Balanchine Ballet Notes

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karen kain, artistic director Jewels The Four Temperaments Apollo Theme and Variations Ballet Talks and Ballet Notes are generously sponsored by The Balanchine Season jewels Choreography by George Balanchine Lindsay Fischer Joysanne Sidimus February to Guest Repetiteurs , 22 26, 2006 Music: Emeralds Gabriel Fauré, from Pelleas et Mélisande and Shylock Rubies Igor Stravinsky, Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra Diamonds Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, from Symphony No. 3 in D Major Costume Design by Karinska Lighting Design by Robert Thomson Piano Soloist for Rubies andrew burashko

bal anchine I The Four Temperaments triple bill Choreography by George Balanchine Staged by Joysanne Sidimus March to 1 5, 2006 Music by Paul Hindemith,Theme and Four Variations – The Four Temperaments Used by arrangement with European/American Music Distributors Corporation, sole U.S. and Canadian Agent for B.Schott’s Soehne, publisher and copyright owner. Lighting Design by Ronald Bates Piano Soloist Mark Harjes II Apollo Choreography by George Balanchine Music by Igor Stravinsky, Apollon Musagète By arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes Inc., publisher and copyright owner Lighting Design by Robert Thomson

III Theme and Variations Choreography by George Balanchine Guest Repetiteur Lindsay Fischer Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the final movement of Suite No. 3 for Orchestra in G major, Op. 55 Set and Costume Design by Santo Loquasto Lighting Design by Robert Thomson

The performances of Jewels, The Four Temperaments, Apollo and Theme and Variations, Balanchine® Ballets, are presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust sm and have been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® Service standards established and provided by the Trust. Jewels, The Four Temperaments, Apollo and Theme and Variations are gifts from the volunteer committee, the national ballet of canada. y lydia pawelak; jennifer founier, greta hodgkinson, jaimie tapper and rex harrington in apollo, 1999 photo cover photo: xiao nan yu in jewels, 2003 photo by david street opposite: ryan boorne and jennifer fournier in the four temperaments, 1997 photo by cylla von tiedemann The Balanchine Season jewels Choreography by George Balanchine Lindsay Fischer Joysanne Sidimus February to Guest Repetiteurs , 22 26, 2006 Music: Emeralds Gabriel Fauré, from Pelleas et Mélisande and Shylock Rubies Igor Stravinsky, Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra Diamonds Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, from Symphony No. 3 in D Major Costume Design by Karinska Lighting Design by Robert Thomson Piano Soloist for Rubies andrew burashko

