Jerome Robbins

Career Trajectory

Jerome Robbins began as a dancer in Broadway choruses and Ballet Theatre productions before establishing himself as a choreographer with the 1944 ballet Fancy Free, which announced a revolutionary synthesis of classical technique and American vernacular movement. He ascended to become the preeminent figure in American dance by serving as Ballet Master in Chief of New York City Ballet while simultaneously creating the most influential Broadway musicals of the era, most notably West Side Story, which transformed the artistic possibilities of musical theatre. His late-career works, particularly Dances at a Gathering (1969), cemented his legacy as an artist of uncompromising vision whose ballets and theatrical works continue to define the aesthetic of American dance.