Nancy Lassalle, Longtime Promoter of Ballet, Dies at 93 In 1941 she studied at George Balanchine’s fledgling dance academy. She was not destined to be a ballerina, but she dedicated her life to Balanchine’s legacy. Nancy Lassalle in 2007 at a benefit for the School of American Ballet in Manhattan. She was a founding member of the boards of both the school and New York City Ballet.Credit...Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan, via Getty Images Published May 4, 2021Updated May 11, 2021 As a teenager, Nancy Lassalle attended the fledgling ballet academy started by the choreographer George Balanchine that is now the School of American Ballet. She was not destined to be a ballerina — she was too tall and too gawky, her daughter Honor Lassalle said — but she was passionate about dance, and about the mission articulated by Balanchine and his collaborator, Lincoln Kirstein, when they founded New York City Ballet in the late 1940s.