Jerome Robbins: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Jerome Robbins moved constantly between Broadway and ballet, translating the vernacular of New York streets, Jewish immigrant memory and jazz-age swagger into classical form. This mix traces the ballet masters who trained his eye at Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet, the composers and writers who gave him structure, and the choreographers who inherited his fusion of theater and dance.

The Kynda mix for Jerome Robbins

• Key Influence · Apollo by George Balanchine (1928). Balanchine was the defining figure of Robbins's ballet life: he invited Robbins to New York City Ballet in 1949 as dancer and associate artistic director, and the two shared the company's leadership for decades. Apollo, Balanchine's first collaboration with Stravinsky, established the neoclassical clarity — plotless, music-driven, architecturally exact — that Robbins absorbed and answered with works like Dances at a Gathering.títol
• Influencia Obscura · Pillar of Fire by Antony Tudor (1942). Robbins was a young dancer at Ballet Theatre when Tudor made his American psychological ballets there, and he performed in Tudor works during the 1940s. Tudor's 'psychological ballet' — repressed desire told through small, loaded gestures and naturalistic period detail rather than virtuoso steps — is the under-credited engine behind Robbins's dramatic dances, from the gang tensions of West Side Story to The Cage.
• Local Roots · Rodeo by Agnes de Mille (1942). De Mille made Rodeo for Ballet Russe and then transformed Broadway with Oklahoma!, while Robbins was rising in the same New York ballet-and-theater ecology; he appeared in her Three Virgins and a Devil at Ballet Theatre. Her proof that American vernacular character dance could carry narrative on a ballet stage opened the door Robbins walked through with Fancy Free two years later.
• Beyond the Medium · Tevye the Dairyman by Sholem Aleichem (1894). Fiddler on the Roof was adapted from Sholem Aleichem's Yiddish stories of Tevye and his daughters, and Robbins, born Rabinowitz, researched Eastern European Jewish wedding customs and Hasidic dance to build the show's movement vocabulary. The book's mix of comic resignation and encroaching pogrom supplied the tonal balance Robbins staged in the bottle dance and the closing exodus.
• Peer · Sweet Charity by Bob Fosse (1966). Fosse was Robbins's chief rival and occasional collaborator in the Broadway choreographer-director era; the two shared credit on Robbins's 1954 production work around The Pajama Game period and both won multiple Tonys reshaping the director-choreographer role. Sweet Charity shows the alternative path: hip-sprung, isolated, ironic jazz style against Robbins's balletic, story-embedded ensemble dancing.
• From the Canon · West Side Story by Jerome Robbins (1961). Robbins conceived the show, choreographed it and co-directed the film with Robert Wise, for which he won an Academy Award; he was famously removed from the shoot for perfectionism after staging the prologue, America and Cool. The film preserved his most influential invention: gang warfare rendered as finger snaps, jetés and unison walking, dance functioning as plot rather than interruption.
• Key Collaborator · Candide by Leonard Bernstein (1956). Bernstein was Robbins's most important partner: Fancy Free, On the Town, West Side Story and the ballet Robbins made to Bernstein's Age of Anxiety symphony all came from their alliance, begun when both were unknown in 1944. Candide, from the same mid-1950s stretch, shows Bernstein's operetta wit and rhythmic mischief on its own — the compositional voice that gave Robbins his propulsion.
• Legacy · Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes by Justin Peck (2015). Peck, New York City Ballet's resident choreographer and the choreographer of Spielberg's West Side Story remake and Broadway's Carousel revival, works in the exact lineage Robbins built: NYCB classicism crossed with Broadway and American sneaker-culture vernacular. This Copland ensemble piece deploys the same tribal male groupings and buoyant unison drive Robbins pioneered in Fancy Free and Interplay.

