Program
All Balanchine IV
APR 20, 23, 25, 28, 29
Performance Dates
FROM THE MIND OF OUR FOUNDER: TECHNICAL EXUBERANCE, MESMERIZING GEOMETRY, AND ELEGANT GRANDEUR
The three ballets on this program demonstrate Balanchine’s capacious appetite for varied styles in crafting his plotless works of ‘pure dance.’ Premiering in 1956, Allegro Brillante is a condensed, bravura-filled statement from the choreographer on classical balletic romanticism. The hue of the 1966 ballet Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, with a cast of 55 dancers spread across the then-new State Theater stage, is similarly romantic, though given an Austro-Hungarian flavor evident in both the footwork and the Karinska costumes. Performed between the two, Balanchine’s 1975 Le Tombeau de Couperin reflects Ravel’s French Baroque inspirations in a work of enduring grace and remarkable acuity created for eight couples.
Ballets on this Program
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Allegro Brillante
George Balanchine called the exuberant Allegro Brillante "everything I know about classical ballet in thirteen minutes."
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Le Tombeau de Couperin
Rooted in the court dances of 18th-century France, Le Tombeau de Couperin mesmerizes with its seamless patterns and symmetrical groupings of dancers.
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Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet
A sweeping romantic work for 55 dancers, the Austro-Hungarian-inflected Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet ends in an intoxicating finale.
