DANCE, BALLET AND CHOREOGRAPHY: ESSAY AND ANALYSIS
The Stravinsky Festival
Photo:
Palais de Cristal Premiere: on July 7, 1947 by the
Paris Opera
Ballet in Paris.Dancers at the premiere (from left to right on the photo):
Madeleine Lafon, Max Bozzoni (4th movement), Lycette Darsonval, Alexandre
Kalioujny (1st mov.), Roger Ritz, Tamara Toumanova (2nd mov.), Michel Renault,
Micheline Bardin (3rd movement). Music: Georges Bizet (Symphony in
C).
Choreography: George
Balanchine.
Sets, costumes: Leonor Fini.
Response to the Stravinsky Festival by critics and the public was overwhelming. In 1975, Balanchine staged a second New York City Ballet Festival, this time a three-week homage to Ravel. This celebration produced sixteen new works by various choreographers, including Balanchine's Tzigane, Le Tombeau de Couperin, and Sonatine. Over the next seven years, Balanchine added more than a dozen works to the New York City Ballet's repertory. First came Union Jack (1976), observing the U.S. Bicentennial by honoring Great Britain, followed by the lavish Vienna Waltzes (1977). Ballo della Regina and Kammermusik No. 2 were choreographed in 1978, Ballade, Robert Schumann's "Davidsbündlertänze," and Walpurgisnacht Ballet in 1980. Balanchine's last important work, a new version of Mozartiana (a ballet originally choreographed for Les Ballets 1933), was created for the Tschaikovsky Festival of 1981. In 1982 he directed the Stravinsky Centennial Celebration, but by then he was terminally ill. Although it is for ballet choreography that he is most noted, Balanchine also worked in musical theater and movies. On Broadway, he created dances for Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 and On Your Toes, including the groundbreaking "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" ballet (1936); Babes in Arms (1937); I Married an Angel and The Boys from Syracuse (1938); Louisiana Purchase and Cabin in the Sky, co-choreographed with Katherine Dunham (1940); The Merry Widow (1943); and Where's Charley? (1948), among others.
His
movie credits include The Goldwyn Follies, with its famous "water
nymph" ballet (1938); I Was an Adventuress (1940); and Star
Spangled Rhythm (1942). All starred Vera Zorina. Embracing television,
Balanchine staged many of his ballets (or excerpts) and created new work
especially for the medium: in 1962, he collaborated with Stravinsky on
Noah and the Flood and in 1981 redesigned his 1975 staging of
L'Enfant et les Sortilèges to include a wide range of special effects,
including animation. Through television, millions of people have been able to
see the New York City Ballet. "Choreography by Balanchine," a five-part "Dance
in America" presentation on the PBS series "Great Performances," began in
December 1977. Programs featured The Four Temperaments, Prodigal
Son, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Chaconne, and segments
of Jewels, among several others. Most are now available on video.
Balanchine traveled to Nashville with the Company for the tapings in 1977 and
1978 and personally supervised every shot, in some cases revising steps or
angles for greater effectiveness on screen. The series was widely applauded by
critics and audiences all over the country and was nominated for an Emmy
award.