George Balanchine, co-founder and director of the New York City duction or explanation,” Balanchine said. “The important thing in Ballet until his death in 1983, is one of the most renowned and ballet is the movement itself, as it is sound which is important in a prolific choreographers of the 20th century. Balanchine created a symphony. A ballet may contain a story, but the visual spectacle, new genre of classical ballet that is synonymous today with the New not the story, is the essential element.” York City Ballet. Though that company is without a doubt the greatest repository of Balanchine’s works, his ballets are also in the Balanchine created a distinctive vocabulary and style of movement repertoires of more companies than any other choreographer’s. that closely reflects the structure of the music he used. Com- Balanchine’s ballets not only add diversity to a company’s reper- menting on Balanchine’s use of music, dance critic Kenneth toire, but also challenge dancers to a new level of technical bril- LaFave has noted: “Balanchine has explored the interactions of liance. music and dance with almost every ballet, and has approached their combination afresh countless times. Look at his ballets superficial- Balanchine was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and received his ly and they may seem to be illustrations of the music. Look at them dance training at the Imperial Ballet School there. Nurtured in the closely and they appear as they really are: works that dance in the ballet traditions of the turn of the century, particularly the ballets music, not merely to the beat.” and pedagogy of the Russian ballet master Marius Petipa, Balanchine received a classical education. After leaving Russia in Traits inherent in the Balanchine style: 1924, Balanchine was exposed to the work of Serge Diaghilev’s The movements are athletic and emphasized by their speed, Ballets Russes, and in turn created works for Diaghilev’s company. sharp attack and absorption of space. The artistic milieu of the Ballets Russes was highly stimulating, as The body takes on new dimensions through an elongated line, Diaghilev brought his choreographers into collaboration with the uplifted chest and high leg extensions. composers Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Erik Satie and The music Maurice Ravel and such artists as Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and is illustrated in the choreography, but Balanchine Marc Chagall. Later, with his own company, Les Ballets 1933, also invents movement that provides his own personal visualiza- Balanchine collaborated with such leading artistic figures as Bertolt tion of the music. Brecht, Kurt Weill, Pavel Tchelitchev and composers Darius Balanchine’s relationship with music stemmed from his early Milhaud and Henri Sauget. childhood, when his musical studies were as important as his dance training. His understanding of musical theory, composition and In 1933, at the invitation of Lincoln Kirstein, Balanchine travelled playing enabled him to develop intimate working relationships with to the United States, where he and Kirstein established the School his composers. The National Ballet of Canada’s late Artistic of American Ballet in 1934 and the New York City Ballet in 1948. Director, Erik Bruhn, once noted: “He unravelled the intricate Through the creation of these two institutions, Balanchine was structure and emotional texture of music. Using the music of able to invent a very distinct style of American dance. Writes dance Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and of course his close friend Igor critic Marilyn Hunt: “When Balanchine first came to the United Stravinsky, Balanchine actually made ballet more aware of its musi- States, he devised a way for Americans to appear on stage without cal potential.” feeling weighed down by traditions of court and ballet that they weren’t born to.” Balanchine’s understanding of music allowed him to reach into the inner life of the music. It is not the obvious beat but the harmony Balanchine’s style has been described as neo-classic, a reaction to in the music that motivates the dance. Said Balanchine of his use the Romantic anti-classicism (which had turned into exaggerated of music previously untouched by ballet choreographers: “If the theatricality) that was the prevailing style in Russian and European dance designer sees in the development of classical dancing a ballet when he had begun to dance. The beauty of Balanchine’s counterpart in the development of music and has studied them dances is found in their patterning, structure and in their rela- both, he will derive continual inspiration from great scores.” tionship to the music. The majority of Balanchine’s works are abstract, one-act ballets. But for a handful, most of his works are In 1970, U.S. News and World Report wrote of Balanchine, “The non-narrative, the music and the dance conveying all necessary greatest choreographer of our time, George Balanchine is respon- meaning. Some of Balanchine’s ballets pay homage to his Russian sible for the successful fusion of modern concepts with older ideas heritage, including Ballet Imperial (1941) and the Diamonds section of of classical ballet. Balanchine received his training in Imperial the three-act, full-evening work Jewels (1967). While others proved Russia before coming to America in 1933. Here, the free-flowing provocative (The Four Temperaments in 1946 and Agon in 1957), roman- U.S. dance forms stimulated him to develop new techniques in tic (Serenade in 1934) and spectacular audience pleasers (Stars and dance design and presentation which have altered the thinking of Stripes in 1958, Union Jack in 1976 and Vienna Waltzes in 1977), all were the world of dance. Often working with modern music, and the clockwise from top left: george balanchine with achieved within his extended framework of classical ballet. simplest of themes, he has created ballets that are celebrated for igor stravinsky, ca. 1957 photo by martha swope; their imagination and originality. His company, the New York City chan hon goh with suzanne farrell in rehearsal for Balanchine’s use of movement organically links the music and the jewels, 2000 photo by cylla von tiedemann; martine Ballet, is the leading dance group of the United States and one of lamy in theme and variations, 1998 photo by lydia dancers’ bodies. His work is always inventive and nothing superflu- pawelak; jennifer founier, greta hodgkinson, jaimie the greatest companies in the world.” tapper and rex harrington in apollo, 1999 photo by ous is ever included. It is as if no step other than the one choreo- andrew oxenham graphed could possibly work within the structure of the piece. “Dance can be enjoyed and understood without any verbal intro- bal anchine: see the music and hear the dancing

