the balanchine season Ballet Notes the national ballet of canada karen kain, artistic director Jewels The Four Temperaments Apollo Theme and Variations Ballet Talks and Ballet Notes are generously sponsored by
The
Balanchine Season jewels February 22 to 26, 2006 bal anchine triple bill March 1 to 5, 2006 Choreography by George Balanchine Guest Repetiteurs Lindsay Fischer, Joysanne Sidimus Music: Emeralds Gabriel Fauré, from Pelleas et Mélisande and Shylock Rubies Igor Stravinsky, Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra Diamonds Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, from Symphony No. 3 in D Major Costume Design by Karinska Lighting Design by Robert Thomson Piano Soloist for Rubies andrew burashko I The Four Temperaments Choreography by George Balanchine Staged by Joysanne Sidimus Music by Paul Hindemith,Theme and Four Variations The Four Temperaments Used by arrangement with European/American Music Distributors Corporation, sole U.S. and Canadian Agent for B.Schott s Soehne, publisher and copyright owner. Lighting Design by Ronald Bates Piano Soloist Mark Harjes II Apollo Choreography by George Balanchine Music by Igor Stravinsky, Apollon Musagète By arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes Inc., publisher and copyright owner Lighting Design by Robert Thomson III Theme and Variations Choreography by George Balanchine Guest Repetiteur Lindsay Fischer Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the final movement of Suite No. 3 for Orchestra in G major, Op. 55 Set and Costume Design by Santo Loquasto Lighting Design by Robert Thomson The performances of Jewels, The Four Temperaments, Apollo and Theme and Variations, Balanchine Ballets, are presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust sm and have been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style and Balanchine Technique Service standards established and provided by the Trust. Jewels, The Four Temperaments, Apollo and Theme and Variations are gifts from the volunteer committee, the national ballet of canada. y lydia pawelak; jennifer founier, greta hodgkinson, jaimie tapper and rex harrington in apollo, 1999 photo cover photo: xiao nan yu in jewels, 2003 photo by david street opposite: ryan boorne and jennifer fournier in the four temperaments, 1997 photo by cylla von tiedemann
bal anchine: see the music George Balanchine, co-founder and director of the New York City Ballet until his death in 1983, is one of the most renowned and prolific choreographers of the 20th century. Balanchine created a new genre of classical ballet that is synonymous today with the New York City Ballet. Though that company is without a doubt the greatest repository of Balanchine s works, his ballets are also in the repertoires of more companies than any other choreographer s. Balanchine s ballets not only add diversity to a company s repertoire, but also challenge dancers to a new level of technical brilliance. Balanchine was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and received his dance training at the Imperial Ballet School there. Nurtured in the ballet traditions of the turn of the century, particularly the ballets and pedagogy of the Russian ballet master Marius Petipa, Balanchine received a classical education. After leaving Russia in 1924, Balanchine was exposed to the work of Serge Diaghilev s Ballets Russes, and in turn created works for Diaghilev s company. The artistic milieu of the Ballets Russes was highly stimulating, as Diaghilev brought his choreographers into collaboration with the composers Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel and such artists as Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Marc Chagall. Later, with his own company, Les Ballets 1933, Balanchine collaborated with such leading artistic figures as Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, Pavel Tchelitchev and composers Darius Milhaud and Henri Sauget. In 1933, at the invitation of Lincoln Kirstein, Balanchine travelled to the United States, where he and Kirstein established the School of American Ballet in 1934 and the New York City Ballet in 1948. Through the creation of these two institutions, Balanchine was able to invent a very distinct style of American dance. Writes dance critic Marilyn Hunt: When Balanchine first came to the United States, he devised a way for Americans to appear on stage without feeling weighed down by traditions of court and ballet that they weren t born to. Balanchine s style has been described as neo-classic, a reaction to the Romantic anti-classicism (which had turned into exaggerated theatricality) that was the prevailing style in Russian and European ballet when he had begun to dance. The beauty of Balanchine s dances is found in their patterning, structure and in their relationship to the music. The majority of Balanchine s works are abstract, one-act ballets. But for a handful, most of his works are non-narrative, the music and the dance conveying all necessary