Moves (ballet)

Last updated

Moves
Choreographer Jerome Robbins
PremiereJuly 3, 1959 (1959-07-03)
Spoleto, Italy
Original ballet companyBallets: USA
Genre neoclassical ballet

Moves [lower-alpha 1] is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins. The ballet was made for Robbins's troupe Ballet: USA's 1959 tour, with Aaron Copland brought in to write the music. However, he struggled with the score, and Robbins ultimately decided to have the ballet performed in silence instead. The ballet premiered at the Festival of Two Worlds held in Spoleto, Italy, on July 3, 1959. It has since been revived by other dance companies, including the New York City Ballet. Copland's score was later published as Dance Panels .

Contents

Choreography

Moves is performed in silence, with the dancers in practice clothes, and without scenery. [3] : 282  [4] It is an ensemble piece. [2] Robbins wrote that without music, sets and costumes, the ballet "places the dancer's body under a magnifying glass. The relationships on stage are different in silence. Nothing is holding the dance or the emotion but the movements and their relationships to each other." [5] : 308  The choreography contains sight cues and small audible cues to allow the dancers to know the tempo. [3]

Production

In 1959, Robbins's company Ballet: USA was set to tour sixteen countries under the auspices of the State Department. [6] Having previously used Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto for his The Pied Piper and staged Copland's opera The Tender Land , Robbins had wanted to work with the composer again. Though the former intended to choreograph a large-scale ballet to The Red Pony for New York City Ballet's tenth anniversary season, the project was abandoned because of Robbins's works in musical theater, and Ballet: USA did not have the resource to do so. [6] [7]

When Copland offered to write a score for Robbins, the latter was "very inwardly excited" and "so honored". He accepted the offer immediately, and provided his idea, "a non-story ballet tentatively entitled Theatre Waltzes or something like that," [6] that would

represent ... the style, youth, technical competence, theatrical qualities and personalities of the company in pure dance terms. The technique is essentially classic ballet (in the way that Americans employ it) and to make the whole ballet a decorative statement – open, positive, inventive, joyous (rather than introspective) – a parade; a presentation; perhaps elegant, witty, tender and with a sure technique. [6]

Robbins also gave a list of twenty-two potential movements. However, he noted, "These are only ideas – and all can be thrown out if anything suggests something else – Feel Free." [5] : 306  Copland struggled with fulfilling Robbins's ideas. When rehearsals were about to start, he had just begun, but was able to play what was done on the piano to Robbins. [6] The choreographer then started working on the ballet. Some of the dancers noted Robbins using the 3
4 time signature and had the pianist play Copland's score in the beginning, but days later decided to rehearse in silence. [5] : 306  Robbins recalled,

A strange thing happened. I went straight to rehearsal without the music right after Aaron played the score for me. I tried to remember it, but could only recall the counts. When I began working with the company just with counts, I got interested with what they were doing without music. It fascinated me, and I continued working that way. It really moved along. [7]

In early June, just before the company was scheduled to leave for the tour, Copland provided a sketch of the score, with a note stating, "I couldn't stop to get help with playing [it], so have sent you a mere outline of the piece, will do another version for you later." [6] Robbins realized his choreography and Copland's score were very different. The score was "great ... and full of such truly sensitive music that there is insufficient time for me to have a full and urgent grasp of its wonderful material." Robbins therefore decided to have the ballet performed in silence and named it Moves. [6]

American National Theater and Academy (ANTA), the sponsor of the ballet, and the State Department panel were outraged and attempted to get Robbins abandon Moves. [5] : 306–307  [6] A run-through was held before the company left for the tour. Though Robbins thought it needed some cutting, it was well-received, including by Copland, but was despised by the panel. [5] : 307  The panel attempted to get Moves replaced with Interplay . Robbins had also considered this but rejected this idea because Interplay is too similar to N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz , which would also be performed on tour. [5] : 307 

Copland's score was later published as Dance Panels . In a later interview, Robbins said, "I was sorry I wasn't able to do Dance Panels, but in a very real way Aaron's music was the accidental genesis of my ballet without music, Moves." [7]

