Editing Jerome Robbins (section)

===1930s and 40s===
[[File:Jerome Robbins.jpg|thumb|Robbins in ''Three Virgins and a Devil'', 1941]]
In 1937 Robbins made the first of many appearances as a dancer at [[Camp Tamiment]], a resort in the Poconos known for its weekly Broadway-style revues; and he began dancing in the choruses of Broadway shows, including ''Great Lady'' and ''[[Keep Off the Grass]]'', both choreographed by [[George Balanchine]]. Robbins had also begun creating dances for Tamiment's Revues, some of them comic (featuring the talents of [[Imogene Coca]] and [[Carol Channing]]) and some dramatic, topical, and controversial. One such dance, later also performed in New York City at the 92nd Street Y, was ''Strange Fruit'', set to [[Strange Fruit|the song]] of the same name sung by [[Billie Holiday]].

In 1940, Robbins joined Ballet Theatre (later known as [[American Ballet Theatre]]). From 1941 through 1944, Robbins was a soloist with the company, attracting notice for his performance as [[Hermes]] in ''[[Helen of Troy (ballet)|Helen of Troy]]'', the title role in ''[[Petrouchka]]'', the Youth in [[Agnes de Mille]]'s ''Three Virgins and a Devil'', and [[Benvolio]] in ''[[Romeo and Juliet (ballet)|Romeo and Juliet]]''; he also came under the influence of the choreographers [[Michel Fokine]], [[Antony Tudor]], and George Balanchine.
[[File:PaulCadmusTheFleetsIn.jpg|thumb|left|''The Fleet's In!'', painted by [[Paul Cadmus]], 1934, the inspiration for the ballet, ''[[Fancy Free (ballet)|Fancy Free]]'' (1944)]]

During this period, Robbins created ''[[Fancy Free (ballet)|Fancy Free]]'', a ballet with a screwball-comedy plot about sailors on leave that combined classical ballet with 1940s social dancing. He performed in it when it was presented at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] as part of the Ballet Theatre's 1944 season. He said that one of his inspirations for this ballet had been [[Paul Cadmus]]'s 1934 painting ''The Fleet's In!'', even though it was lighthearted, which the painting decidedly was not. Robbins said in an interview with ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'': "After seeing ... ''Fleet's In'', which I inwardly rejected though it gave me the idea of doing the ballet, I watched sailors, and girls, too, all over town." Robbins commissioned the score for the ballet from [[Leonard Bernstein]], who was a relatively unknown composer at the time.<ref>Paul R. Laird and David Schiff. "Bernstein, Leonard." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Web. August 14, 2014. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2223796 Oxfordmusiconline.com]</ref> He also enlisted [[Oliver Smith (designer)|Oliver Smith]] as set designer.

Later that year, Robbins conceived and choreographed ''[[On the Town (musical)|On the Town]]'' (1944), a musical partly inspired by ''Fancy Free'', which effectively launched his Broadway career. Bernstein wrote the music and Smith designed the sets. The book and lyrics were written by a team that Robbins would work with again, [[Betty Comden]] and [[Adolph Green]], and the director was the Broadway legend [[George Abbott]]. Because Robbins, as choreographer, insisted that his chorus reflect the racial diversity of a New York City crowd, ''On the Town'' broke the color bar on Broadway for the first time. Robbins's next musical was a jazz-age fable, ''[[Billion Dollar Baby]]'' (1945). During rehearsals for it, an incident happened that became a part of Robbins – and Broadway – lore: the choreographer, preoccupied by giving directions to the dancers, backed up onstage until he fell into the orchestra pit.<ref name=green>{{cite news| title=When You're a Shark You're a Shark All the Way| url=https://nymag.com/arts/theater/profiles/55341/index1.html| work=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]| date=March 15, 2009| last=Green| first=Jesse| access-date=February 25, 2014}}</ref> Two years later, Robbins received plaudits for his humorous [[Mack Sennett]] ballet, ''[[High Button Shoes]]'' (1947), and won his first [[Tony Award]] for [[Tony Award for Best Choreography|choreography]]. That same year, Robbins would become one of the first members of New York City's newly formed [[Actors Studio]], attending classes held by founding member [[Robert Lewis (actor)|Robert Lewis]] three times a week, alongside classmates including [[Marlon Brando]], [[Maureen Stapleton]], [[Montgomery Clift]], [[Herbert Berghof]], [[Sidney Lumet]], and about 20 others.<ref name=lewis>{{cite book| quote=At the end of the summer, on Gadget's return from Hollywood, we settled the roster of actors for our two classes in what we called the Actors Studio - using the word 'studio' as we had when we named our workshop in the Group, the Group Theatre Studio... My group, meeting three times a week, consisted of Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach, Mildred Dunnock, Jerome Robbins, Herbert Berghof, Tom Ewell, John Forsythe, Anne Jackson, Sidney Lumet, Kevin McCarthy, Karl Malden, E.G. Marshall, Patricia Neal, Beatrice Straight, David Wayne, and - well, I don't want to drop names, so I'll stop there. In all, there were about fifty.| first=Robert| last=Lewis| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVVX6pynyssC&q=%22Joan+Copeland%22%22Actors+Studio%22&pg=PA183| title=Slings and Arrows: Theater in My Life| year=1996| publisher=Applause Books| location=New York| isbn=1-55783-244-7| page=183| chapter=The Actors Studio, 1947| access-date=February 25, 2014}}</ref> In 1948 he added another credit to his resume, becoming co-director as well as choreographer for ''Look Ma, I'm Dancin'!''; the year after that he teamed with [[Irving Berlin]] to choreograph ''[[Miss Liberty]]''.

While he was forging a career on Broadway, Robbins continued to work in ballet, creating a string of inventive and stylistically diverse ballets, including ''[[Interplay (ballet)|Interplay]]'', which was set to a score by [[Morton Gould]], and ''Facsimile'', which was set to music by Leonard Bernstein and was banned in Boston [CK]. In 1949 Robbins left Ballet Theatre to join George Balanchine and [[Lincoln Kirstein]]'s newly formed [[New York City Ballet]] as Associate Artistic Director. Soon after that he choreographed ''The Guests,'' a ballet about intolerance.