meaning. Some of Balanchine s ballets pay homage to his Russian heritage, including Ballet Imperial (1941) and the Diamonds section of the three-act, full-evening work Jewels (1967). While others proved provocative (The Four Temperaments in 1946 and Agon in 1957), romantic (Serenade in 1934) and spectacular audience pleasers (Stars and Stripes in 1958, Union Jack in 1976 and Vienna Waltzes in 1977), all were achieved within his extended framework of classical ballet. Balanchine s use of movement organically links the music and the dancers bodies. His work is always inventive and nothing superfluous is ever included. It is as if no step other than the one choreographed could possibly work within the structure of the piece. Dance can be enjoyed and understood without any verbal introduction or explanation, Balanchine said. The important thing in ballet is the movement itself, as it is sound which is important in a symphony. A ballet may contain a story, but the visual spectacle, not the story, is the essential element. Balanchine created a distinctive vocabulary and style of movement that closely reflects the structure of the music he used. Commenting on Balanchine s use of music, dance critic Kenneth LaFave has noted: Balanchine has explored the interactions of music and dance with almost every ballet, and has approached their combination afresh countless times. Look at his ballets superficially and they may seem to be illustrations of the music. Look at them closely and they appear as they really are: works that dance in the music, not merely to the beat. Traits inherent in the Balanchine style: The movements are athletic and emphasized by their speed, sharp attack and absorption of space. The body takes on new dimensions through an elongated line, uplifted chest and high leg extensions. The music is illustrated in the choreography, but Balanchine also invents movement that provides his own personal visualization of the music. Balanchine s relationship with music stemmed from his early childhood, when his musical studies were as important as his dance training. His understanding of musical theory, composition and playing enabled him to develop intimate working relationships with his composers. The National Ballet of Canada s late Artistic Director, Erik Bruhn, once noted: He unravelled the intricate structure and emotional texture of music. Using the music of Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and of course his close friend Igor Stravinsky, Balanchine actually made ballet more aware of its musical potential. Balanchine s understanding of music allowed him to reach into the inner life of the music. It is not the obvious beat but the harmony in the music that motivates the dance. Said Balanchine of his use of music previously untouched by ballet choreographers: If the dance designer sees in the development of classical dancing a counterpart in the development of music and has studied them both, he will derive continual inspiration from great scores. In 1970, U.S. News and World Report wrote of Balanchine, The greatest choreographer of our time, George Balanchine is responsible for the successful fusion of modern concepts with older ideas of classical ballet. Balanchine received his training in Imperial Russia before coming to America in 1933. Here, the free-flowing U.S. dance forms stimulated him to develop new techniques in dance design and presentation which have altered the thinking of the world of dance. Often working with modern music, and the simplest of themes, he has created ballets that are celebrated for their imagination and originality. His company, the New York City Ballet, is the leading dance group of the United States and one of the greatest companies in the world.
and hear the dancing clockwise from top left: george balanchine with igor stravinsky, ca. 1957 photo by martha swope; chan hon goh with suzanne farrell in rehearsal for jewels, 2000 photo by cylla von tiedemann; martine lamy in theme and variations, 1998 photo by lydia pawelak; jennifer founier, greta hodgkinson, jaimie tapper and rex harrington in apollo, 1999 photo by andrew oxenham
jewels George Balanchine s Jewels, his 1967 triptych in celebration of the fire of exotic gemstones, was created for the grand new space New York City Ballet occupied in State Theater, Lincoln Center. In the tiered elegance of the gracious theatre, with its wrap around wristbands of jewel-encrusted tiers, it seemed a glittering trio of precious stones, ideally set. Jewels received its premiere on April 13, 1967 by New York City Ballet. The principal roles were performed by Violette Verdy, Conrad Ludlow, Mimi Paul and Francisco Moncion in Emeralds; Patricia McBride, Edward Villella and Patricia Neary in Rubies and Suzanne Farrell and Jacques d Amboise in Diamonds. The National Ballet of Canada first performed Jewels at Toronto s Hummingbird Centre on February 11, 2000. This production featured Martine Lamy, Rex Harrington, Rebekah Rimsay and William Marrié