George Balanchine’s Jewels, his 1967 triptych in celebration of the fire For Balanchine, movement was not merely a configuration of steps of exotic gemstones, was created for the grand new space New York allied to musical rhythms and motifs of a brilliant piece of music. City Ballet occupied in State Theater, Lincoln Center. In the tiered His choreography lives not only as an organic fusion with the score elegance of the gracious theatre, with its wrap around wristbands of that gives it life, but also as a brilliant and distinct kinetic entity that jewel-encrusted tiers, it seemed a glittering trio of precious stones, moves with, against, and almost inside the very nature of the music ideally set. Jewels received its premiere on April 13, 1967 by New York itself. City Ballet. The principal roles were performed by Violette Verdy, Conrad Ludlow, Mimi Paul and Francisco Moncion in Emeralds; Balanchine’s works are always about dancing – that conscious invasion Patricia McBride, Edward Villella and Patricia Neary in Rubies and of time and space that freezes brilliant after-images on the retina of Suzanne Farrell and Jacques d’Amboise in Diamonds. the imagination. For any company to attempt Balanchine is to re- affirm its belief in the divine right of mortals to make movement into The National Ballet of Canada first performed Jewels at Toronto’s metaphor. Hummingbird Centre on February 11, 2000. This production fea- tured Martine Lamy, Rex Harrington, Rebekah Rimsay and William Nowhere is that more clear than in Jewels, Balanchine’s equation of Marrié in Emeralds; Greta Hodgkinson, Johan Persson and Jennifer gem stones to the architecture of dance. A ballet in three parts, each Fournier in Rubies; and Chan Hon Goh and Aleksandar Antonijevic defined by the colour, physical perfection and lustre of a particular in Diamonds. stone, Jewels celebrates the inner fire of emeralds, rubies and diamonds in terms of the movement of neo-classical ballet. From such George Balanchine and The National Ballet of Canada have had a an exciting premise it creates dance that is at once physically exquisite long relationship. The Canadian company has embraced Balanchine’s and pristine, yet always imbued with darker facets of mystery. The neo-classical genius since 1961 in an early staging of Concerto Barocco by costumes suggest the jewels with their appropriate gem tones and Una Kai. In 1962 this first tenuous foray into Balanchine territory flashes of crystalline elegance. The three distinct ballets composing was followed by the mysterious and melodic Serenade, Balanchine’s sig- the triptych are set to the works of three very different composers. nature work of exquisite, shadowed beauty. Gabriel Fauré for Emeralds, Igor Stravinsky to suggest Rubies and the brilliance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for Diamonds. The National Ballet’s fascination for Balanchine’s work over the years is not surprising. More than any other choreographer of this century, Balanchine suggests Emeralds is French, permeated by a whiff of per- Softly focused, Emeralds is Balanchine in a gentle mood. In a sense it is suggests the entwining symbolism of the diamond in a luxurious love he set a standard for genius. What made his work revolutionary, and fume, borne aloft by elegance and style. Deliciously romantic, fraught reminiscent of royalty, of court life and exquisite symmetry. Evocative ring uniting two distinct and beating hearts. This is a world of bal- almost impossible to label was the way he systematically redefined with feeling, this is a ballet that suggests lovers meeting, parting and of a seamless ebb and flow, with an essence of 1840s Romanticism, anced order, cast against the outrageous asymmetrical, slightly out of classicism. meeting again. Emeralds is lyrical and lovely, a creation of a dream world that constant- tune flash of Rubies. It is a world of celebration, ceremony and poised ly surprises and delights. It is the perfect opening volley in this beau- expectation. tiful three-point ballet. Though no formal linkage unites this jewel of a ballet, it is locked The glitter and drama of Stravinsky’s music is the vibrant thread that together by the genius of Balanchine’s eclectic spirit and imagery. At pulls Rubies taut and tight. The mood is American, sharply focused, its very heart is a sense of flawless elegance; the exquisite beauty that visceral in attack, a quirky, triumphant homage to show dance, full of informs Jewels’ brilliant choreography remains a hallmark for the kind feral invention. This is Balanchine at his most sophisticated. Into the of sophistication and effervescence that alludes to much of dance mix he has woven elements of his more serious works, Theme and today. Variations, The Four Temperaments and The Prodigal Son. On one hand is the sexy Broadway milieu of the fashionable 1920s, on the other is the Over the years, a number of companies including The National Ballet brilliant virtuosity of Balanchine at his most technically delirious. of Canada have danced the Rubies segment from Jewels. From Britain’s Royal Ballet, to Edward Villella’s Miami City Ballet, Rubies has been The music is the 1929 Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra and the dance fol- embraced by a variety of companies and audiences eager to sample its lows its urban, sharp-edged brilliance. These are Rubies that are red dark, energetic heart. hot at the centre, jewels that refract a multi-faceted brilliance. Pelvic thrusts, blatant athleticism, classical positions turned inside out; Yet few companies outside New York City Ballet attempt the complete these are the counterpoints of this show business ballet. Jewels, with its demanding, three-point style. It is a perfect choice for The National Ballet of Canada. The company’s history of dancing Against the slow burn of Emeralds and the hot rage of Rubies, comes the Balanchine, from those first tentative steps with Concerto Barocco, to white heat of Diamonds. A glorious evocation of 19th century classical the brilliant 1998 “All Balanchine Programme,” reveals a company dance, it was set to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 3 in D major. A fluid, col- committed to exploration of the sacred and the profane. With Jewels, lective work for 34 dancers, Diamonds fills the stage with an abundance it has the perfect full-length evening of Balanchine, exquisite archi- of movement. tecture to celebrate its allegiance to the glorious underpinnings of neo-classical invention. More than anything, Diamonds is Balanchine’s tribute to Petipa and the formal architecture of classicism. In a rush back to his own Russian by Gary Smith roots, the great choreographer set this quintessential classical homage Gary Smith is the theatre and dance critic for The Hamilton Spectator. He also writes to Tchaikovsky and Ivanov, with the same intense choreographic on the Arts for a variety of international publications. imagery as we recall from Swan Lake.

