In 1947, Ninette de Valois established the first ballet school in Turkey.

57. Bronislava Nijinska took to revising Petipa's Russian version of La Fille Mal Gardee and staged the ballet with Irina Baronova and Dimitri Romanoff.

58. In 1968 Leonide Massine published his autobiography, entitled My Life in Ballet.

59. Mikhail Baryshnikov performed in his first film role soon after arriving in New York.

60. Frederick Ashton was born in 1904 in Ecuador, and raised in Peru.

61. Jerome Robbins was still highly sought after as a show doctor.

62. George Balanchine was on a roll from 1948, when New York City Ballet was founded as a resident company of New York City Center, to 1964, when the troupe moved to its home at Lincoln Center.

63. Ninette de Valois's became a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour on 31 December 1981 and was honoured by HM The Queen with the Order of Merit (OM) on 2 January 1992.

64. Ninette de Valois's employed de Valois to stage full-scale dance productions at both theatres and when the Sadler's Wells theatre re-opened in 1931, de Valois moved her school into studios there, under the new name, the Sadler's Wells Ballet School.

65. The Royal Ballet was appointed regisseur of American Ballet Theatre, becoming assistant director of the company in 1993.

66. Robert Joffrey created Rememberances in 1973, Beautiful Dreamer in 1975, and Postcards in 1980.

67. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

68. Twyla Tharp performed as a member of her company until the mid-1980s.

69. Robert Joffrey premiered two new ballets on that occasion, Pas des Deesses and Le Bal Masque.

70. In 1958 Jerome Robbins formed a charitable organization bearing his name, the Jerome Robbins Foundation.

71. In 1964 the Royal Ballet established "Ballet for All" under the direction of Peter Brinson.

72. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

73. Leonide Massine died on March 15, 1979, in Cologne, West Germany.

74. Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer.

75. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

76. Royal Ballet School is one of the world's greatest centres of classical ballet training.

77. Robert Joffrey operated it as a separate company from The Joffrey Academy of Dance in Chicago, the official school for the Joffrey Ballet Company.

78. Twyla Tharp entered Pomona College as a freshman, moving to Los Angeles that summer to continue her dance training with Wilson Morelli and John Butler.

79. One of Mikhail Fokine's requests was to have his dancers perform barefoot in his 1907 ballet Eunice.

80. Twyla Tharp is an award-winning American choreographer and dancer born on July 1, 1941.

81. Frederick Ashton retired from the Royal Ballet in 1970 and received the Dance Magazine Award that year.

82. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

83. Robert Joffrey used his skills as a teacher to produce his first ballet.

84. Royal Ballet is one of the few ballet companies in the world to have employed four dancers considered to be Prima ballerina assoluta, including three who studied at the Royal Ballet School.

85. Sir Frederick Ashton moved to London to be with Sir Frederick Ashton and his younger sister, Edith.

86. Joffrey Ballet appeared in the motion picture Save the Last Dance, when the two protagonists of the story saw the company perform Sea Shadow and Les Presages in Chicago.

87. Joffrey Ballet accomplished all this besides his already heavy teaching load.

88. Robert Joffrey was a master teacher with an eye for talent.

89. In 2000 Twyla Tharp choreographed a new work for the New York City Ballet based on Beethoven's seventh and eighth symphonies.

90. At the time of Marius's birth, Jean Marius Petipa was engaged as Premier danseur to the Salle Bauveau (known today as the Opera de Marseille), and in 1819 he was appointed Maitre de ballet to that theatre.

91. Joffrey Ballet School-based program encourages versatility through additional training in various other dance forms such as modern, jazz and character dance.

92. Frederick Ashton became good friends with the Queen Mum: they would have "zonking martinis" together after picnics at Sandringham.

93. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

94. Leonide Massine became a principal dancer for the company, and in 1915 he choreographed his first ballet, Soleil de Nuit.

95. On July 3, 1986, Mikhail Baryshnikov became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

96. Robert Joffrey Ballet passed away in 1988 leaving Gerald Arpino to carry on the legacy of the company.

97. Robert Joffrey Ballet School passed away in 1988 leaving Gerald Arpino to carry on the legacy of the company.

98. In 1960, at age 15, Suzanne Farrell was one of 12 students to be awarded a full Ford Foundation scholarship into their preparatory program for professional dancers.

