School of American Ballet

The School of American Ballet (SAB) is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of 6, with professional vocational ballet training for students aged 11–18. Graduates of the school achieve employment with leading ballet companies worldwide, most notably in the United States with New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet.

The school was founded by the renowned Russo-Georgian-born George Balanchine, and the philanthropist Lincoln Kirstein in 1934. Among the teachers there were many Russian emigres who fled the Revolution: Pierre Vladimiroff, Felia Doubrovska, Anatole Oboukhoff, Hélène Dudin, Ludmilla Schollar, Antonina Toumkovskaya etc. Their intention was to establish a major classical ballet company in America, which would lead to the formation of today's New York City Ballet. The school was formed to train and feed dancers into the company. It opened at 637 Madison Avenue with 32 students on January 2, 1934, and the students first performed that June. Seventy-five years later, the School was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.