Balanchine Revealed in Three Pieces

Diamonds, Serenade, and Stars and Stripes

George Balanchine had little interest in dance. A pianist and the son of a composer living in Russia, it wasn’t until his mother made him tag along to his sister’s ballet school tryouts at nine years old that he received greater exposure to the art form. By the start of World War I, Balanchine was a young dance student in St. Petersburg; at 13, he was scavenging for food during the Russian Revolution. He has said he loved Russia but despised the Soviet regime and its repression of artistic freedom. So, in 1924, Balanchine fled his homeland for Europe, eventually migrating to the U.S. before the start of World War II. He, along with many artists and intellectuals, was seeking refuge from rising threats of violence and war in Western Europe.

While in London in 1933, Balanchine met American impresario and philanthropist Lincoln Kirstein, who encouraged him to come to the U.S., where the two founded the School of American Ballet in 1934. At that time, Balanchine was also working on Broadway and in Hollywood on such pieces as Rodgers and Hart’s “On Your Toes” and movies such as “The Goldwyn Follies,” lavish musical variety shows/revues that attempted to bring “high art” (classical ballet) to mass audiences by mixing it with popular entertainment—songs, comedy, and romance. Balanchine played a key role in this introduction, eventually becoming one of the defining architects of American ballet.

Balanchine’s relationship with Russia was complicated. Dance historian Jennifer Homans conveys in her book Mr. B that Balanchine’s American ballet work became, in many ways, an artistic and ideological counterpoint to everything the Soviet Union represented to him. He said America offered him artistic freedom, stability, and opportunity. Septime Webre, Artistic Director of Hong Kong Ballet, said, once he was in New York, “Balanchine loved America as, I think, only an immigrant can – with an appreciation for its drive and ingenuity.” And yet, he never really left Russia behind, often incorporating its musical and emotional sensibilities into his work.

This year, SF Ballet honors the “father of American ballet,” and his artistic journey with a program of three works created during his half-century career in the U.S. Balanchine boldly celebrates his upbringing and personal identity in Diamonds, which evokes, says the Balanchine Trust, “the order and grandeur of Imperial Russia and the Mariinsky Theater, where Balanchine was trained.”

Serenade, the very first ballet Balanchine created in America, is set to Tchaikovsky, who studied at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg, where Balanchine also studied piano and dance. Serenade carries deep resonances—from its Russian Dance movement and the personal memories of Russia that Balanchine is said to have shared with the dancers while creating it to the Russian folk songs by Tchaikovsky that he incorporated.

When Balanchine premiered Stars and Stripes at New York City Ballet in 1958, he dedicated it to the memory of New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, an ardent supporter of the arts. Stars and Stripes is festive, frothy, campy, and high-spirited, but it was also widely seen as Balanchine’s deeply personal tribute to the country that had become his home. Set to John Philip Sousa’s patriotic marches and infused with exuberance, wit, and technical brilliance, Balanchine communicates both celebration and identity in his 30-minute extravaganza.

Throughout the 20^th century, Stars and Stripes became associated with moments of national celebration and civic pride: the ballet was performed for Nelson Rockefeller’s inauguration as Governor of New York. In 1981, following the end of the Iran hostage crisis, Balanchine presented the ballet’s finale as a surprise encore, with dancers wearing yellow ribbons as a symbol of national unity and relief. It reached a global audience when Dance Theatre of Harlem performed the finale during the closing ceremony of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Today, Stars and Stripes is a symbol of Balanchine’s artistic legacy and perhaps only a euphoric, idealistic fantasy that fueled his energy to redefine ballet for a new world. “What becomes unabashedly obvious within five seconds of Stars and Stripes is that it is a fantasy of America,” writes San Francisco dance critic Rachel Howard in 2026. “And yet…scanning the varying faces and skin tones of the prancing dancer ‘regiments’ dressed in hot-pink tutus and faux army uniforms, one thing is clear: It is immigration that makes America – and our city’s Ballet – truly great.” Through this spirited work, Balanchine invited audiences to share in his vision of America, even if it’s a fantasy, full of possibility.