"In the beginning there is nothing. It starts very small and becomes bigger." Pina Bausch creates epics, but they always retain that quality of having come from absence, of having been built piece by piece. Bausch's dances start with a single concept -- a kernel of movement, a memory -- which she bui

Bombast, Ecstatic, Epic, Euro-surreal expressionism, Repetition

He was known with affectionate reverence as "Mr. B," and that imperious initial may as well have stood for "ballet" itself. Without George Balanchine, there would be no American ballet, only ballet in America. The self-proclaimed artistic descendent of the great Russian choreographer Marius Petipa, B

Bombast, High modernism -- ballet in america, Machinistic, Physical force, Pioneering

In the '70s and early '80s, ballet in America became, fleetingly, a pinnacle of popularized glamor. The blinding star of this bright moment was Mikhail Baryshnikov, known even to philistines as the charismatic Misha. He swiftly became the saving grace of ballet's lagging box office after critic Clive

Charming, Clean, Elegant, Implosive, Phallic, Physical force, Soviet ballet: the bolshoi and the kirov

Although too erratic in technique to earn the distinction of virtuoso, Rudolf Nureyev still took a place among the most brilliant dancers in history. His flamboyance and charisma garnered him a truly massive audience; it's possible that his dancing has been seen by more people than that of any other

Bombast, Dramatic, Intense, Masculine, Mythic, Severe, Soviet ballet: the bolshoi and the kirov