What influenced Jerome Robbins

• George Balanchine (1904). Robbins came under the influence of George Balanchine as a choreographer. (also via Fancy Free, Apollo) “he also came under the influence of the choreographers Michel Fokine , Antony Tudor , and George Balanchine” (Wikipedia)
• Michel Fokine. Robbins came under the influence of Michel Fokine. (also via Petrushka) “he also came under the influence of the choreographers Michel Fokine , Antony Tudor , and George Balanchine” (Wikipedia)
• Antony Tudor. Robbins came under the influence of Antony Tudor. (also via Pillar of Fire) “he also came under the influence of the choreographers Michel Fokine , Antony Tudor , and George Balanchine” (Wikipedia)
• Robert Lewis. Robbins studied acting under Robert Lewis at the Actors Studio. “attending classes held by founding member Robert Lewis three times a week, alongside classmates including Marlon Brando” (Wikipedia)
• Helen Veola. Robbins studied Spanish dancing with Helen Veola. “in addition he studied Spanish dancing with Helen Veola” (Wikipedia)
• Alys Bentley. Establishes Robbins studied modern dance under Alys Bentley in high school. “Robbins began studying modern dance in high school with Alys Bentley, who encouraged her pupils to improvise steps to music.” (Wikipedia)
• Petrushka by Michel Fokine (1911). Petrushka (Michel Fokine) — ghost for Jerome Robbins “From 1941 through 1944, Robbins was a soloist with the company, attracting notice for his performance as Hermes in Helen of Troy, the title role in Petrouchka, the Youth in Agnes de Mille's Three Virgins and a Devil, and Benvolio in Rome…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Bessie Schonberg. Robbins studied dance composition under Bessie Schonberg. “dance composition with Bessie Schonberg” (Wikipedia)
• Ella Daganova. Robbins studied ballet with Ella Daganova. “Sandor also encouraged him to take ballet, which he did with Ella Daganova” (Wikipedia)
• Margaret Barker. Robbins studied acting under Margaret Barker. “In the 1930s Robbins studied acting with Margaret Barker at the Studio Workshop Theatre.” (Wikipedia)
• Yeichi Nimura. Robbins studied Asian dance under Yeichi Nimura. “Asian dance with Yeichi Nimura” (Wikipedia)
• Fred Astaire (1899). Choreographer Jerome Robbins praised Astaire's dance construction, indicating his esteem/influence. “As Jerome Robbins stated, "Astaire's dancing looks so simple, so disarming, so easy, yet the understructure, the way he sets the steps on, over or against the music, is so surprising and inventive."” (Wikipedia)
• Pillar of Fire by Antony Tudor (1942). Pillar of Fire (Antony Tudor) — ghost for Jerome Robbins “From 1941 through 1944, Robbins was a soloist with the company, attracting notice for his performance as Hermes in Helen of Troy, the title role in Petrouchka, the Youth in Agnes de Mille's Three Virgins and a Devil, and Benvolio in Rome…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Fleet's In! by Paul Cadmus. Robbins cited Paul Cadmus's painting as inspiration for the ballet Fancy Free. (via Fancy Free) “one of his inspirations for this ballet had been Paul Cadmus 's 1934 painting The Fleet's In!” (Wikipedia)
• Apollo by George Balanchine (1928). Apollo (George Balanchine) — titan for Jerome Robbins “In 1937 he made the first of many appearances as a dancer at Camp Tamiment, a resort in the Poconos known for its weekly Broadway-style revues; and he began dancing in the choruses of Broadway shows, including Great Lady and Keep Off the…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare) — culture for Jerome Robbins (openlibrary.org)
• Tevye the Dairyman by Sholem Aleichem (1894). Tevye the Dairyman (Sholem Aleichem) — culture for Jerome Robbins (openlibrary.org)
• Pauline Clayden. Afternoon of a Faun (Jerome Robbins) — legacy for Pauline Clayden (via Afternoon of a Faun)

