Sacramento Ballet dancers begin the ballet "Serenade." George Balanchine wrote: "'Serenade' was my first ballet in the United States. Soon after my arrival in America, Lincoln Kirstein, Edward M. M. Warburg, and I opened the School of American Ballet in New York. As part of the school curriculum, I started an evening ballet class in stage technique, to give the students some idea of how dancing on stage differs from classwork. 'Serenade' evolved from the lessons I gave." Sacramento Ballet performing Serenade, Firebird, Stars and Stripes. Wednesday, March 23, 2005.