99. Ninette de Valois's was appointed Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur on 1 May 1950 and received the Order of Merit of the Republic of Turkey on 2 January 1998.

100. Sir Frederick Ashton included in many of his ballets a signature step, known to dancers as "the Fred step".

101. Royal Ballet School became Director of The Royal Ballet in December 2002 and was succeeded by Kevin O'Hare in 2012.

102. Anna Pavlova appears as a character in the fourth episode of the British series Mr Selfridge, played by real-life ballerina Natalia Kremen.

103. Robert Joffrey Ballet was a master teacher with an eye for talent.

104. Twyla Tharp has choreographed dances for many important ballet companies around the world.

105. In 1961, Jerome Robbins directed, with Robert Wise, the movie version of West Side Story.

106. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

107. Mikhail Fokine founded two short-lived ballet companies, the Fokine Ballet in 1922 and the American Ballet in 1924.

108. George Balanchine was a choreographer known for his musicality; he expressed music with dance and worked extensively with leading composers of his time like Igor Stravinsky.

109. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

110. Enrico Cecchetti teaching method was vital in the development of Classical Ballet in the United Kingdom and contributed heavily to modern-day British teaching methods.

111. Sir Frederick Ashton recruited African-American dancers from Harlem nightclubs to execute his innovative choreography.

112. Anna Pavlova made her company debut at the Maryinsky in September 1899.

113. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

114. Twyla Tharp moved from the Paul Taylor Dance Company to form the Twyla Tharp Dance in 1965 at age 23.

115. In 1933, Leonide Massine created the world's first symphonic ballet, Les Presages, using Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 5.

116. Robert Joffrey was born in Seattle, Washington in 1930 and died in New York City in 1988.

117. Leonide Massine danced and choreographed for two versions of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo from 1932 until 1942, becoming an iconic, revered figure of the theatrical arts.

118. Mikhail Fokine was an integral part of the Ballets Russes's Paris triumph.

119. New York City Ballet offers day-of tickets to patrons age 30 and under for $30, the day of the performance at the box office.

120. Mikhail Baryshnikov was a ballet dancer who defected from the former Soviet Union to the United States.

121. George Balanchine reconvened the company as the American Ballet Caravan and toured with it throughout North and South America, but it folded after several years.

122. In 1960, at age 15, Suzanne Farrell was one of 12 students to be awarded a full Ford Foundation scholarship into their preparatory program for professional dancers.

123. George Balanchine was interested in working with Kirstein, but insisted "first, a school", to which Kirstein agreed.

124. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

125. New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein.

126. In 1974 Antony Tudor was appointed associate director of the American Ballet Theatre and in 1977 was joined in that position by Kaye.

127. Royal Ballet has the special ranks of "guest artist" and "principal guest artist".

128. Royal Ballet was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977.

129. In 1930 Frederick Ashton created an innovative ballet, Capriol Suite, using Peter Warlock's 1926 suite of the same name.

130. Enrico Cecchetti was born in the dressing room of the Tordinona Theatre in Rome, to parents who were both professional ballet dancers.

131. Bronislava Nijinska assisted her brother Vaslav in his creation of the ballet Le Sacre du printemps which premiered in 1913.

132. The Joffrey Ballet is committed to providing arts education and accessible dance training through its Joffrey Academy of Dance and Community Engagement programs.

133. Twyla Tharp entered Pomona College as a freshman, moving to Los Angeles, California, that summer to continue her dance training with Wilson Morelli and John Butler.

134. In 1908, Bronislava Nijinska was admitted to the Imperial Ballet.

135. In 2012, Twyla Tharp created the full-length ballet The Princess and the Goblin.

136. In fall 1987 the Joffrey Ballet premiered a reconstructed version of Igor Stravinsky's seminal ballet The Rite of Spring in the city of Los Angeles.

137. Mikhail Baryshnikov made his American television dancing debut in 1976, on the PBS program In Performance Live from Wolf Trap.

138. Bronislava Nijinska continued working in choreography and as an artistic director.

139. Jerome Robbins gained distinction as the exuberantly innovative choreographer of such Broadway musicals as High Button Shoes and The King and I (1951).

