Program
All Balanchine I
SEPT 16, 18, 19, 20 eve, 23, 24, 28
Performance Dates
SUNNY DIVERTISSEMENTS, TENDER LYRICISM, AND A DRAMATIC CLASSIC
Uniting three ballets NYCB Founder George Balanchine created across some 30 years, this program reveals the breadth of his classical mastery. In Donizetti Variations, he fashioned a series of brilliant, sprightly, and at times comic solos and ensemble dances to buoyant music from the opera composer. For Ballade, Balanchine utilized an impressionistic Gabriel Fauré score for piano and orchestra in a serenely tender work with delicately fragrant steps. And he took a unique approach to Swan Lake when he created a one-act version in 1951 that celebrated Lev Ivanov’s original choreography for the lakeside acts, rendering the essence of the mythical tale with lyrical beauty and dramatic concision.
Ballets on this Program
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Donizetti Variations
The cheerful 26-minute Donizetti Variations sets a series of effervescent dances to music from the opera Don Sebastien, offering choice but technically challenging roles for two bravura dancers and three supporting trios.
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Ballade
Described by The New Yorker as “a small, perfect vanity case of a ballet,” Ballade evokes springtime nostalgia as it gracefully glides through gently shimmering steps.
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Swan Lake (Balanchine)
Distilling the classic story ballet Swan Lake into a drama-packed one-act work, Balanchine expertly depicts the rapture, heartache, and woe of two doomed lovers and the evil that thwarts their romance.