Peers and kindred spirits

• Leonard Bernstein. Robbins commissioned Bernstein to score Fancy Free, beginning their collaboration. (also via Dances at a Gathering, West Side Story, Candide) “In 1944, Bernstein collaborated with his friend, the dancer and choreographer Jerome Robbins, on a new ballet entitled Fancy Free .” (Leonard Bernstein Office)
• Stephen Sondheim. West Side Story marked the first collaboration between Robbins and Sondheim. (also via Company) “West Side Story , directed by Jerome Robbins , opened in 1957 and ran for 732 performances. Sondheim expressed dissatisfaction with his lyrics” (Wikipedia)
• Robert Wise. Robbins co-directed the West Side Story film with Robert Wise. “Robbins shared the Academy Award for Best Director with Robert Wise for the film version of West Side Story (1961)” (Wikipedia)
• George Abbott. George Abbott directed On the Town, working alongside Robbins. “Robbins collaborated with George Abbott on The Pajama Game (1954), which launched the career of Shirley MacLaine” (Wikipedia)
• Jule Styne. Robbins worked with Jule Styne, who composed the music for Gypsy. (also via Funny Girl) “Robbins re-teamed with Sondheim and Laurents, and the music was by Jule Styne .” (Wikipedia)
• Arthur Laurents. Robbins collaborated with Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book for West Side Story. “Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents worked with him on West Side Story only a few years after they had been blacklisted” (Wikipedia)
• Paul Taylor (1930). Fancy Free (Jerome Robbins) — geography for Paul Taylor (via Fancy Free, Dances at a Gathering) “He also worked with the choreographers Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, José Limón and Jerome Robbins.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein (1957). Credits list Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins as co-directors of West Side Story. “BMBRv ROBERT WISE ano JEROME ROBBINS sc»tt-*t*v»» ERNEST LEHMAN” (East Cleveland Leader (East Cleveland, Ohio))
• Ballets USA. Robbins founded the dance company Ballets USA. “he established his own small dance company, Ballets USA, which premiered at the inaugural season of Gian Carlo Menotti's Festival of the Two Worlds” (Wikipedia)
• Funny Girl by Jule Styne (1964). Funny Girl (Jule Styne) — collaborator for Jerome Robbins “Robbins re-teamed with Sondheim and Laurents, and the music was by Jule Styne.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Senya Gluck Sandor. Robbins was a member of Senya Gluck Sandor's dance company. “He joined the company of Senya Gluck Sandor, a leading exponent of expressionistic modern dance” (Wikipedia)
• Candide by Leonard Bernstein (1956). Candide (Leonard Bernstein) — collaborator for Jerome Robbins “Fleet's In, which I inwardly rejected though it gave me the idea of doing the ballet, I watched sailors, and girls, too, all over town." Robbins commissioned the score for the ballet from Leonard Bernstein, who was a relatively unknown c…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Robbins collaborated with Comden and Green on On the Town. “The book and lyrics were written by a team that Robbins would work with again, Betty Comden and Adolph Green” (Wikipedia)
• Sweet Charity by Bob Fosse (1966). Sweet Charity (Bob Fosse) — peer for Jerome Robbins “He also directed and co-choreographed (with Bob Fosse) Bells Are Ringing (1956), starring Judy Holliday.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Oliver Smith. Robbins collaborated with Oliver Smith as set designer for Fancy Free. “He also enlisted Oliver Smith as set designer.” (Wikipedia)
• Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Robbins worked on a production with book by Shevelove and Gelbart. “The production, with book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart , and score by Stephen Sondheim , was not working.” (Wikipedia)
• Actors Studio. Robbins was an early member of the Actors Studio. “Robbins would become one of the first members of New York City's newly formed Actors Studio” (Wikipedia)
• Glass Pieces. Robbins choreographed the ballet to Glass's music. “Glass Pieces choreographed for New York City Ballet by Jerome Robbins in 1983 to a score drawn from existing Glass compositions” (Wikipedia)
• Company by Stephen Sondheim (1970). Company (Stephen Sondheim) — collaborator for Jerome Robbins “The show, with music by Leonard Bernstein, marked the first collaboration between Robbins and Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the lyrics, as well as Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• New York City Ballet. Robbins became Associate Artistic Director of New York City Ballet. “Robbins left Ballet Theatre to join George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein 's newly formed New York City Ballet as Associate Artistic Director.” (Wikipedia)
• On the Waterfront by Elia Kazan (1954). On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan) — geography for Jerome Robbins (themoviedb.org)
• Rodeo by Agnes de Mille (1942). Rodeo (Agnes de Mille) — geography for Jerome Robbins “From 1941 through 1944, Robbins was a soloist with the company, attracting notice for his performance as Hermes in Helen of Troy, the title role in Petrouchka, the Youth in Agnes de Mille's Three Virgins and a Devil, and Benvolio in Rome…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers by Michael Kidd (1954). Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Michael Kidd) — peer for Jerome Robbins “His performances there included Fancy Free (1944) choreographed by Jerome Robbins and with music by Leonard Bernstein, in which he played one of the three sailors.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Gene Kelly. Fancy Free (Jerome Robbins) — peer for Gene Kelly (via Fancy Free) (wikidata.org)

Who Jerome Robbins influenced

• Bob Fosse (1927). Fosse credits Jerome Robbins with giving him his first choreography job. (also via On the Town, Sweet Charity) “Jerry [ Jerome Robbins ] started me doing choreography. He gave me my first job as a choreographer [Pajama Game] and I'm grateful for that.” (Wikipedia)
• Bad. West Side Story heavily influenced the short film's direction and choreography. (via West Side Story) “The direction and choreography were heavily influenced by West Side Story (1961).” (Wikipedia)
• Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes by Justin Peck (2015). Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes (Justin Peck) — legacy for Jerome Robbins “At New York City Ballet, Peck has danced extensive repertoire, performing in existing and new works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Benjamin Millepied, Alexei Ratmansky, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, and Christopher Wheeldon.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Barbra Streisand. Funny Girl (Jerome Robbins) — culture for Barbra Streisand (via Funny Girl) “The musical helped turn lead Barbra Streisand into a superstar.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Contact by Susan Stroman (1999). Contact (Susan Stroman) — legacy for Jerome Robbins