Arts and Entertainment Hall of Fame on November 8, 2024.

George Balanchine has been called the foremost contemporary choreographer in the world of ballet.

The term modern has often been used.

Barbara Linches was the first child Balanchine admitted to his school, a real departure for him.

Barbara Linches Weisberger became a protege of Balanchine and went on to found the Pennsylvania Ballet.

WVIA produced a documentary on Barbara Weisberger and her achievements in 2007.

- The Pennsylvania Ballet played a very important and relevant part in the, you might call, the artistic greening of America.

(gentle dramatic music) There are a lot of companies that have developed from New York City Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet is one of the most honorable.

- I think that he could see future through Barbara Weisberger's kind of leadership potential.

And that, I think, is a critical notion and idea.

I am fond of saying that most companies reflect their artistic directors.

- There are times when I'm doing something and teaching and listening to myself saying something, and I'm thinking, "Gee, that's a Barbara Weisberger explanation."

- Money was nothing to her.

(laughs) It was just the love of ballet, the love of the people who were in it, the love of the children.

It's not an obsession, but it's close.

- She really is tenacious about that, about supporting creative artists.

- She knew that she had the support and the backing of her family.

And feeling that there were no objections to her doing this, I think it helped drive her to a greater efforts to try to do the best that she could.

- Most of my professional life had to do with building, with gathering people, working with people, loving them, committing to them and with them.

I don't think that while you're doing it, you're thinking of what's gonna happen, what people think.

It comes, somehow, if you're lucky, it comes in the way people really love you.

(gentle dramatic music) - Highlights from a documentary produced by WVIA titled "Barbara Weisberger: En Pointe" in 2007.

Ms. Barbara, as she was lovingly called, was inducted in 2023.