The great British choreographer Antony Tudor made his American debut with ABT, and the legendary Agnes de Mille staged the majority of her ballet works with them. Many choreographers have staged works especially for ABT, including George Balanchine, Adolph Bolm, Michel Fokine, Léonide Massine, and Bronislava Nijinska. In keeping with the company's long-standing commitment to bringing the finest in dance to the widest international audience, ABT pursued engagements in Tokyo, London, Paris, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Palermo, Italy, and in Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece. The duo immediately established an agenda that was dedicated to maintaining the great traditions of the past while aggressively pursuing a vital and innovative future. In 1990, Oliver Smith retained leadership of the company alongside Jane Hermann, who had held administrative positions at the Joffrey Ballet and the EliotFeld Dance Company before joining the Metropolitan Opera Association as a consultant in 1976. Baryshnikov, who had said he would leave the company by summer 1990, resigned prematurely in September 1989 after a dispute with management and the board over ABT's finances and the dismissal of one of his staff members. Under his leadership, numerous classical ballets were staged, restaged and refurbished, and the company experienced a strengthening and refining of the classical tradition.
Mikhail Baryshnikov became Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre in 1980, succeeding Chase and Smith. Most notable, in 1960 the company became the first American company to dance in the Soviet Union. The Metropolitan Opera House in New York is now home to the American Ballet Theatre. In 1956, the company was christened the American Ballet Theatre, and has kept that name ever since. In acquiring such an extraordinary repertoire, ABT has commissioned works by all of the great choreographic geniuses of the twentieth century: George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille and Twyla Tharp, among others. The repertoire, includes all of the great full-length ballets of the nineteenth century, such as Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and Giselle, the finest works from the early part of this century, such as Apollo, Les Sylphides, Jardin aux Lilas and Rodeo, and acclaimed contemporary masterpieces such as Airs, Push Comes to Shove and Duets. This event sparked 40 years of choreographic strength and exceptional style as ABT was helmed by Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith, one of the most prolific scenic designers in American history. The company, which then billed itself as "America's First Ballet Theatre Staged by the Greatest Collaboration in History," would set a new course in American dance. The curtain at Radio City's Center Theater went up on Januthe Ballet Theatre took the stage, and history was made.
Radio City Music Hall, where the future American Ballet Theatre made its public debut.
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