Memory stream Dipping into Philadelphia's illustrated past

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Pennsylvania Ballet, which was founded in 1963 by Barbara Weisberger, a protégé of George Balanchine's. Weisberger had established the School of Pennsylvania Ballet a year earlier to train dancers for the company.

Pennsylvania Ballet held its first local performance in the spring of 1964 at the Irvine Auditorium of the University of Pennsylvania. Since then, the ballet has performed and forged relationships with other companies across the country, and appeared on television, most notably in PBS's Dance in America series.

Balanchine, the famed choreographer and cofounder of the New York City Ballet, served as Pennsylvania Ballet's first artistic adviser. Between 1972 and 1994, the company was overseen by three artistic directors, Benjamin Harkarvy, Robert Weiss, and Christopher d'Amboise. In 1994, Roy Kaiser became the ballet's first artistic director to have come up through its ranks as a dancer.

Pennsylvania Ballet currently consists of 48 dancers and performs regularly at the Academy of Music and the Merriam Theater. It is in the midst of a capital campaign project to raise funds for its new administrative, training, and rehearsal facility, the Louise Reed Center for Dance, on the Avenue of the Arts. The ballet will celebrate its 50th anniversary all season, with special performances, exhibits, and speaker series throughout the city. For more information, visit paballet.org.