On Thursday night, January 11, 1940, an enthusiastic audience at the Theater Theater in New York City was captivated by Playbills reading the Ballet Theater in the history of ballet. The first part of the explanation was completely irrelevant – across the country, Adolph Bolm founded the San Francisco Opera Ballet in 1933, renamed the San Francisco Ballet in 1942 – but the second part might have been.
At PlayBill’s Introduction to Ballet TheatreJournalist Lucius Beebe wrote: “It has been the purpose of the Ballet Theater to stage, organize and perform other ballet steps, the best that exists, the best, the best, the best that is controversial.”
The new company, founded by the Director of the American Dancer Lucia Chase and the Director of the sweet Cichard in the fall of 1939, organized Agnes Delin, Michel Fokine, Bronislava Folinska and Antony Tudor. The main cast included 20 main dancers, 15 soloists and a company of 56, which included units of both “Spanish” and “Negro” dancers. In segregated America in the 1940s, it was almost unheard of for black and white dancers to appear on the main stage of a concert. This installation, though imperfect in its execution, was the best of its time.
Much has changed in the last 85 years: The theater was built after 1954 and is now a 21-story office building; Most, if not all, of the people involved in that season are now gone; The American Ballet Theater was renamed the American Ballet Theater (ABT) in 1957; Journalists don’t often use “article” as a verb now (though perhaps they should); And the company has become very diverse, principal dancers and soloists not only in the US and Europe but also in Argentina, Brazil, China, South Korea.
But some things have remained the same: Abt is still committed to presenting “choreographic diversity” from the past and past and pushing the boundaries of what ballet can be and move towards. Their 85th anniversary celebration, running from November 1 at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, is sure to be a blast.
What to see
Abt 2025 season has started as jam-packed and exciting as the first. There was the historic Fall Gala on October 22 honoring Misty Copeland, the Company’s first Black woman principal dancer, a special performance planned for families on November 1 hosted by Copeland and programs featuring 15 ballets, including a world premiere, several companies premieres and a well-curated sampling of ABT’s expansive repertory from the past 85 years.
If you were to see all the pieces this season, you would get a deeper understanding not only of the company’s identity and scope – because of its eclectic range – but also of the art of classical ballet and how it evolved in America. It would be an unparalleled history lesson. If you can, too, and missed the “recovery of colorographs choreographies” but still want to hear that, I recommend seeing “new things on the 29th and 30th, in the matinee and in the evening on November 1).
“The return of the choreographers of the masters
The first ballet performed on the first night of the ballet theater’s very first season was Michel Fokine’s Les Sylphidesdanced by Karen Conrad, Nina Stroganova, Lucia Chase and William Dollar (followed by Eugene Liding’s Ballet-Play-Play America’s biggest goof and Mikhail Mordkin’s Sounds of spring-What is the line!). Fokine was the author of the new Russian rearograph, too Les Sylphides is one of his masterpieces. “Ballet Blanc” set to music by Frédéric Chopin was first performed by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Superstars anna Pavlova, France, dreaming and ethereher, and ethereal, and the first example Pbela of the 20th century.
The Ballet Theatre’s Regideral toographred (from 1940-1950) was the English Cooregraphhered Antony Tudor, who is often called the artistic conscience of the company. He is known for his complex, often dark roles, although his piece on the show, Gala performancehe is one of his talented hair people. Set to music by Sergei Prokofiev, it was first performed by the London Ballet at the Toynbee Hall Theater in London in 1938, and by Clinton Luckt, who joined the ballet in 1992 and is now its assistant artistic director, Enjoy Dancing Gala performance And he told the seer that he is looking forward to seeing how the current legendary calls will translate.
And in this program the ballet is one of the most important animal wives of the company, Agnes de Mille. Rodeofirst performed by the ballet russe de Monte Carlo in the city hall in 1942 and by the ballet theater in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1950, set to music by Aaron Copland. Now considered an American Classic, Narrative Ballet is a love story set in the Wild West. Its popularity has proven that the company can take on fun and innovative financial activities.