opposite: xiao nan yu with artists of the ballet in rubies, 2003 photo by david hou; This is a grand ensemble ballet full of sweeping developés, graceful this page left: artists of the ballet in diamonds from the wings, 2003 photo by though dangerously held arabesques, yielding yet pliant dancing, that bruce zinger; right: rebekah rimsay in emeralds, 2003 photo by david hou George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments has a rather interesting longer needed to be airborne, precise and pretty, but could aspire the four temperaments history. Sub-titled A Dance without a Plot, the ballet was created for to difficult, deliberately evasive and challenging through choreogra- Ballet Society — one of Balanchine’s earliest American troupes — phy that demanded speed, precision, abrupt shifts in direction, bril- and premiered on November 20, 1946, at the Central High School liance and clean execution. Though it lay within a plotless context, The of Needle Trades in New York. It proved to be a turning point in Four Temperaments challenged all the senses in a new venue of jarring Balanchine’s career, anticipating a new classical style that he would inventiveness. later elaborate on in Agon (1957), Symphony in Three Movements (1963), The four medieval temperaments Ivesiana (1954) and Episodes (1959). As New York dance critic Clive Barnes has written: “The ballet is of historic as well as historical The four temperaments or humours were, according to the ancient importance, for it marked Balanchine’s new style of ‘character Greeks, components of human personality. The Melancholic classicism’ (the use of gesture for its emotive and aesthetic effect Temperament is a tendency to sadness and depression. The rather than its narrative meaning), which was to play a vital part Sanguinic Temperament represents a much happier and hopeful in the development of American ballet.” disposition, signifying confidence. The Phlegmatic Temperament describes an extreme coolness of character that is sluggish and causes Paul Hindemith’s 1940 score for The Four Temperaments, entitled Theme The Choleric Temperament with Four Variations, alluding to the four medieval temperaments, was apathy. indicates an irascible, angry translated by Balanchine into a non-narrative form of dance. The personality. Each personality displays portions of all four humours ballet was specifically created with the high school’s stage in mind. but in different measures, which accounts for the different disposi- It was so small — a low, broad platform with little depth — that tion of each person. In other words, noted George Balanchine, “Each Balanchine had to treat his movement as a type of bas relief of us possesses all four but in different degrees, and it is from the composed in linear sequence. Today, the choreography remains dominance of one of them that the four physical and psychological unchanged, even though it is presented on larger stages, making types were derived.” for consistently interesting pattern formations. Balanchine went on to add, “Although the score is based on this idea The Four Temperaments heralded a new age in movement. As new sounds of the four temperaments, neither the music nor the ballet itself are found in language, Balanchine had found a new way of executing makes specific or literal interpretation of the idea. An understanding the steps of the classical ballet vocabulary, giving dance a whole new of the Greek and medieval notion of the temperaments was merely the look. The ballet had a more modern look with inverted and distorted point of departure for both composer and choreographer.” movements as well as angular steps and patterns, which were shocking The National Ballet of Canada first performed The Four Temperaments in to audiences. 1969. It was revived in 1984 as part of “The Tribute to Balanchine,” Balanchine dared his audience with the introduction of flexed feet, after the great choreographer’s death in 1983. artists of the ballet in the four temperaments, 1992 photo by david street; extreme contrasts, and movements that turned in on themselves, inset: artists of the ballet in the four temperaments, 1993 photo by rather than the traditional outward motions. Classical ballet no cylla von tiedemann

caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption caption George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments has a rather interesting longer needed to be airborne, precise and pretty, but could aspire the four temperaments history. Sub-titled A Dance without a Plot, the ballet was created for to difficult, deliberately evasive and challenging through choreogra- Ballet Society — one of Balanchine’s earliest American troupes — phy that demanded speed, precision, abrupt shifts in direction, bril- and premiered on November 20, 1946, at the Central High School liance and clean execution. Though it lay within a plotless context, The of Needle Trades in New York. It proved to be a turning point in Four Temperaments challenged all the senses in a new venue of jarring Balanchine’s career, anticipating a new classical style that he would inventiveness. later elaborate on in Agon (1957), Symphony in Three Movements (1963), The four medieval temperaments Ivesiana (1954) and Episodes (1959). As New York dance critic Clive Barnes has written: “The ballet is of historic as well as historical The four temperaments or humours were, according to the ancient importance, for it marked Balanchine’s new style of ‘character Greeks, components of human personality. The Melancholic classicism’ (the use of gesture for its emotive and aesthetic effect Temperament is a tendency to sadness and depression. The rather than its narrative meaning), which was to play a vital part Sanguinic Temperament represents a much happier and hopeful in the development of American ballet.” disposition, signifying confidence. The Phlegmatic Temperament describes an extreme coolness of character that is sluggish and causes Paul Hindemith’s 1940 score for The Four Temperaments, entitled Theme The Choleric Temperament with Four Variations, alluding to the four medieval temperaments, was apathy. indicates an irascible, angry translated by Balanchine into a non-narrative form of dance. The personality. Each personality displays portions of all four humours ballet was specifically created with the high school’s stage in mind. but in different measures, which accounts for the different disposi- It was so small — a low, broad platform with little depth — that tion of each person. In other words, noted George Balanchine, “Each Balanchine had to treat his movement as a type of bas relief of us possesses all four but in different degrees, and it is from the composed in linear sequence. Today, the choreography remains dominance of one of them that the four physical and psychological unchanged, even though it is presented on larger stages, making types were derived.” for consistently interesting pattern formations. Balanchine went on to add, “Although the score is based on this idea The Four Temperaments heralded a new age in movement. As new sounds of the four temperaments, neither the music nor the ballet itself are found in language, Balanchine had found a new way of executing makes specific or literal interpretation of the idea. An understanding the steps of the classical ballet vocabulary, giving dance a whole new of the Greek and medieval notion of the temperaments was merely the look. The ballet had a more modern look with inverted and distorted point of departure for both composer and choreographer.” movements as well as angular steps and patterns, which were shocking The National Ballet of Canada first performed The Four Temperaments in to audiences. 1969. It was revived in 1984 as part of “The Tribute to Balanchine,” Balanchine dared his audience with the introduction of flexed feet, after the great choreographer’s death in 1983. artists of the ballet in the four temperaments, 1992 photo by david street; extreme contrasts, and movements that turned in on themselves, inset: artists of the ballet in the four temperaments, 1993 photo by rather than the traditional outward motions. Classical ballet no cylla von tiedemann

caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption caption apollo Apollo had its premiere on June 12, 1928 by Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris. It was premiered by Balanchine’s own company, New York City Ballet, on November 15, 1951 at City Center of Music and Drama in New York. The National Ballet of Canada first performed Apollo as part of an “All Stravinsky” programme on February 18, 1999. The ballet depicts Apollo, the young god of music, who is visited and instructed by three Muses including Calliope, Muse of poetry, whose symbol is a tablet; Polyhymnia, Muse of mime, whose symbol is the mask that represents the power of gesture; and Terpsichore, Muse of dance and song, whose symbol is a lyre. Like Apollo, the Muses are the children of Zeus and therefore his half-sisters. Balanchine wrote, “Apollo I look back on as the turning point of my life. In its discipline and restraint, in its sustained oneness of tone and feeling, the score was a revelation. It seemed to tell me that I could dare not use everything, that I, too, could eliminate.” The music for Apollo was composed by Igor Stravinsky. As dance critic Paula Citron wrote, “During his long life, Stravinsky experimented with several different musical styles. ... No matter what period, however, Stravinsky trademarks have been audacious orchestrations, daring harmonies, and most importantly, com- plex, abrasive rhythmic structures. When Diaghilev introduced Stravinsky to the young Russian expatriate George Balanchine, the composer found a choreographer who would create a neo- classical dance style to match his music.” theme and variations Citron continued, “The score “Apollon musagète” was originally composed for a contemporary music festival held in Washington, D.C. in 1928 with choreography by Adolph Bolm. Because Stravinsky reserved the European rights for Diaghilev, the ballet was rechoreographed by Balanchine and made its Paris debut two George Balanchine wrote that Theme and Variations, one of the choreographer’s best-known months later. Apollo, as the ballet would later be called, marked works, was intended, “to evoke that great period in classical dancing when Russian bal- the first collaboration between Stravinsky and Balanchine. The let flourished with the aid of Tchaikovsky’s music.” And while the work is a beautiful piece is about creativity as seen through the birth of Apollo and and exuberant tribute to the Petipa legacy, it is also pure Balanchine. his education by the Muses. Stravinsky produced a refined score in polyphonic style governed by the rules of classical harmony, Set to the final movement of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 3 for Orchestra in G major, but redolent with rhythmic vitality and jazz inflections. Balanchine the ballet consists of a set of twelve variations, through which the vocabulary of classical created choreography with crude movements, turned-in legs, dance is explored and celebrated. A corps of twelve women forms the basis of the bal- flexed feet, contractions and heel spins, yet firmly anchored in let’s choreographic excursions, and their dances are interwoven with the solo perform- traditional classical ballet vocabulary. This fusion of past traditions ances of a principal couple. A grand polonaise builds to the climatic finale for the with modernisms is considered the birth of neoclassical ballet.” entire cast of 26 dancers. Theme and Variations is one of the most technically demanding in the Balanchine canon, especially for the male dancers, whose variations are not only of an astonishing intricacy, but are intended to be danced at great speed. Theme and Variations was premiered on November 26, 1947 by Ballet Theatre (later known as American Ballet Theatre). The first performance starred Alicia Alonso and Igor Youkesvitch and was hailed an immediate success by critics and audiences alike. It was not until February 5, 1960 that Balanchine’s own company, New York City Ballet, premiered this work. In 1970 Balanchine added the first three movements of the Tchaikovsky suite to Theme and Variations to create a larger ballet known as Suite No. 3. The National Ballet of Canada first performed Theme and Variations on February 18, 1998 at the Hummingbird Centre starring Martine Lamy and Johan Persson in the principal roles.

