Farrell Ballet

Welcome to Cuesheet, a performance guide published by the Education Department of the John F.Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,Washington, D.C. This Cuesheet is designed to help you enjoy the Working working rehearsal of Rehearsal The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. A ballet slipper uzanne Farrell is regarded as marks topics for one of the greatest ballerinas S discussion or activities of the 20th century. During her you may want to do with 28 years on the stage, she danced other students, friends, in more that 100 ballets, nearly or family. a third of which were created expressly for her by choreographer George Balanchine (pronounced BAH-lahn-sheen), known as “the father of American ballet.”Her more than 2,000 performances with Balanchine’s company make her uniquely qualified to teach his choreography to a new generation of dancers. Today, as the director of her own ballet company, Farrell selects the ballets to be performed and teaches the company every step of Balanchine’s works. At the working rehearsal you will see La Source, Duo Concertant, part of Clarinade, and La Valse, all by Balanchine. Shannon Parsley and Alex Ritter of The Suzanne Watch Farrell prepare her company Farrell Ballet Company for their evening performance. performing La Valse. PHOTO ©PAUL KOLNIK Balanchine: A Bal BALANCHINE’S LEGACY horeographer George Balanchine (1904–1983) was an innovator. C He created more than 400 works in which he explored many different styles of choreography. Before Balanchine, many classical ballets had complex plots. He revolutionized ballet by eliminating the dependence on the story line, allowing movement to be the ballet’s dramatic focus. While many of his ballets have no real story, there are hints of dramas taking place. LA SOURCE Choreography by George Balanchine, 1968 Music by Leo Delibes (1836–1891) Balanchine wasn’t afraid to break from tradition. In the beginning of La Source, Balanchine varies the conventional structure of the ballet by starting with the pas de deux (PAH duh DOO), or FRED FEHL BY PHOTO dance for two. Later he introduces Suzanne Farrell,seen with the pony tail on the right,is pictured here after a performance of Clarinade in 1964. the rest of the dance. During La Source, watch for: Balanchine chose a very American The pas de deux from Clarinade • The quick criss-crossing of the feet style of music for Clarinade, which hasn’t been performed in more by the male dancer when he jumps. Morton Gould composed for American than 40 years.This performance Ballet dancers call this entrechat clarinetist, Benny Goodman. is part of an effort by the (AHN-treh-shah). Kennedy Center and the Watch for: How the movement of the dancers Balanchine Trust to restore • How closely the two dancers move corresponds closely to that of • lost works with the help of around one another in counterpoint. the music. Suzanne Farrell. When one creates a shape, the other complements it like two pieces of PAS DE DEUX a puzzle. counterpoint—a contrasting FROM CLARINADE • Movements that are passed back but parallel movement and forth between the dancers— Choreography by Balanchine Trust—the as one dancer steps forward, the George Balanchine, 1964 organization dedicated to other answers with a step in the preserving Balanchine’s Music by Morton Gould (1913–1996) same direction. choreography Inspired by movements used in jazz Think about: dance, Balanchine intentionally opposes • Morton Gould’s music used in traditional ballet choreography in Clarinade is called Contrapuntal Blues. Clarinade. The dancers turn their hips The word contrapuntal comes from inward, fall off balance, and rock back the word counterpoint. How are the on their heels. Almost no classical music and choreography similar? steps can be seen. Do they work well together? allet Innovator DUO CONCERTANT COMPARE AND Choreography by CONTRAST George Balanchine, 1972 Discuss similarities and Music by Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) differences among the ballets you see at the working rehearsal. Music is central to Balanchine’s Which do you prefer? Why? choreography. His dances are often seen as visual interpretations of A ALSE the music. In Duo Concertant, the L V musicians are placed on stage, rather Choreography by than in the orchestra pit, and their George Balanchine, 1951 performance is part of the ballet. Music by Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) Standing at the piano, the dancers listen to the first section of music. When Ravel composed the music During the next three sections, they called Valses Nobles et Sentimentales in dance, mirroring the music and each 1911, he thought it felt like “dancing on other, pausing several times to rejoin the edge