Original cast

The original cast consisted of: [8]

Performances

Moves premiered on July 3, 1959, at the Festival of Two Worlds, organized by Gian Carlo Menotti, held in Spoleto, Italy. [3] : 282  [9] It was then taken on tour. With shows sold out and critical acclaim, ANTA became more positive with the ballet. [6]

In 1966, Robbins staged Moves for the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel. [5] : 388–389  The following year, it was added to Joffrey Ballet's repertory. [4] In 1984, Robbins's company, the New York City Ballet, debuted Moves. [1] In 1993, Robbins remounted the ballet for the Paris Opera Ballet. [3] : 513–514 

Notes

  1. ↑ Subtitled A Ballet in Silence About Relationships, [1] or A Ballet in Silence, [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Ballet</span> American ballet company

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerome Robbins</span> American choreographer & director (1918–1998)

Jerome Robbins was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television.

<i>Appalachian Spring</i> 1944 ballet by Martha Graham and Aaron Copland

Appalachian Spring is an American ballet created by the choreographer Martha Graham and the composer Aaron Copland, later arranged as an orchestral work. Commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, Copland composed the ballet music for Graham; the original choreography was by Graham, with costumes by Edythe Gilfond and sets by Isamu Noguchi. The ballet was well received at the 1944 premiere, earning Copland the Pulitzer Prize for Music during its 1945 United States tour. The orchestral suite composed in 1945 was played that year by many symphony orchestras; the suite is among Copland's best-known works, and the ballet remains essential in the Martha Graham Dance Company repertoire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joffrey Ballet</span> Ballet company (founded in 1956)

The Joffrey Ballet is an American dance company and training institution in Chicago, Illinois. The Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at the Civic Opera House, including its annual presentation of The Nutcracker.

Eliot Feld is an American modern ballet choreographer, performer, teacher, and director. Feld works in contemporary ballet. His company and schools, including the Feld Ballet and Ballet Tech, are involved in dance and dance education in New York City.

Lawrence Pech is a dancer, choreographer and teacher currently living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area.

<i>Dancin</i> 1978 musical by Bob Fosse

Dancin' is a musical revue created, directed, and choreographed by Bob Fosse and originally produced on Broadway in 1978. The plotless, dance-driven revue is a tribute to the art of dance, and the music is a collection of mostly American songs, many with a dance theme, from a wide variety of styles, from operetta to jazz to classical to marches to pop. The original production received seven 1978 Tony Award nominations, with Fosse winning for best choreography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Bolender</span>

Todd Bolender was a renowned ballet dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director. He was an instrumental figure in the creation and dissemination of classical dance and ballet as an American art form. A child of the American Midwest during the Great Depression, he studied under George Balanchine and led the Kansas City Ballet in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1980 to 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miami City Ballet</span> Non-profit organization in the USA

Miami City Ballet is an American ballet company based in Miami Beach, Florida, led by artistic director Lourdes Lopez.

<i>Afternoon of a Faun</i> (Robbins) Ballet by Jerome Robbins

Afternoon of a Faun is a neoclassical ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to Claude Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. The ballet features two young dancers meeting at a rehearsal studio. Robbins was influenced by Stéphane Mallarmé's poem L'après-midi d'un faune, the inspiration for Debussy's score, as well as Vaslav Nijinsky's 1912 ballet to the same score, and his own observation of dancers.

Laura Dean is an American dancer, choreographer and composer. She is known for her collaborations with Steve Reich, a number of commissioned works for the Joffrey Ballet, and works for her own dance companies. Dean's earliest works were marked by a minimalist approach and an affinity for spinning; her later work saw more use of traditional dance methods.

Glass Pieces is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to music by Philip Glass, costumes designed by Ben Benson, lighting designed by Ronald Bates and production designed by Robbins and Bates. The ballet was premiered on May 12, 1983, at the New York State Theater, performed by the New York City Ballet.