“The Invention of the Past and Past”
While the previous edition was an excellent introduction to the company’s origins, the new past and present edition “shows a sampling of important works spanning the 1940s to the present day.
In 1947, the year before George Balanchine founded the New York City Ballet, he created a piece for Ballet Theater featuring Alicia Alonso and Igor Yelkevitch Set to Music by Pyotr Ilsich Tchaikovsky. Totality and diversity Honoring Balanchine’s Classical training at the Imperial Ballet of St. It follows the 19th century architecture of the 19th century but can be done differently. It’s always exciting to see contemporary dancers tackle one of the earliest examples of neoclassical choreography.
After the chase and his director (since 1945), the visual designer Oliver Smith, he took the famous dance in the world, forcing that movement until 1989. Abt’s historian Elizabeth Kaye explained that Barryshnikov also improved the morale of the company by promoting many center dancers to meet the principal dancers. In fact, it was Baryshnikov who spotted young director Susan Jaffe, Abt’s current artistic director, and turned him into a star.
After Baryshnikov left the company, the long-time Archistic director was classical dancer Kevin McKenzie, who worked from 1992 to 2022. McKenzie was a strong guide for ABT. He brought complete high-profile ballets to auction, including several works by Frederick Ashton and lead performances of classics such as Don Quixote (1995), You wander (1998) Again Swan Lake (2000). But perhaps two of the most important things he did during his directorship were to hire a strong group of male dancers (Judy Kinberg’s 2003 docs Born to be wild: The leading men of American Ballet Theatre It was followed by Jose Manuel Carreño, ángel corella, Vladimir Malakhov and Ethan Stiefel as they made a new work with today’s toogred mother Marris) and hired the Ukrainian Coorography Alexei RatmanAnsky to be Abt’s singer at home from 2009 to 2022.
These two achievements come together in one of the ratmanky pieces created by the company in 2016, Serenade after Plato’s series. Set to music by Leonard Bernstein, it is one of his currently unseen works and is, in fact, a folk piece, meaning that LunTet means, ” Seven men (and one woman) dance “in such different ways, with different qualities.” And the impressive group of male dancers is more than able to take it.
Finally, there is a new period piece, Premiere Premierere By Juliano Nunes: Have we met?! As recently commissioned and, according to Lultett, “a very large, emotional musical by Luke Howard. As Jaffe becomes the artistic director in 2022, the company is focused on sending works that place choorographi and styles such as Abt City promises in New York City promises that the following is one of the best additions to the repertory.
The best show of the season is “Twyla @ 60: A Tharp Festival,” featuring three works by Postmodern American Choreography Twery Twlarp, Push comes Shove (Designed for Baryshnikov in 1976 and last performed in 1999), Bach patita (Performed for ABT in 1983 and last performed in 2014) and Premiere Premiere It is being discussedMade for a dance by Twyla Tharp in 1992.
And the most popular program of the season, “Classics to the present” (October 28), includes the former dancer who was the main dancer of the Abt Natalia Makarova in 1974 Kingdom of Shadows (From Act II of Marius Petipa’s 1877 LA Bayadère), Jaffe’s new staircase for Pelipa’s 1890 The beauty of sleepHe performed act III, and the assorted pas de deux (Victor Gsovsky’s 1949 Grand pas classiqueAshton 1980 Rhapsody1998 thrp Known by the heart And Christian Spuck’s 1999 The grand pas de deux).
The time is impressive, it is taken from the sabets of the 19th-, 20th century, from the first dance that the company ever performed in it was created in the past weeks. It also involves many large tasks, which keep the Corps busier than usual. This is a good thing because, as Kaye says, “corpses glow. They absolutely glow.”
As they are great dancers and soloists. “I can’t remember a company that has ever looked better,” he added. And part of that, no doubt, is due to Jaffe’s warm and inspired leadership. He is the right person to lead his future. “It’s a great time, and you’re only going to get better. There’s something going on there that I want people to come see, because ballet is theater now, and we need that now, and we need that now.”
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