in Emeralds; Greta Hodgkinson, Johan Persson and Jennifer Fournier in Rubies; and Chan Hon Goh and Aleksandar Antonijevic in Diamonds. George Balanchine and The National Ballet of Canada have had a long relationship. The Canadian company has embraced Balanchine s neo-classical genius since 1961 in an early staging of Concerto Barocco by Una Kai. In 1962 this first tenuous foray into Balanchine territory was followed by the mysterious and melodic Serenade, Balanchine s signature work of exquisite, shadowed beauty. The National Ballet s fascination for Balanchine s work over the years is not surprising. More than any other choreographer of this century, he set a standard for genius. What made his work revolutionary, and almost impossible to label was the way he systematically redefined classicism. For Balanchine, movement was not merely a configuration of steps allied to musical rhythms and motifs of a brilliant piece of music. His choreography lives not only as an organic fusion with the score that gives it life, but also as a brilliant and distinct kinetic entity that moves with, against, and almost inside the very nature of the music itself. Balanchine s works are always about dancing that conscious invasion of time and space that freezes brilliant after-images on the retina of the imagination. For any company to attempt Balanchine is to reaffirm its belief in the divine right of mortals to make movement into metaphor. Nowhere is that more clear than in Jewels, Balanchine s equation of gem stones to the architecture of dance. A ballet in three parts, each defined by the colour, physical perfection and lustre of a particular stone, Jewels celebrates the inner fire of emeralds, rubies and diamonds in terms of the movement of neo-classical ballet. From such an exciting premise it creates dance that is at once physically exquisite and pristine, yet always imbued with darker facets of mystery. The costumes suggest the jewels with their appropriate gem tones and flashes of crystalline elegance. The three distinct ballets composing the triptych are set to the works of three very different composers. Gabriel Fauré for Emeralds, Igor Stravinsky to suggest Rubies and the brilliance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for Diamonds. Balanchine suggests Emeralds is French, permeated by a whiff of perfume, borne aloft by elegance and style. Deliciously romantic, fraught with feeling, this is a ballet that suggests lovers meeting, parting and meeting again.
Softly focused, Emeralds is Balanchine in a gentle mood. In a sense it is reminiscent of royalty, of court life and exquisite symmetry. Evocative of a seamless ebb and flow, with an essence of 1840s Romanticism, Emeralds is lyrical and lovely, a creation of a dream world that constantly surprises and delights. It is the perfect opening volley in this beautiful three-point ballet. The glitter and drama of Stravinsky s music is the vibrant thread that pulls Rubies taut and tight. The mood is American, sharply focused, visceral in attack, a quirky, triumphant homage to show dance, full of feral invention. This is Balanchine at his most sophisticated. Into the mix he has woven elements of his more serious works, Theme and Variations, The Four Temperaments and The Prodigal Son. On one hand is the sexy Broadway milieu of the fashionable 1920s, on the other is the brilliant virtuosity of Balanchine at his most technically delirious. The music is the 1929 Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra and the dance follows its urban, sharp-edged brilliance. These are Rubies that are red hot at the centre, jewels that refract a multi-faceted brilliance. Pelvic thrusts, blatant athleticism, classical positions turned inside out; these are the counterpoints of this show business ballet. Against the slow burn of Emeralds and the hot rage of Rubies, comes the white heat of Diamonds. A glorious evocation of 19th century classical dance, it was set to Tchaikovsky s Symphony No. 3 in D major. A fluid, collective work for 34 dancers, Diamonds fills the stage with an abundance of movement. More than anything, Diamonds is Balanchine s tribute to Petipa and the formal architecture of classicism. In a rush back to his own Russian roots, the great choreographer set this quintessential classical homage to Tchaikovsky and Ivanov, with the same intense choreographic imagery as we recall from Swan Lake. This is a grand ensemble ballet full of sweeping developés, graceful though dangerously held arabesques, yielding yet pliant dancing, that suggests the entwining symbolism of the diamond in a luxurious love ring uniting two distinct and beating hearts. This is a world of balanced order, cast against the outrageous asymmetrical, slightly out of tune flash of Rubies. It is a world of celebration, ceremony and poised expectation. Though no formal linkage unites this jewel of a ballet, it is locked together by the genius of Balanchine s eclectic spirit and imagery. At its very heart is a sense