140. Jerome Robbins was cremated and his ashes were scattered on the Atlantic Ocean.

141. In 1900, Bronislava Nijinska was accepted into the same state-sponsored school for performing arts.

142. Jerome Robbins was a five time Tony award winner and a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.

143. George Balanchine was invited to America in 1933 by a young arts patron named Lincoln Kirstein, and together they founded the School of American Ballet.

144. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

145. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

146. The Joffrey Ballet started again, building up a new company that made its debut in 1965 as the Joffrey Ballet.

147. Leonide Massine was inducted into the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame in 2002.

148. George Balanchine died in New York City on April 30, 1983.

149. Bronislava Nijinska reprised her 1924 Les Biches for a performance by the Markova-Dolin troupe in 1937.

150. Robert Joffrey Ballet began his dance training at nine years old in Seattle as a remedy for asthma under instructor Mary Anne Wells.

151. Joffrey Ballet School used his skills as a teacher to produce his first ballet.

152. Frederick Ashton was not academically inclined, and his father decided that on leaving the school in 1921 Ashton should join a commercial company.

153. New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein.

154. In 1964, Jerome Robbins won Tony Awards for direction and choreography in Fiddle on the Roof.

155. On 29 May 1861 Marius Petipa presented his 1859 ballet Le Marche des parisiens at the Theatre Imperial de l'Opera in Paris as Le Marche des Innocents.

156. Enrico Cecchetti was an Italian ballet dancer, mime, and founder of the Cecchetti method.

157. Ninette de Valois received the Bronze award presented for services to Ballet from the Irish Catholic Stage Guild in 1949.

158. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

159. Robert Joffrey Ballet discovered and introduced innumerable modern dance choreographers to ballet audiences.

160. Twyla Tharp began her dance lessons at the Vera Lynn School of Dance in San Bernardino, then studied with the Mraz sisters.

161. In 1973, Karen Kain won the women's silver medal and, with Augustyn, the prize for the best pas de deux at the Moscow International Ballet competition.

162. Ninette de Valois's established the Royal Ballet School and the touring company which became the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

163. In 1993 Suzanne Farrell began teaching at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and in 2000 she founded the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, a company affiliated with the centre; the dance troupe disbanded in 2017.

164. Mikhail Fokine studied Greek and Egyptian art, including vase painting and sculpture, and incorporated these into his ballets.

165. Frederick Ashton dreamed of becoming a dancer himself, but another teacher, Marie Rambert, encouraged him to develop his talent at choreography instead.

166. New York City Ballet opened the theater on April 24, 1964, and has since been its resident ballet company.

167. Anna Pavlova died in The Hague, Netherlands, on January 22, 1931.

168. Mikhail Fokine sought to strip ballets of their artificial technicality and outdated costumes.

169. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

170. Jerome Robbins had begun creating dances for Tamiment's Revues, some comic and some dramatic, topical, and controversial.

171. Mikhail Baryshnikov endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 US presidential election.

172. Mikhail Fokine was the 17th of 18 children, but only five survived to adulthood.

173. Twyla Tharp co-directed the award-winning television special "Baryshnikov by Tharp" in 1984.

174. Mikhail Baryshnikov was born in Riga, Latvia, on January 27, 1948.

175. George Balanchine was devoutly religious, and his huge funeral was held at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign in New York City.

176. Enrico Cecchetti set off to tour with Pavlova in 1913, but returned before his contract had expired at Diaghilev's urging.

177. Robert Joffrey commissioned many new ballets from new or untried choreographers.

178. Mikhail Fokine was rapidly becoming recognized as Russia's most innovative young choreographer, and in 1909 he was selected by impresario-producer Serge Diaghilev to become ballet master for his new Ballets Russes company, a touring ensemble that would bring the best of Russian dance to Western Europe.

179. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

180. In 1962 Twyla Tharp married Peter Young, a painter whom she had met at Pomona College.

181. In January 2019, it was announced that Carlos Acosta would succeed David Bintley as artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet starting in January 2020.

182. Rather than keep his fateful appointment, Marius Petipa quickly left Spain, never to return.

183. Robert Joffrey Ballet had attracted enough media and dance world attention to become the first American choreographer invited to stage his works for the prestigious Ballet Lambert in England.

184. Twyla Tharp is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City.

185. Robert Joffrey had attracted enough media and dance world attention to become the first American choreographer invited to stage his works for the prestigious Ballet Lambert in England.

