Balanchine's childhood

George's first year at the theater school was an unhappy one -- later he often referred to himself as having been "stuck" there ("My parents stuck me in a ballet school when I was small").  The work was basic and mechanical:  During the first year, students were not exposed to actual performances and had very little notion of what they were working toward and what the drudgery of repeated exercises might lead to.  He was not successful in most of his academic subjects, receiving poor grades in everything but music and religion.  And he had trouble making friends.  In the early photographs of him, one can hardly miss a look of superiority, almost of disdain, certainly of wariness.

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He was extremely lonely.  On weekends and holidays almost all the other children went home, but his home was hours away, and apart from occasional day-trips to the dacha with Aunt Nadia, he was left in the school. Toward the end of his life he would tell Volkov, "On Saturday the school was deserted, for two days. It was sad and lonely to be left:  You'd go to church and stand there for some time . . . .  You had to fill time before dinner.  I would go to the reception hall and play the piano.  There was no one there, total emptiness."

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In his second year, a passion for ballet was finally ignited in him:  For the first time, as was usual for children at this point in their training, he was taken to the theater to participate in a performance.  The ballet was The Sleeping Beauty.  "I was Cupid, a tiny Cupid. It was Petipa's choreography.  I was set down on a golden eagle.  And suddenly everything opened!  A crowd of people, an elegant audience.  And the Maryinsky Theater all light blue and gold!  And suddenly the orchestra started playing.  I sat on the cage in indescribable ecstasy enjoying it all -- the music, the theater, and the fact that I was onstage.  Thanks to Sleeping Beauty I fell in love with ballet."

George Balanchine by Robert Gottlieb. 2004. Pages 13-5.