of flawless elegance; the exquisite beauty that informs Jewels brilliant choreography remains a hallmark for the kind of sophistication and effervescence that alludes to much of dance today. Over the years, a number of companies including The National Ballet of Canada have danced the Rubies segment from Jewels. From Britain s Royal Ballet, to Edward Villella s Miami City Ballet, Rubies has been embraced by a variety of companies and audiences eager to sample its dark, energetic heart. Yet few companies outside New York City Ballet attempt the complete Jewels, with its demanding, three-point style. It is a perfect choice for The National Ballet of Canada. The company s history of dancing Balanchine, from those first tentative steps with Concerto Barocco, to the brilliant 1998 All Balanchine Programme, reveals a company committed to exploration of the sacred and the profane. With Jewels, it has the perfect full-length evening of Balanchine, exquisite architecture to celebrate its allegiance to the glorious underpinnings of neo-classical invention. by Gary Smith Gary Smith is the theatre and dance critic for The Hamilton Spectator. He also writes on the Arts for a variety of international publications. opposite: xiao nan yu with artists of the ballet in rubies, 2003 photo by david hou; this page left: artists of the ballet in diamonds from the wings, 2003 photo by bruce zinger; right: rebekah rimsay in emeralds, 2003 photo by david hou
the four temperaments
George Balanchine s The Four Temperaments has a rather interesting history. Sub-titled A Dance without a Plot, the ballet was created for Ballet Society one of Balanchine s earliest American troupes and premiered on November 20, 1946, at the Central High School of Needle Trades in New York. It proved to be a turning point in Balanchine s career, anticipating a new classical style that he would later elaborate on in Agon (1957), Symphony in Three Movements (1963), Ivesiana (1954) and Episodes (1959). As New York dance critic Clive Barnes has written: The ballet is of historic as well as historical importance, for it marked Balanchine s new style of character classicism (the use of gesture for its emotive and aesthetic effect rather than its narrative meaning), which was to play a vital part in the development of American ballet. Paul Hindemith s 1940 score for The Four Temperaments, entitled Theme with Four Variations, alluding to the four medieval temperaments, was translated by Balanchine into a non-narrative form of dance. The ballet was specifically created with the high school s stage in mind. It was so small a low, broad platform with little depth that Balanchine had to treat his movement as a type of bas relief composed in linear sequence. Today, the choreography remains unchanged, even though it is presented on larger stages, making for consistently interesting pattern formations. The Four Temperaments heralded a new age in movement. As new sounds are found in language, Balanchine had found a new way of executing the steps of the classical ballet vocabulary, giving dance a whole new look. The ballet had a more modern look with inverted and distorted movements as well as angular steps and patterns, which were shocking to audiences. Balanchine dared his audience with the introduction of flexed feet, extreme contrasts, and movements that turned in on themselves, rather than the traditional outward motions. Classical ballet no longer needed to be airborne, precise and pretty, but could aspire to difficult, deliberately evasive and challenging through choreography that demanded speed, precision, abrupt shifts in direction, brilliance and clean execution. Though it lay within a plotless context, The Four Temperaments challenged all the senses in a new venue of jarring inventiveness. The four medieval temperaments The four temperaments or humours were, according to the ancient Greeks, components of human personality. The Melancholic Temperament is a tendency to sadness and depression. The Sanguinic Temperament represents a much happier and hopeful disposition, signifying confidence. The Phlegmatic Temperament describes an extreme coolness of character that is sluggish and causes apathy. The Choleric Temperament indicates an irascible, angry personality. Each personality displays portions of all four humours but in different measures, which accounts for the different disposition of each person. In other words, noted George Balanchine, Each of us possesses all four but in different degrees, and it is from the dominance of one of them that the four physical and psychological types were derived. Balanchine went on to add, Although the score is based on this idea of the four temperaments, neither the music nor the ballet itself makes specific or literal interpretation of the idea. An understanding of the Greek and medieval notion of the temperaments was merely the point of departure for both composer and choreographer. The National Ballet of Canada first performed The Four Temperaments in 1969. It was revived in 1984 as part of The Tribute to Balanchine, after the great choreographer s death in 1983. artists of the ballet in the four temperaments, 1992 photo by david street; inset: artists of the ballet in the four temperaments, 1993 photo by cylla von tiedemann caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption captioncaption caption caption caption caption caption
