WHEN BALLET
BECAME AMERICAN

American Contemporary Ballet celebrates
the choreographer who traded princes
and swans for jazz, swagger, and pure fun

Before George Balanchine arrived in America, ballet belonged largely to princes, princesses, fairy tales, and European courts. Within a generation, he transformed it into something unmistakably American.

Balanchine understood that Americans moved differently. They walked faster, stood taller, played sports, listened to jazz, and loved Broadway. He admired Fred Astaire, embraced popular music, and created dances that traded old-world formality for speed, athleticism, wit, and musicality. In doing so, he helped shift ballet’s center of gravity from Europe to the United States.

This June, American Contemporary Ballet presents Spectacular Balanchine!, a program devoted to some of the choreographer’s most exuberantly American works: Stars and Stripes, Who Cares?, Western Symphony, and Union Jack.

These aren’t the Balanchine ballets of moonlit romance and tragic princesses. They’re celebrations of America itself—set to music by George Gershwin, John Philip Sousa, and traditional tunes arranged by Hershey Kay. Cowboys mingle with classical dancers. Military marches become virtuosic showpieces. Broadway flair meets ballet technique. Stars and Stripes, in particular, was conceived as a love letter to Balanchine’s adopted country.

Presented with live music in ACB’s intimate downtown Los Angeles performance space, Spectacular Balanchine! offers audiences a chance to experience the choreographer at his most joyful, playful, and accessible.

At a time when the arts can sometimes feel determined to improve us, lecture us, or depress us, Balanchine offers something rarer: delight.

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photo by Ryan Ward

Spectacular Balanchine!
American Contemporary Ballet
Bank of America Plaza
333 S. Hope St. in Los Angeles
June 4–20, 2026
for tickets ($65–$140), visit American Contemporary Ballet

for more shows, visit Theatre in LA

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