opposite: aleksandar antonijevic in apollo, 2003 photo by peter stipcevich; artists of the ballet in theme and variations, 2001 photo by richard lautens

the national ballet of canada The Walter Carsen Centre for the national ballet of canada 470 Queens Quay West, Toronto, Ontario m5v 3k4 416-345-9686 national.ballet.ca apollo Apollo had its premiere on June 12, 1928 by Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris. It was premiered by Balanchine’s own company, New York City Ballet, on November 15, 1951 at City Center of Music and Drama in New York. The National Ballet of Canada first performed Apollo as part of an “All Stravinsky” programme on February 18, 1999. The ballet depicts Apollo, the young god of music, who is visited and instructed by three Muses including Calliope, Muse of poetry, whose symbol is a tablet; Polyhymnia, Muse of mime, whose symbol is the mask that represents the power of gesture; and Terpsichore, Muse of dance and song, whose symbol is a lyre. Like Apollo, the Muses are the children of Zeus and therefore his half-sisters. Balanchine wrote, “Apollo I look back on as the turning point of my life. In its discipline and restraint, in its sustained oneness of tone and feeling, the score was a revelation. It seemed to tell me that I could dare not use everything, that I, too, could eliminate.” The music for Apollo was composed by Igor Stravinsky. As dance critic Paula Citron wrote, “During his long life, Stravinsky experimented with several different musical styles. ... No matter what period, however, Stravinsky trademarks have been audacious orchestrations, daring harmonies, and most importantly, com- plex, abrasive rhythmic structures. When Diaghilev introduced Stravinsky to the young Russian expatriate George Balanchine, the composer found a choreographer who would create a neo- classical dance style to match his music.” theme and variations Citron continued, “The score “Apollon musagète” was originally composed for a contemporary music festival held in Washington, D.C. in 1928 with choreography by Adolph Bolm. Because Stravinsky reserved the European rights for Diaghilev, the ballet was rechoreographed by Balanchine and made its Paris debut two George Balanchine wrote that Theme and Variations, one of the choreographer’s best-known months later. Apollo, as the ballet would later be called, marked works, was intended, “to evoke that great period in classical dancing when Russian bal- the first collaboration between Stravinsky and Balanchine. The let flourished with the aid of Tchaikovsky’s music.” And while the work is a beautiful piece is about creativity as seen through the birth of Apollo and and exuberant tribute to the Petipa legacy, it is also pure Balanchine. his education by the Muses. Stravinsky produced a refined score in polyphonic style governed by the rules of classical harmony, Set to the final movement of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 3 for Orchestra in G major, but redolent with rhythmic vitality and jazz inflections. Balanchine the ballet consists of a set of twelve variations, through which the vocabulary of classical created choreography with crude movements, turned-in legs, dance is explored and celebrated. A corps of twelve women forms the basis of the bal- flexed feet, contractions and heel spins, yet firmly anchored in let’s choreographic excursions, and their dances are interwoven with the solo perform- traditional classical ballet vocabulary. This fusion of past traditions ances of a principal couple. A grand polonaise builds to the climatic finale for the with modernisms is considered the birth of neoclassical ballet.” entire cast of 26 dancers. Theme and Variations is one of the most technically demanding in the Balanchine canon, especially for the male dancers, whose variations are not only of an astonishing intricacy, but are intended to be danced at great speed. Theme and Variations was premiered on November 26, 1947 by Ballet Theatre (later known as American Ballet Theatre). The first performance starred Alicia Alonso and Igor Youkesvitch and was hailed an immediate success by critics and audiences alike. It was not until February 5, 1960 that Balanchine’s own company, New York City Ballet, premiered this work. In 1970 Balanchine added the first three movements of the Tchaikovsky suite to Theme and Variations to create a larger ballet known as Suite No. 3. The National Ballet of Canada first performed Theme and Variations on February 18, 1998 at the Hummingbird Centre starring Martine Lamy and Johan Persson in the principal roles.

opposite: aleksandar antonijevic in apollo, 2003 photo by peter stipcevich; artists of the ballet in theme and variations, 2001 photo by richard lautens

the national ballet of canada The Walter Carsen Centre for the national ballet of canada 470 Queens Quay West, Toronto, Ontario m5v 3k4 416-345-9686 national.ballet.ca