apollo Apollo had its premiere on June 12, 1928 by Diaghilev s Ballet Russes at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris. It was premiered by Balanchine s own company, New York City Ballet, on November 15, 1951 at City Center of Music and Drama in New York. The National Ballet of Canada first performed Apollo as part of an All Stravinsky programme on February 18, 1999. The ballet depicts Apollo, the young god of music, who is visited and instructed by three Muses including Calliope, Muse of poetry, whose symbol is a tablet; Polyhymnia, Muse of mime, whose symbol is the mask that represents the power of gesture; and Terpsichore, Muse of dance and song, whose symbol is a lyre. Like Apollo, the Muses are the children of Zeus and therefore his half-sisters. Balanchine wrote, Apollo I look back on as the turning point of my life. In its discipline and restraint, in its sustained oneness of tone and feeling, the score was a revelation. It seemed to tell me that I could dare not use everything, that I, too, could eliminate. The music for Apollo was composed by Igor Stravinsky. As dance critic Paula Citron wrote, During his long life, Stravinsky experimented with several different musical styles.... No matter what period, however, Stravinsky trademarks have been audacious orchestrations, daring harmonies, and most importantly, complex, abrasive rhythmic structures. When Diaghilev introduced Stravinsky to the young Russian expatriate George Balanchine, the composer found a choreographer who would create a neoclassical dance style to match his music. Citron continued, The score Apollon musagète was originally composed for a contemporary music festival held in Washington, D.C. in 1928 with choreography by Adolph Bolm. Because Stravinsky reserved the European rights for Diaghilev, the ballet was rechoreographed by Balanchine and made its Paris debut two months later. Apollo, as the ballet would later be called, marked the first collaboration between Stravinsky and Balanchine. The piece is about creativity as seen through the birth of Apollo and his education by the Muses. Stravinsky produced a refined score in polyphonic style governed by the rules of classical harmony, but redolent with rhythmic vitality and jazz inflections. Balanchine created choreography with crude movements, turned-in legs, flexed feet, contractions and heel spins, yet firmly anchored in traditional classical ballet vocabulary. This fusion of past traditions with modernisms is considered the birth of neoclassical ballet.
theme and variations George Balanchine wrote that Theme and Variations, one of the choreographer s best-known works, was intended, to evoke that great period in classical dancing when Russian ballet flourished with the aid of Tchaikovsky s music. And while the work is a beautiful and exuberant tribute to the Petipa legacy, it is also pure Balanchine. Set to the final movement of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky s Suite No. 3 for Orchestra in G major, the ballet consists of a set of twelve variations, through which the vocabulary of classical dance is explored and celebrated. A corps of twelve women forms the basis of the ballet s choreographic excursions, and their dances are interwoven with the solo performances of a principal couple. A grand polonaise builds to the climatic finale for the entire cast of 26 dancers. Theme and Variations is one of the most technically demanding in the Balanchine canon, especially for the male dancers, whose variations are not only of an astonishing intricacy, but are intended to be danced at great speed. Theme and Variations was premiered on November 26, 1947 by Ballet Theatre (later known as American Ballet Theatre). The first performance starred Alicia Alonso and Igor Youkesvitch and was hailed an immediate success by critics and audiences alike. It was not until February 5, 1960 that Balanchine s own company, New York City Ballet, premiered this work. In 1970 Balanchine added the first three movements of the Tchaikovsky suite to Theme and Variations to create a larger ballet known as Suite No. 3. The National Ballet of Canada first performed Theme and Variations on February 18, 1998 at the Hummingbird Centre starring Martine Lamy and Johan Persson in the principal roles. opposite: aleksandar antonijevic in apollo, 2003 photo by peter stipcevich; artists of the ballet in theme and variations, 2001 photo by richard lautens the national ballet of canada The Walter Carsen Centre for the national ballet of canada 470 Queens Quay West, Toronto, Ontario m5v 3k4 416-345-9686 national.ballet.ca