New York City Ballet
NYCB still has the largest repertoire by far of any American ballet company. It often stages 60 ballets or more in its winter and spring seasons at Lincoln Center each year, and 20 or more in its summer season in Saratoga Springs. City Ballet has performed "The Nutcracker", "Romeo and Juliet", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and many more. City Ballet has trained and developed many great dancers since its formation. Many dancers with already developed reputations have also joined the ballet as principal dancers.
Pacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet was founded in 1972, after the two-month residency of First Chamber Dance Company, as part of the Seattle Opera and named the Pacific Northwest Dance Association. Under the directorship of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, originally of New York City Ballet, it broke away from the Opera in 1977 and took its current name in 1978. Stowell and Russell left at the end of the 2004–2005 season. A portrait by artist Michele Rushworth was painted of Stowell and Russell and installed in the Phelps Center, Seattle, to commemorate their careers and retirement. Both had studied with and danced for George Balanchine. Peter Boal succeeded Stowell and Russell as Artistic Director following their retirement. In 2013, the company and its orchestra toured to New York for the first time in 16 years. The "New York Times" dance critic Alastair Macaulay, stated of their presentation that "This is a true company," more "unified in its understanding of Balanchine" than the New York City Ballet.