Pennsylvania Ballet

In 1962, Barbara Weisberger, a protégé of George Balanchine, started the School of the Pennsylvania Ballet to train dancers for her forthcoming dance company. The “Philadelphia Ballet” was officially founded the following year, although a legal dispute with a school of a similar name led her to change the company’s name to The Pennsylvania Ballet. George Balanchine served as artistic advisor and the Ford Foundation provided the funds to help the struggling company establish itself. The first performance was given on April 16, 1964 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Irvine Auditorium, initiating over four decades of ballet in Philadelphia.

In the 1960s, Weisberger shepherded the company into the national spotlight, gaining stability from the company’s repertoire of Balanchine ballets. One of his works, Concerto Barocco, became the ballet’s signature piece. In 1972 Benjamin Harkarvy became the artistic director. A few years later, Weisberger initiated the company’s summer residency at Penn State University, through which several future principal dancers were discovered. In the 1970s, the company toured the United States, including the West Coast, and held residencies at several Mid-Atlantic universities and cultural institutions. 1977 saw a restructuring of the administration and the resignation of several dancers. In the last few years of the decade, the company went through severe financial hardships and administrative tension, which culminated in the suspension of operations in the spring of 1982. Shortly after, Weisberger and Harkarvy both resigned.

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