One dancer who trained with Balanchine and absorbed much of this neo-classical style was Mikhail Baryshnikov. Following Baryshnikov's appointment as artistic director of American Ballet Theatre in 1980, he worked with various modern choreographers, most notably Twyla Tharp.

George Balanchine is often considered to have been the first pioneer of what is now known as neoclassical ballet, a style of dance between classical ballet and today's contemporary ballet. Tim Scholl, author of From Petipa to Balanchine, considers Balanchine's

Following the move of the Ballets Russes to France, ballet began to have a broader influence, particularly in the United States of America. From Paris, after disagreements with Diaghilev, Fokine went to Sweden and then the US and settled in

The Romantic movement in art, literature, and theatre was a reaction against formal constraints and the mechanics of industrialization. The zeitgeist led choreographers to compose romantic ballets that appeared light, airy and free that would act as a contrast to