Kirstein, Lincoln Edward (1907–1996)

US writer and dance impresario. In 1933 he recognized George Balanchine's talents and sponsored his emigration to the USA. In order to provide vehicles for Balanchine's talents, he founded the School of American Ballet in 1934 and the American Ballet Company the following year. The American Ballet became attached to the Metropolitan Opera in 1936, when Kirstein also ran Ballet Caravan. In 1946 Kirstein and Balanchine founded the Ballet Society, and in 1948 they moved to New York's new City Centre as the directors of what became one of the USA's top-ranking companies, New York City Ballet.

Kirstein was born in Rochester, New York. Heir to a Filene (department store) fortune, he fell in love with the theatre as a child and was profoundly inspired by Anna Pavlova in 1920. After graduating from Harvard University, he reviewed dance and theatre for Horn and Hound, which he cofounded. Officially retired in 1989, Kirstein remained a presence in the American dance world and intellectual life. He wrote several books, including Dance (1935) and Movement and Metaphor (1970), as well as poetry, and was founder-editor of Dance Index Magazine (1942–48).