Program
Balanchine + Ratmansky
JAN 20, 21, 22, 31 mat, FEB 1
Performance Dates
Sweeping refinement, powerful drama, and refreshing vitality
A pair of revered early Balanchine works are joined by Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky’s tribute to a classic Marius Petipa ballet. Serenade, which debuted in 1935, is famously the first ballet Balanchine created in the United States. It imbues the all-strings score by Tschaikovsky with an ineffable, transfixing beauty through its visionary depiction of dancers at play in a moonlit landscape. His Prodigal Son, originally created for the Ballets Russes in 1929 and a longtime staple of the repertory, is a powerful allegory of betrayal, love, and redemption dramatizing the Biblical story. The program’s emphasis on honoring tradition concludes with Ratmansky’s Paquita, in which the choreographer seamlessly combines elements of the 1881 Petipa staging—notably the Grand Pas—with Balanchine’s own tribute to the original ballet, the Minkus Pas de Trois from 1951, for a pure dance piece The New York Times called “a wonder of buoyancy and speed.”
Ballets on this Program
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Serenade
The first ballet Balanchine choreographed in America is a romantic work of immense sweep, set to a transcendent Tschaikovsky score.
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Prodigal Son
The ultimate story of sin and redemption, Prodigal Son's powerful message, expressive score, and dramatic movement make it eternally impactful.
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Paquita
Hailed as a “a wonder of buoyancy and speed” (The New York Times), Ratmansky’s refreshing take on excerpts from the classical ballet Paquita “mines the history and steps of his treasured ancestors to find a fresh way of presenting the dancing body.”