186. Sir Frederick Ashton's moved to London to be with Ashton and his younger sister, Edith.

187. Joffrey Ballet School had attracted enough media and dance world attention to become the first American choreographer invited to stage his works for the prestigious Ballet Lambert in England.

188. Enrico Cecchetti dedicated all his time to Pavlova for the next three years.

189. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

190. The Joffrey Ballet actually had considered staging Nijinsky's Sacre since the mid-1950s, when he had lived with Rambert while on tour in England.

191. In late 1902 Marius Petipa began work on a ballet adaptation of the tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs titled The Magic Mirror.

192. George Balanchine created plotless ballets, where the dancing upstaged glitz and storytelling.

193. Mikhail Fokine staged more than eighty ballets in Europe and the United States.

194. Joffrey Ballet launched its first Chicago capital campaign on March 7, 2007.

195. Mikhail Baryshnikov made signature roles of Jakobson's 1969 virtuosic Vestris along with an intensely emotional Albrecht in Giselle.

196. Sir Frederick Ashton worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue.

197. In 2001 Twyla Tharp made the Lafayette Presbyterian Church in New York City the permanent home for her company.

198. Robert Joffrey Ballet started again, building up a new company that made its debut in 1965 as the Joffrey Ballet.

199. Mikhail Fokine found his greatest collaborator in composer Igor Stravinsky, for whose edgy scores The Firebird and Petrouchka he provided the original choreography.

200. In 1944, Jerome Robbins created and performed a ballet about sailors on liberty—Fancy-Free.

201. Frederick Ashton may give it to the ballerina or to supporting dancers (Symphonic Variations, 1946).

202. The Joffrey Ballet had attracted enough media and dance world attention to become the first American choreographer invited to stage his works for the prestigious Ballet Lambert in England.

203. Enrico Cecchetti was so impressed with Cecchetti that he immediately hired Cecchetti as a principal dancer for the theatre.

204. Anna Pavlova might look difficult to make, but it is surprisingly easy.

205. Joffrey Ballet created Rememberances in 1973, Beautiful Dreamer in 1975, and Postcards in 1980.

206. In 1948, at the urging of de Valois, Frederick Ashton created his first major three-act ballet for a British company, his version of Prokofiev's Cinderella.

207. Royal Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.

208. Jerome Robbins won the Antoinette Perry Award for best choreographer in 1948 for High Button Shoes.

209. The Royal Ballet created the majority of the company's early works and staged their first performance at the Royal Opera House, a production of The Sleeping Beauty in 1946.

210. Joffrey Ballet School is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Dance and meets the US Department of Education standards for a school of vocational training.

211. Jerome Robbins recreated his stage dances for The King and I for the 1956 film version.

212. Royal Ballet was appointed regisseur of American Ballet Theatre, becoming assistant director of the company in 1993.

213. Robert Joffrey is the co-founder of the Joffrey Ballet along with his partner, Gerald Arpino.

214. Mikhail Baryshnikov toured with ballet and modern dance companies around the world for fifteen months.

215. Twyla Tharp used the Joffrey dancers and her own company in a work entitled Deuce Coupe, set to music by the Beach Boys.

216. The book and lyrics were by a team that Jerome Robbins would work with again, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and the director was the Broadway legend George Abbott.

217. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

218. The Joffrey Ballet used his skills as a teacher to produce his first ballet.

219. In 1965, Twyla Tharp choreographed her first dance Tank Dive and formed her own company, Twyla Tharp Dance.

220. New York City Ballet is an American ballet company founded in 1948 by Leonard Kirstein and George Balanchine.

221. Twyla Tharp made her first television program for the Public Broadcasting Service series Dance in America (1976).

222. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

223. In 1990 Mikhail Baryshnikov created the White Oak Dance Project, a small touring company of experienced dancers, and served as its director until 2002.

224. In 1930, when Anna Pavlova was 50 years old, her 30-year dance career had come to physically wear on her.

225. Mikhail Fokine auditioned in secret for admission to St Petersburg's Imperial School of Ballet, one of the great institutions of the old classical style.

226. Bronislava Nijinska started a ballet school on progressive lines in Kiev, and published her writing on the art of movement.

227. Enrico Cecchetti left the Imperial ballet in 1902 to accept the directorship of the Imperial Ballet School in Warsaw, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire.