of a volcano.” The music is a the musicians and listen. waltz, but as it progresses, the accented waltz—music in three-beat rhythm falls apart, giving triple time with Think about: the sense of insecurity and doubt. a strong accent • why Balanchine might have on the first beat: Balanchine interpreted Ravel’s music included pauses in his choreography. ONE-two-three. (and words) in his ballet La Valse. Couples waltz together as though at a ball, but throughout the ballet there is a feeling that danger is coming. An uninvited figure enters and lures the woman in white to dance with him. She is both horrified by and fascinated with him, waltzing ever faster to her end. THINK LIKE A CHOREOGRAPHER Listen to Ravel’s La Valse. Do you feel a sense of doom? Imagine what kind of choreography you would make for the music. After attending the rehearsal, compare your ideas with Balanchine’s choreography. Then perform your choreography for an audience. PHOTO BY PAUL KOLNIK PAUL BY PHOTO Watch for this moment in Duo Concertant at the working rehearsal. About SuzanneFarrell Stephen A. Schwarzman Chairman Michael M. Kaiser President Darrell M. Ayers Vice President,Education Cuesheets are funded in part through the support of the Butz Foundation; the Carter and Melissa Cafritz Charitable Trust; Chevy Chase Bank; Citigroup Foundation; the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities; Ms. Nancy J. Davis; Fannie Mae Foundation; the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation; the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund; THE JOURNEY The Jacob and Charlotte Lehrman Foundation; the Mackintosh OF A BALLERINA Foundation; Newman’s Own; Publix Supermarkets, Inc.; Dr. Deborah Rose s a young child, Suzanne Farrell and Dr. Jan A. J. Stolwijk; the President’s A was adventurous and fearless— Advisory Committee on the Arts; Prince Charitable Trusts; the Hattie M. climbing trees and exploring the CAROL PRATT BY PHOTO Strong Foundation; and the outdoors. In the hope that Farrell Suzanne Farrell helps a ballet student adjust U.S. Department of Education. would become less of a tomboy, her her position.She leads Exploring Ballet with mother encouraged her to take ballet Suzanne Farrell,a summer ballet program The Suzanne Farrell Ballet Cuesheet lessons. At eight, Farrell began held annually at the Kennedy Center. Editorial and Art Direction: ARTSEDGE Writers: Kirsten Bodensteiner, studying ballet in her hometown of Lynne Silverstein Cincinnati, Ohio. At age 15, Farrell Design: Simmons Design moved to New York City to continue FARRELL AT THE her ballet studies and to take classes at the School of American Ballet, the KENNEDY CENTER training school for the New York City When Suzanne Farrell retired from Cuesheets are produced by ARTSEDGE, Ballet (NYCB). Shortly after, George the stage in 1989, she discovered a new a program of the Kennedy Center Balanchine invited Farrell to join the outlet for her love of dance—teaching Education Department and a member NYCB, where she soon became its and coaching the next generation of of the MarcoPolo Consortium. youngest principal dancer. For the dancers. In a partnership with the For more information about the next ten years, Farrell mastered Kennedy Center, Farrell began performing arts and arts education, almost every role in the company’s teaching ballet master classes for visit our Web sites: repertory and developed others in students during the summer of 1993. kennedy-center.org/education artsedge.kennedy-center.org ballets created specifically for her. Annually since then, Farrell has Although Balanchine created ballets Questions, comments? Write us at directed performances of works by [email protected] for many dancers, he considered other choreographers with whom center.org. Farrell to be his muse, or source of she has collaborated. In 2000, Farrell © 2005,The John F.Kennedy Center for inspiration. He created 23 roles for established her own ballet company. the Performing Arts her. Today, Farrell is considered one The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, the The U.S. Department of Education of the finest interpreters of George Kennedy Center’s own ballet supports approximately one-third of the Balanchine’s choreography. Farrell company, performs annually as budget for the Kennedy Center Education now assists the George Balanchine Department.The contents of this Cuesheet part of the Kennedy Center’s ballet do not necessarily represent the policy of Trust to oversee the productions of season and tours to selected cities the U.S. Department of Education, and you his ballets around the world. across the country. should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government..

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