Born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz, Jerome Robbins was a dancer and choreographer. Starting his career as a modern dancer, he began to appreciate the technique involved in ballet, the two which he merged in his choreography, especially in musical theater. In his choreography, he was renowned for injecting personality into each individual dancer's role and integrating dance not only into the storyline but into the everyday movement of the character. His primary interest was in telling American stories through dance. Robbins was conflicted about his homosexuality and he had relationships with both men and women. His first long-term gay relationship was with Montgomery Clift in the late 1940s when Clift was a young actor on Broadway which ended when Clift received a Hollywood contract.