Celebrating Balanchine’s Birthday

A highlight of SAB’s extracurricular programming is the annual celebration of co-founder George Balanchine’s birthday. Born on January 22, 1904, Mr. Balanchine established the School of American Ballet in 1934 with Lincoln Kirstein, and developed a unique style of ballet instruction defined by precision, musicality, and elegance that endures in our studios today. To commemorate his legacy, the School holds a special birthday celebration that allows our Winter Term students to remember Balanchine, but also give back to the community.

“Balanchine’s Birthday Celebration is a fun community-building event at SAB,” Director of Student Life for Children’s Division and Wellness Programming, Katy Vedder, explains. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for our lower Children’s Division students and their families to interact with each other and engage in a service project; over 75 homemade birthday cards and toys will be donated to WINNYC.org!”

Win is the largest provider of family shelter and supportive housing in New York City. They are committed to providing women and children in need the programs and services to support long-term housing stability.

On January 26, our students once again created dozens of handmade birthday cards from an assortment of craft supplies, before joining together to watch a handful of our advanced students perform select variations.

“It’s always a highlight for our younger students to see the advanced students perform their favorite Balanchine variations,” Vedder adds.

This annual event is just one of several traditions the School celebrates that allows students to connect across divisions. After the performance, students from the Children’s Division got to mingle with the advanced students and even garner a few autographs.

All in all, it was another fantastic Balanchine Birthday Celebration for the books!