Tina LeBlanc is an American ballet dancer, teacher and ballet master. She joined the Joffrey Ballet in 1988. In 1992, she joined the San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer. She retired in 2009, then joined the faculty of the San Francisco Ballet School, before returning to the San Francisco Ballet as a ballet master in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oklahoma City Ballet</span> Arts organization based in Oklahoma

The Oklahoma City Ballet is a professional dance company and school located in Oklahoma City. The company began under the artistic direction of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dancers Yvonne Chouteau and Miguel Terekhov in the Science and Arts Foundation building on the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Marie DeAngelo</span> American dancer

Ann Marie DeAngelo is an American choreographer, director, producer, teacher, consultant and former dancer - an expert in all areas of dance. She was leading ballerina with the Joffrey Ballet, where early on she was pegged by Time magazine as "one of America's most outstanding ballerinas" and where she later served as associate director at the time of the company's move to Chicago in 1995.

Rodeo is a ballet composed by Aaron Copland and choreographed by Agnes de Mille, which premiered in 1942. Subtitled "The Courting at Burnt Ranch", the ballet consists of five sections: "Buckaroo Holiday", "Corral Nocturne", "Ranch House Party", "Saturday Night Waltz", and "Hoe-Down". The symphonic version omits "Ranch House Party", leaving the other sections relatively intact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Leland</span> American ballet dancer (1941–2020)

Sally Harrington, known professionally as Sara Leland, was an American ballet dancer and répétiteur. She started her career with the Joffrey Ballet in 1959, and was recruited to join the New York City Ballet by George Balanchine in 1960. She was promoted to principal dancer in 1972, and created roles for both Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.

Dance Panels is a ballet composed by Aaron Copland in 1959 for a planned collaboration with choreographer Jerome Robbins. After Copland had written the score, Robbins reneged on his commitment and the performance did not take place. Three years later, Copland revised the score for a ballet by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany, where it premiered on 3 December 1963. The ballet was performed by the New York City Ballet in 1965 and the concert version received its first performance at the Ojai Music Festival the following year. According to Copland biographer Howard Pollack, Dance Panels has proven from a musical standpoint one of the composer's more accessible late scores. While some of its more dissonant moments sound similar to Copland's twelve-tone compositions, other parts recall his earlier stage and screen music. It is also the only one of Copland's six ballets not written to a specific program.

In Creases is a ballet choreographed by Justin Peck, his first for the New York City Ballet, to Philip Glass' "Four Movements for Two Pianos". The ballet premiered on July 14, 2012, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, during the company's annual season there, and had its New York City premiere on May 29, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lois Bewley</span> American dancer and choreographer (1934–2012)

Lois Bewley (1934–2012) was an American dancer, choreographer and designer. She studied at the School of American Ballet before joining the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo. After touring with the American Ballet Theatre and the dance companies of Alicia Markova and Jerome Robbins, she joined the New York City Ballet in 1960. Regarded as the "clown princess of dance", she co-founded the First Chamber Dance Quartet and choreographed original ballets and dance pieces. She also worked as an opera director, costume designer and set designer.

References

  1. 1 2 Kisselgoff, Anna (May 4, 1984). "Ballet: 'Moves' By Jerome Robbins". New York Times.
  2. 1 2 Anderson, Jack (February 13, 2002). "Dance Review; A Ballet Moving to the Beat of Emotions, Not Music". New York Times.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lawrence, Greg (May 7, 2001). Dance with Demons: The Life Jerome Robbins. ISBN   9781101204061.
  4. 1 2 Dunning, Jennifer (November 18, 1978). "Joffrey Ballet Performs Jerome Robbins's 'Moves'". New York Times.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jowitt, Deborah (2004). Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance. ISBN   9780684869858.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Vaill, Amanda (May 6, 2008). Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins. pp. 313–317. ISBN   9780767929295.
  7. 1 2 3 Anderson, Jack (November 19, 1987). "Critic's Notebook; Raked Stages And Scoreless Dance". New York Times.
  8. ↑ "Moves". New York City Ballet. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Ballet: U.S.A.' Hailed; Robbins Troupe Dances Four Works at Spoleto Festival". New York Times. July 5, 1959.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.