World premiere: 1 March 1935, American Ballet, Adelphi Theatre, New
York
Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 30 April 1998,
St Petersburg
Running time 35 minutes
"Serenade, set to Tchaikovsky’s almost
unnaturally tuneful Serenade for Strings, holds a special place among
the dance works of the twentieth century: both masterpiece and
talisman, it is probably the most widely performed work by
the century’s greatest master, George Balanchine. Certainly it is
the piece which is most closely associated with his name. It is
performed today by countless companies across America and Europe, and is
the «signature piece» of the New York City Ballet. It is also
of importance that it formed part of Balanchine’s first programme
in America, so that it is associated in the public mind
with Balanchine’s development, in America, of that particular New
World neo-classicism on which his reputation rests.
Cynics may insist that
the popularity of Serenade amongst dance companies is due to its
technical accessibility, and amongst audiences because, as Balanchine himself
said and Serenade asserts in movement, «ballet is woman». The motion and
costumes are graceful and palatable even to the most conservative
of contemporary audiences. It is Modernism without the tears:
in other words, if this is neo-classicism, there is no need to worry.
Yet if Serenade is still drenched in the Romanticism that some
of Balanchine’s later works to Stravinsky’s music evade, it is
nonetheless beautiful, its dancing symbiotic with the music. Serenade
is a very rare creation indeed: an inaccessible masterpiece,
at once profound and trivial, manipulative and beautiful. This is why it
will continue to be performed as long as classical ballet itself is
alive."
Yulia Yakovleva
Apollo.
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Choreography by George Balanchine
(1928)
Libretto by Igor Stravinsky
Staging by Francia Russell
Original lighting design by
Ronald Bates
Lighting: Vladimir Lukasevich
Apollo, the son of Zeus and Leto, achieves stunning levels
of brilliance in dance and citherplaying. He is followed in his
sequence of dance by his ever-present companions the three
muses – Calliope (the muse of epic poetry), Polyhymnia
(the muse of sacred hymns) and Terpsichore (the muse
of dance). When Apollo, accompanied by his muses, appears on Mount
Olympus everything around him falls silent in adoration of his divine
art.
World
premiere: 12 June 1928,
Les Ballets Russes de Serge de Diaghilev,
Thйвtre Sarah Bernhart, Paris
Premiere of last revived version at the
Mariinsky Theatre: 30 April 1998
Running time 33 minutes
Symphony in C
Music by Georges Bizet (Symphony No. 1 in C)
Choreography by George Balanchine (1947)
Staging by Colleen Neary
Costume design by Irina Press
World premiere: 28 July 1947, Thйвtre National
de l'Opйra, Paris
Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre:
9 February 1996