228. Leonide Massine began work on a new production of The Nutcracker, which was never seen outside the studio.

229. Sir Frederick Ashton was not academically inclined, and his father decided that on leaving the school in 1921 Ashton should join a commercial company.

230. In 1956, Jerome Robbins joined the American Ballet Theatre, but beforehand he was a soloist with the company.

231. Bronislava Nijinska staged La Legend de Cracovie, "a new ballet of high merit" to music by Michal Kondracki.

232. Twyla Tharp left the American Ballet Theatre in 1989, transferring her productions to the Boston Ballet and the Hubbard Street Dance Company in Chicago.

233. Jerome Robbins joined the company of Senya Gluck Sandor, a leading exponent of expressionistic modern dance; it was Sandor who recommended that he change his name to Robbins.

234. Twyla Tharp premiered her dance musical Movin' Out, set to the music and lyrics of Billy Joel in Chicago in 2001.

235. Anna Pavlova carried on long, globe-covering tours, creating new ballet audiences everywhere.

236. Frederick Ashton was succeeded by Frederick Ashton in 1964 and MacMillan in 1970.

237. In 1948, at the urging of de Valois, Sir Frederick Ashton created his first major three-act ballet for a British company, his version of Prokofiev's Cinderella.

238. Joffrey Ballet started again, building up a new company that made its debut in 1965 as the Joffrey Ballet.

239. Anna Pavlova had to work tirelessly to hone her dancing skills.

240. Joffrey Ballet School continued her modern dance and ballet training in high school at Phillips Academy Andover and Boston Ballet School.

241. Sir Frederick Ashton was immediately determined that he would become a dancer.

242. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

243. Sir Frederick Ashton dreamed of becoming a dancer himself, but another teacher, Marie Rambert, encouraged him to develop his talent at choreography instead.

244. Royal Ballet created the ballet brainstate in 2001, as a collaboration between the Royal Ballet and his own company, Random Dance.

245. Ninette de Valois's received DLitt from the University of Reading in 1951, the University of Oxford in 1955 and the University of Ulster in 1979.

246. Leonide Massine was inducted into the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame in 2002.

247. Robert Joffrey founded the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City in 1953, where it remains as a separate organization from The Joffrey Academy of Dance in Chicago, which is the official school of the Joffrey Ballet Company.

248. Anna Pavlova was one of the most celebrated and influential ballet dancers of her time.

249. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

250. Bronislava Nijinska earned her credits as the sole choreographer for nine works at Ballets Russes during the 1920s.

251. Frederick Ashton joins her at the end for a gentle version of the "Fred step".

252. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

253. Sir Frederick Ashton created some works along more sombre lines, including Dante Sonata, which symbolised the unending struggle between the children of darkness and the children of light.

254. Robert Joffrey Ballet used his skills as a teacher to produce his first ballet.

255. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

256. In 1961, Jerome Robbins co-directed the movie version of West Side Story.

257. Sir Frederick Ashton succeeded de Valois as director of the company, serving until his own retirement in 1970.

258. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

259. Jerome Robbins was awarded three honorary doctorates including an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 1980 from the City University of New York and an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from New York University in 1985.

260. Enrico Cecchetti married Giuseppina de Maria, a student at Lepri's school, in 1878.

261. Joffrey Ballet School performed as a soloist in the troupe, Miss O'Donnell's, during the 1953 season of "American Dance" at the Alvin Theater in New York.

262. New York City Ballet was conceived by writer and art connoisseur Lincoln Kirstein, who as a young man had dreamed of creating a ballet company that would utilize American talent as opposed to that of touring international groups.

263. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

264. The Joffrey Ballet School continues to strive for the founders' vision of dance based on intensive training that is imbued with a sense of movement, clarity, and exuberant energy.

265. In 1933, Leonide Massine created the world's first symphonic ballet, Les Presages, using Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 5.

266. Sir Frederick Ashton has had a special connection to Chicago through the Joffrey Ballet, one of the first American companies to present his work.

267. Ninette de Valois's invited choreographers like Sir Kenneth MacMillan and George Balanchine to work with her company.

268. Mikhail Baryshnikov left the company because to become the artistic director of American Ballet Theater in September 1980, and he needed time off because of his injuries.

