The Unanswered Question: Some Intimations of the American Composer Charles Ives is a ballet made by Eliot Feld to Charles Ives' The Unanswered Question , Calcium Light Night , Fugue in Four Keys, Mists, From the Housatonic at Stockbridge, Sonata No. 2 for Piano and Violin (In the Barn), Remembrance and An Old Song Deranged. The premiere took place April 30, 1988, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, as part of New York City Ballet's American Music Festival with lighting by the Feld Ballet's Allen Lee Hughes and Willa Kim's costumes. Other works to the music of Ives in the City Ballet repertory include Peter Martins' Calcium Light Night , Jerome Robbins' Ives, Songs and George Balanchine's Ivesiana .
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Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Later in life, the quality of his music was publicly recognized, and he came to be regarded as an "American original". He was also among the first composers to engage in a systematic program of experimental music, with musical techniques including polytonality, polyrhythm, tone clusters, aleatory elements, and quarter tones. His experimentation foreshadowed many musical innovations that were later more widely adopted during the 20th century. Hence, he is often regarded as the leading American composer of art music of the 20th century.
Peter Martins is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as balletmaster in 1981. He retired from dancing in 1983, having achieved the rank of danseur noble, becoming Co-Ballet Master-In-Chief with Robbins. From 1990 until January 2018, he was solely responsible for artistic leadership of City Ballet.
The Unanswered Question is a musical work by American composer Charles Ives. Originally paired with Central Park in the Dark as Two Contemplations in 1908, The Unanswered Question was revised by Ives in 1930–1935. As with many of Ives' works, it was largely unknown until much later in his life, and was not performed until 1946.
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 deeply committed to dance and dance education in New York City.
Rasta Kuzma Ramacandra was born on July 18, 1981 in San Francisco and is a dancer, martial artist, gymnast, and choreographer. Thomas is the founder of the Bad Boys of Dance and director/owner of the ShowBiz National Talent Competition. Thomas is a past winner of prestigious ballet competitions worldwide and has guested with numerous dance companies.
The Joyce Theater is a 472-seat dance performance venue located in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The building opened in 1941 as the Elgin Theater, a movie house, and was gut-renovated and reconfigured in 1981-82 to reopen as the Joyce Theater. The Joyce is a leading presenter of dance in New York City and nationally.
Backchat is a ballet made by Eliot Feld for his Ballet Tech company to "Idle Chatter Junior" by Paul Lansky. The premiere took place October 21, 2004, during the company's MANDANCE PROJECT season at the Joyce Theater, New York. The New York City Ballet premiere of Backchat was Saturday, April 29, 2006, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center.
Tribute is a ballet made by Christopher d'Amboise to music by Johann Sebastian Bach. The première took place Saturday, June 4, 2005, at the School of American Ballet workshop performance, Juilliard Theater, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The New York City Ballet première was Sunday, February 4, 2007, at the New York State Theater, also at Lincoln Center.
Valse Triste is a ballet choreographed by Peter Martins when he was balletmaster at the New York City Ballet to Sibelius's eponymous waltz as well as the music called Scene with Cranes from his incidental music for the play Kuolema (Death). The crane is a symbol of death in Finnish literature. The premiere took place on May 23, 1985, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, with original lighting by Ronald Bates and current lighting by Mark Stanley.
Piano Pieces is a ballet made for New York City Ballet's Tschaikovsky Festival by ballet master Jerome Robbins to Tchaikovsky's music. The premiere took place on 11 June 1981 at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, with costumes by Ben Benson and lighting by Ronald Bates.
The Chairman Dances is a ballet made by New York City Ballet ballet master in chief Peter Martins to John Adams' eponymous music from 1985. The music was originally written for Adams' opera, Nixon in China, but not used in production: the scene is that in which Mao Zedong dances with his future bride, movie star Chiang Ch'ing. The premiere took place on 14 May 1988, as part of City Ballet's American Music Festival at New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, with scenery and costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, and lighting by Mark Stanley.
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:
Fanfare is a one-act ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, in celebration of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The ballet premiered on June 2, 1953, the night of the coronation, at the City Center of Music and Drama, danced by the New York City Ballet.
Calcium Light Night is a piece of music by American composer Charles Ives. It is one of his Cartoons or Take-Offs and is scored for piccolo, clarinet, cornet, trombone, bass drum, and two pianos. In 1912 or 1913, Ives grouped Calcium Light Night with five other pieces to make Set No. 1 for chamber ensemble. The piece pictures an event that occurs on the campus of Yale University that is well-described by W. E. Decrow in his book, Yale and the "City of Elms".
"Delta Kappa Epsilon, ... like its rival, Psi Upsilon, chooses about forty members from each junior class and gives out its elections in precisely the way stated in the article describing Psi Upsilon hall ..." "Psi Upsilon at Yale is a junior society, and about forty members of every junior class are elected to membership in the organization. Meetings are held on the Tuesday evenings in term time, and the elections are given out two or three weeks before Commencement. On that occasion the members form in line two deep, and, preceded by a calcium light borne on a wooden frame by four members of the society, march around to and visit various rooms, in each of which a certain number of men pledged to join the society are awaiting their coming. The procession files through the room, each member shaking hands with each candidate, and receiving, on marching out again, two or three fine cigars, presented by the newly elected members. The other junior society, Delta Kappa Epsilon, is always out on the same mission, under precisely similar circumstances. Accident or design, or both, always cause the two processions to pass each other several times during the evening, and each, singing its own society song, attempts to the best of its ability to drown the voices of the other. It is always done with the utmost good nature, and both sides enjoy it heartily, as do the numerous spectators ..."
Who Cares? is a ballet made by New York City Ballet's co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine to songs by George Gershwin in an orchestration by Hershy Kay. The premiere took place on Saturday, February 7, 1970, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center with costumes by Barbara Karinska and lighting by Ronald Bates; it was at first performed without décor but from November 1970 with scenery by Jo Mielziner.
The Barber Violin Concerto is a ballet made by New York City Ballet ballet master in chief Peter Martins to Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto, Op. 14 (1939). The premiere was conducted by Robert Irving and took place on 12 May 1988 at the New York State Theater, as part of City Ballet's American Music Festival, with lighting by Jennifer Tipton and costumes by William Ivey Long. Two couples, one pair classical dancers, the other modern, perform a series of mix-and-match pas de deux. All four are dressed in white, with the classical dancers in point shoes and ballet slippers, and the modern dancers typically barefoot and the man bare-chested.
Ivesiana is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to music by Charles Ives. The ballet premiered on September 14, 1954, four months after Ive's death, at the City Center of Music and Drama, performed by the New York City Ballet.
Paul E. Frame is a retired American ballet dancer and practicing chiropractor. Frame danced as a member of the corps de ballet at New York City Ballet for ten years before retiring from the stage. He is currently the resident chiropractor for Ballet Arizona.
