Performance Dates
SEMINAL BALLET COMPOSERS SET THE STAGE FOR AN IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY OF DANCE
Please note: George Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux replaces his Duo Concertant on the September 24 matinee and September 29 evening performances.
Balanchine turned to the Russian composer Glazounov for Raymonda Variations. Although the score derives from the titular 19th-century story ballet, Balanchine used the music to create a plotless classical work—a scintillating series of solos, pas de deux, and ensemble dances. Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, a perennial fan favorite and a staple of the international repertory, ranks among Balanchine’s most dazzling creations, despite its running time of less than ten minutes. It alternates on the program with Balanchine’s alternately playful and mysterious pas de deux Duo Concertant. And while it is not as well-known as many other dances Jerome Robbins choreographed to piano music, his Piano Pieces, also set to Tschaikovsky, is a connoisseur’s delight, mixing classical steps with a gentle suggestion of folk themes.
Ballets on this Program
-
Raymonda Variations
Raymonda Variations is a flurry of ballet technique featuring a series of impressive solos at its center.
-
Duo Concertant
An animated dance for a neoclassical couple, the dancers periodically stop and listen to the onstage musicians before ending with a poignant scene in a pool of light on a dark stage.
-
Piano Pieces
Displaying Robbins’ penchant for crafting diverse emotional atmospheres to solo piano pieces, this folk-tinged ballet for three couples, a male soloist, and a corps de ballet contrasts delicate solemnness with congenial amusement.