269. In 1922, George Balanchine married a 15-year-old ballet student named Tamara Gevergeyeva.

270. George Balanchine created several new works, including collaborations with composers Kurt Weill, Darius Milhaud, Henri Sauguet and designer Pavel Tchelitchew.

271. Sir Frederick Ashton was chief choreographer to Ninette de Valois, from 1935 until her retirement in 1963, in the company known successively as the Vic-Wells Ballet, the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the Royal Ballet.

272. Jerome Robbins was back on Broadway with two shows in 1964.

273. In 1946, while still a student, Kenneth MacMillan appeared in the production of The Sleeping Beauty with which Webster and de Valois reopened the opera house.

274. In 1937, Jerome Robbins began dancing at Camp Tamiment and in the choruses of Broadway shows like Grat Lady and Keep Off The Grass.

275. Royal Ballet School is unique in having trained four of only a small number of dancers in history to have been recognised as Prima Ballerina Assoluta, the ultimate honorary title for a ballerina.

276. Frederick Ashton created choreography for musicals and revues in the 1930s, sometimes working with American-born tap dancer Buddy Bradley.

277. In 1993, Twyla Tharp was inducted into Academy of Achievement and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and anhonorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

278. Jerome Robbins retired from City Ballet in 1990, but continued his creative pursuits.

279. Royal Ballet School relocated to new, purpose-built premises in Covent Garden in January 2003.

280. Robert Joffrey was born Anver Bey Abdullah Jaffa Khan in Seattle, Washington to a Pashtun father from Afghanistan and a mother from Italy.

281. Bronislava Nijinska staged Un Estudio Religioso to music by Bach in 1926, which she developed from her choreography Holy Etudes of 1925.

282. Twyla Tharp was the eldest of her siblings: twin brothers and a sister, Twanette.

283. Anna Pavlova was cremated, and her ashes placed in a columbarium at Golders Green Crematorium, where her urn was adorned with her ballet shoes.

284. Enrico Cecchetti gave Beaumont permission to established the Cecchetti Society to maintain the method and ensure that it would be passed on to future ballet teachers in its original form.

285. Jerome Robbins became ballet master of the New York City Ballet in 1972 and worked almost exclusively in classical dance throughout the next decade, pausing only to stage revivals of West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof (1981).

286. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

287. In 2002, Mikhail Baryshnikov disbanded the White Oak Project to focus on his next big project.

288. Sir Frederick Ashton brought in Antony Tudor, his English contemporary, better known in the US, to stage both new and old works.

289. Leonide Massine revived the piece for American Ballet Theater in 1970.

290. Jerome Robbins re-teamed with Sondheim and Laurents, and the music was by Jule Styne.

291. At the age of 12, The Joffrey Ballet began serious study of dance under the auspices of Mary Ann Wells.

292. In 1948, Margot Fonteyn went to Paris to perform as Agathe, a role created for her, in Les Demoiselles de la nuit by the choreographer Roland Petit.

293. Sir Frederick Ashton put the experience of the audience in first place as he planned his dances.

294. At the age of 12, Joffrey Ballet School began serious study of dance under the auspices of Mary Ann Wells.

295. The Royal Ballet succeeded Frederick Ashton as Director of the Royal Ballet in 1970 and resigned after seven years, frustrated at balancing the conflicting demands of creating ballets with administration.

296. Sir Frederick Ashton worked for an import-export firm in the City of London, where his ability to speak Spanish and French as well as English was an advantage.

297. Sir Frederick Ashton is widely credited with the creation of a specifically English genre of ballet.

298. Bronislava Nijinska had presented at Teatro Colon in 1933 her ballet Le Baiser de la Fee [Kiss of the fairy], which she had first staged for Ida Rubinstein's Company in 1928.

299. Joffrey Ballet School is a high school drama teacher and has enjoyed her career as an educator for the past ten years.

300. The Royal Ballet became Director of The Royal Ballet in December 2002 and was succeeded by Kevin O'Hare in 2012.

301. Twyla Tharp directed two full-evening productions on Broadway: The Catherine Wheel and the stage adaptation of the film Singing in the Rain (1985).

