Category Archives: Uncategorized

Choreography: Lev Ivanov/Marius Petipa Music: Tchaikovsky Debut: Maryinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg 1892 It’s that time of year again: the season when men, women and children everywhere assume an air of ballet knowledge and flock to see The Nutcracker. Suddenly and … Continue reading →

Choreography:  Marius Petipa Music: Peter Tchaikovsky Debut: Maryinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia  1890 An undeniably important ballet in the history of the art, The Sleeping Beauty has been presented time and again for over a century. The ballet has been … Continue reading →

Choreography: Gerald Arpino Music: Hershey Kay Debut: Joffrey Ballet 1968 Clowns – scary, right? Well, the ballet seems to add a new dimension of eeriness to the subject. Little is available online in terms of video or commentary but Balanchine … Continue reading →

Music: Sergei Prokofiev Choreography / Premieres:  Rotislav Zakharov – 1945 (Bolshoi Ballet) / Konstantin Sergeyev, 1946 (Kirov Ballet) Frederick Ashton – 1948 (Sadler’s Wells Ballet) Margot Fonteyn as Cinderella Alina Cojocaru as Cinderella Moira Shearer as Cinderella Ben Stevenson – 1970 (National Ballet … Continue reading →

Choreography: Jerome Robbins Music: Igor Stravinsky Premiere: New York City Ballet, 1951 Wendy Whelan/NYCB Video  Laetitia Pujol/Paris Opera Ballet Video   In “Apollo’s Angels,” Jennifer Homans describes Jerome Robbins’ The Cage as one of “the ugliest and most disturbing ballets … Continue reading →

Choreography: Dennis Nahat Music: Johannes Brahms   Listen to the score  Premiere: American Ballet Theatre 1969 With no accessible videos on the Web and very little written about Dennis Nahat’s Brahms Quintet, I can report only on what Balanchine saw in … Continue reading →

Choreography: Eugene Loring Music: Aaron Copland    Listen to the score Premiere: Ballet Caravan 1938 Ballet Caravan, founded by Lincoln Kerstein in 1936, merged with Balanchine’s American Ballet in 1941. Later, the two men founded the New York City Ballet. … Continue reading →

Choreography: August Bournonville Music:  Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann and Niels W. Gade Debut: Royal Danish Ballet, 1854 View a prior staging of the entire ballet online (before it’s inevitably taken down) I have just returned from a most unexpected evening of absolute pleasure … Continue reading →

Choreography: Marius Petipa Music: Ludwig Minkus Debut: Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, 1869 View excerpts from Ballet Nacional de Cuba’s 2008 Production Loosely based on an episode from Cervantes’ great novel, Don Quixote is beloved around the world for its pseudo-Spanish zest, colorful … Continue reading →

Choreography: Maurice Béjart Music: Hindu music Debut: Ballet of the Twentieth Century, 1968 Watch video footage online from Bhakti: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usix5JZD23Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-awXKWc9tZg&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB3ZZOZ_S0g&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTm1F4ns6V0&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xNzloDIaNM&feature=fvwrel Google “Bhakti + Béjart” and the results will include actual video footage – several versions! – … Continue reading →