Performance Dates
MERCURIAL MOVEMENT, A DARING PLOT LINE, & STREAMLINED SOPHISTICATION
A program devoted to works set to music by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky is highlighted by two unique Jerome Robbins gems: The Cage, which depicts a swarm of insect-like female creatures descending upon their unwitting male prey, and Concertino, a trio that was originally performed as the third section of Robbins’ Four Chamber Works. Balanchine’s Danses Concertantes, a spirited ballet with richly detailed costumes and hints of commedia dell’arte-inspired humor, opens the program, and his classic leotard ballet Stravinsky Violin Concerto, one of Balanchine’s greatest achievements, brings the affair to a rousing finish.
Ballets on this Program
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Danses Concertantes
The mercurial movements of this intoxicating ballet feature a series of witty pas de trois that are simultaneously fanciful and invigorating.
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The Cage
The Cage plunges into the world of natural selection, using Stravinsky’s daring score to depict the feral instinct compelling the female of an insect species to consider its male counterpart as prey.
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Concertino
The captivating suspense of Stravinsky’s score, at times swelling, at others intricately layered, accompanies a trio of dancers and their compelling connectivity.
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Stravinsky Violin Concerto
The outer sections of Stravinsky Violin Concerto are carefully-woven masterpieces of symmetry that peel away to reveal two of Balanchine’s most ingenious and unique pas de deux.