302. Royal Ballet became Director of The Royal Ballet in December 2002 and was succeeded by Kevin O'Hare in 2012.

303. Bronislava Nijinska had originally danced it barefoot wearing a tunic of her own design.

304. In 1964 Jerome Robbins agreed to direct the Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof, the tale of a Jewish family and community living in a small Russian village in 1905.

305. In 1970 Sir Frederick Ashton choreographed and danced in the motion picture Tales of Beatrix Potter.

306. Enrico Cecchetti left St Petersberg in 1902 to accept a position as director of the Imperial School of Ballet in Warsaw, Poland, and he is credited with helping set the struggling school back on its feet.

307. At the age of 12, Joffrey Ballet began serious study of dance under the auspices of Mary Ann Wells.

308. Jerome Robbins received the 1958 Tony Award for best choreography for the Broadway version and Academy Awards for his choreography and codirection of the highly successful 1961 film version.

309. Ninette de Valois commissioned Sergei Grigoriev to stage Fokine's two great Stravinsky ballets, The Firebird and Petrushka.

310. Leonide Massine became a principal dancer for the company, and in 1915 he choreographed his first ballet, Soleil de Nuit.

311. Robert Joffrey Ballet took up residence at New York City Center in 1966 replacing New York City Ballet and changing its name to the City Center Joffrey Ballet.

312. Bronislava Nijinska was the third child of the Polish dancers Tomasz [Foma] Nijinsky and Eleonora Nijinska, who were then traveling performers in provincial Russia.

313. Twyla Tharp graduated from Barnard College in 1963 with a degree in art history.

314. Sir Frederick Ashton contributed to West End revues and musicals, including The Cat and the Fiddle for C B Cochran, and Gay Hussar (1933), in which The Manchester Guardian singled out the "spirited and lovely choreography in the classic manner".

315. Anna Pavlova performed in various classical variations, pas de deux and pas de trois in such ballets as La Camargo, Le Roi Candaule, Marcobomba and The Sleeping Beauty.

316. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.

317. Enrico Cecchetti eventually settled in London and, when he was almost 70, he decided to limit his performances to the Diaghilev Ballet's annual visit to his new hometown.

318. Frederick Ashton created some works along more sombre lines, including Dante Sonata, which symbolised the unending struggle between the children of darkness and the children of light.

319. Jerome Robbins died at his home in New York on July 29, 1998.

320. In 1946, Kirstein and George Balanchine co-founded a company that would become the New York City Ballet.

321. In 1912, Mikhail Fokine created an adaptation of Daphnis et Chloe.

322. Enrico Cecchetti was offered a contract with the esteemed Russian Imperial Ballet.

323. Twyla Tharp formed her own dance company Twyla Tharp Dance in 1966.

324. Robert Joffrey Ballet created Rememberances in 1973, Beautiful Dreamer in 1975, and Postcards in 1980.

325. Mikhail Fokine revised the work in 1908 and retitled it Les Sylphides, under which name it became one of the most famous ballets of the twentieth century.

326. Royal Ballet School left home at 13 to study at Canada's Royal Ballet School Winnipeg Ballet Professional Division School for four years where she received the Evelyn Hart Scholarship three years in a row and graduated with distinction.

327. The Joffrey Ballet School is committed to providing arts education and accessible dance training through its Joffrey Academy of Dance and Community Engagement programs.

328. Mikhail Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a prosperous merchant and at the age of 9 was accepted into the Saint Petersburg Imperial Ballet School.

329. In 1968 Leonide Massine published his autobiography, entitled My Life in Ballet.

330. Frederick Ashton stood down in July 1970 after a farewell gala organised by Michael Somes, John Hart and Leslie Edwards.

331. Ninette de Valois employed de Valois to stage full-scale dance productions at both theatres and when the Sadler's Wells theatre re-opened in 1931, de Valois moved her school into studios there, under the new name, the Sadler's Wells Ballet School.

332. Leonide Massine began work on a new production of The Nutcracker, which was never seen outside the studio.

333. In 1925 Enrico Cecchetti was invited to direct the ballet school at La Scala, which was waning in stature.

334. Joffrey Ballet had attracted enough media and dance world attention to become the first American choreographer invited to stage his works for the prestigious Ballet Lambert in England.

335. Robert Joffrey discovered and introduced innumerable modern dance choreographers to ballet audiences.

336. Enrico Cecchetti instructed numerous other stars of the "new Russian ballet", including Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Ninjinsky.