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Ballet is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary based on French terminology. It has been globally influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres and cultures. Ballet has been taught in various schools around the world, which have historically incorporated their own cultures and as a result, the art has evolved in a number of distinct ways. See glossary of ballet.
New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's first music director. City Ballet grew out of earlier troupes: the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet, 1934; the American Ballet, 1935, and Ballet Caravan, 1936, which merged into American Ballet Caravan, 1941; and directly from the Ballet Society, 1946.
The tutu is a dress worn as a costume in a classical ballet performance, often with attached bodice. It may be made of tarlatan, muslin, silk, tulle, gauze, or nylon. Modern tutus have two basic types: the Romantic tutu is soft and bell-shaped, reaching the calf or ankle; the Classical tutu is short and stiff, projecting horizontally from the waist and hip.
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company based in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. After its initial Paris season, the company had no formal ties there.
Jewels is a three-act ballet created for the New York City Ballet by co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine. It premièred on Thursday, 13 April 1967 at the New York State Theater, with sets designed by Peter Harvey and lighting by Ronald Bates.
Apollo is a neoclassical ballet in two tableaux composed between 1927 and 1928 by Igor Stravinsky. It was choreographed in 1928 by twenty-four-year-old George Balanchine, with the composer contributing the libretto. The scenery and costumes were designed by André Bauchant, with new costumes by Coco Chanel in 1929. The scenery was executed by Alexander Shervashidze, with costumes under the direction of Mme. A. Youkine. The American patron of the arts Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge had commissioned the ballet in 1927 for a festival of contemporary music to be held the following year at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Stars and Stripes is a ballet in five "campaigns," choreographed by George Balanchine in 1958 to original music by John Philip Sousa, arranged by Hershy Kay. It lasts an average of 28 minutes.
Square Dance is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine to Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto Grosso in B minor and the first movement of his Concerto Grosso in E major, Op. 3, nos. 10 and 12, respectively; in 1976 he added Arcangelo Corelli's Sarabanda, Badinerie e Giga, second and third movements. The premiere took place on November 21, 1957, at City Center of Music and Drama, New York, with lighting by Mark Stanley. The original version placed the musicians on stage with a square dance caller calling the steps; from its 1976 revival the caller was eliminated, the orchestra placed in the pit, and a solo added for the premier danseur to the Corelli Sarabanda. The Pacific Northwest Ballet restored the caller for one performance at the 2007 Vail International Dance Festival.
Andantino, originally titled Pas de Deux, is a ballet made for New York City Ballet's Tschaikovsky Festival by ballet master Jerome Robbins to the second movement of the composer's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 (1875). The premiere took place on 4 June 1981 at New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, with costumes by Ben Benson and lighting by Ronald Bates.
Opus 19/The Dreamer is a ballet made by New York City Ballet balletmaster Jerome Robbins to Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1, in D major with costumes by Ben Benson and lighting by Ronald Bates. The premiere took place on June 14, 1979, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center. Peter Boal danced it with Wendy Whelan as part of his June 2005 farewell performance at City Ballet.
La Sonnambula(The Sleepwalker) is a ballet by the co-founder and ballet master of New York City Ballet, George Balanchine, made to Vittorio Rieti's music using themes from the operas of Vincenzo Bellini including La Sonnambula, Norma, I Puritani and I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1830–35).
In the Night is a ballet in one act made by New York City Ballet ballet master Jerome Robbins to nocturnes of Frédéric Chopin. The premiere took place on Thursday, January 29, 1970 at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, with costumes by Anthony Dowell and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. Robbins created three other ballets to Chopin's music: The Concert (1956), Dances at a Gathering (1969), and Other Dances (1976), made on Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova.
Union Jack is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine to traditional British tunes, hornpipe melodies and music-hall songs, ca. 1890–1914, adapted by Hershy Kay. The premiere took place on 13 May 1976, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, to honor British heritage in the United States its bicentennial with costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, original lighting by Ronald Bates and current lighting by Mark Stanley. At the finale the ensemble spells out "God Save the Queen" in semaphore code and the Union Jack unfurls. Principal dancer Jock Soto included an excerpt from Union Jack in his farewell performance in June 2005.
Ives, Songs is a ballet made by New York City Ballet ballet master Jerome Robbins to songs of Charles Ives:
Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2, originally called Ballet Imperial, is a ballet in three movements made by New York City Ballet's co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine for his earlier company, American Ballet Caravan, to the version of Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2, originally composed in 1879–80, but later revised by Alexander Siloti. The ballet was given a preview performance on 29 May 1941 at the Little Theater of Hunter College in New York City. The premiere took place on 25 June 1941 at Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro.
Other Dances is a ballet made by New York City Ballet balletmaster Jerome Robbins on Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov to the music of Chopin:
Mozartiana is a ballet by New York City Ballet co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine which opened their Tschaikovsky Festival. It is the choreographer's third homage to Mozart and is set to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Suite No. 4, Mozartiana, Op. 61 (1887), consisting of:
Mercurial Manoeuvres is a ballet made by New York City Ballet's first Artist in Residence Christopher Wheeldon to Shostakovich's Concerto in C minor for Piano, Trumpet, and String Orchestra, Op. 35, for the City Ballet's Diamond Project. The premiere took place on Friday, April 28, 2000, at New York State Theater, Lincoln Center with costumes by Carole Divet and lighting by Mark Stanley.
Ann Hould-Ward is an American costume designer, primarily for the theatre and dance. She has designed the costumes for 19 Broadway productions. She won the 1994 Tony Award for Beauty and the Beast.
Concerto Barocco is a neoclassical ballet made for students at the School of American Ballet by George Balanchine, subsequently ballet master and co-founder of New York City Ballet, to Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto in D minor for Two Violins, BWV 1043. After an open dress rehearsal on May 29, 1941, in the Little Theatre of Hunter College, New York, the official premiere took place June 27, 1941, at Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro as part of American Ballet Caravan's South American tour.
References
- Playbill , NYCB, Friday, 27 June 2008