To improve your experience on our site and ensure your security, please upgrade to a modern browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.
You have the promo code applied
{{ perf.day }} {{ perf.month_date }}
{{ perf.time }}
Performed with:
Subscribers Only
On sale to general public: {{ perf.subscriber_only_date }}
Expansive in scope and streamlined in style, Glass Pieces captures the pulsating heartbeat of metropolitan life with its charged, urban choreography, concluding in a finale that propels the corps de ballet across the stage at an electrifying pace.
Although Philip Glass’s work is often labeled as minimalist, he prefers to call it “music with repetitive structures.” His early compositions were greatly influenced by Ravi Shankar and the hypnotic rhythms of Indian music. Some of his most notable work for theater includes the trilogy of operas comprising Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, and Akhnaten.
Jerome Robbins, originally in line to direct Akhnaten, instead choreographed a ballet using music from the opera along with Rubric and Facades, both from Glassworks. In Glass Pieces, Robbins incorporated concepts from postmodern dance into the traditional ballet vocabulary, and he infused the work with a distinctly urban energy. The recurrent rhythms, driving momentum, and labyrinth of shifting patterns of the ensemble combine to create a physical architecture for Glass’s music.
24 minutes
Inside the Repertory
As dancer Russell Janzen notes, Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces may be an abstract ballet with an experimental score by Phillip Glass, yet it’s also rooted in the real world, especially the feeling of driving, pulsing undercurrents found just by walking through New York City.
Enter your name and email address to receive email communications from New York City Ballet, including special offers, on-sale dates, and other updates.
{{complete_msg}}
{{error_msg}}
