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PNB Closes Season with Director's Choice
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Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal’s yearly DIRECTOR’S CHOICE programs highlight both the addition of new works to the repertory and the works of the great choreographers of our time. This year’s DIRECTOR’S CHOICE program, the sixth and final repertory program of PNB’s 2008-2009 season, delivers a trio of seminal works by three of this century’s most influential choreographers, including two PNB premieres: Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, considered by many to be the choreographer’s greatest achievement in ballet; Christopher Wheeldon’s recent but already iconic After the Rain pas de deux; and George Balanchine’s Symphony in C, perhaps his greatest essay in formal classicism.
The line-up will include: Dances at a Gathering — PNB Premiere
Music:Frederic Chopin
Music:Frederic Chopin
Choreography:Jerome Robbins
Dances at a Gathering was the first ballet Jerome Robbins made for New York City Ballet upon his return to the company in 1969, following a 12-year absence during which he choreographed some of his best-known Broadway musicals. An hour-long suite for ten dancers, set to solo piano works by Frederic Chopin, Dances at a Gathering began as a pas de deux. Robbins selected more music and the ballet grew. He invited Balanchine to see a rehearsal, asking him if the ballet wasn’t a bit long. Balanchine watched the rehearsal, and then said, “More. Make more!” Speaking before the premiere, Robbins explained, “I’m doing a fairly classical ballet to very old fashioned and romantic music, but there is a point to it. In a way it is a revolt from the faddism today. I find myself feeling just what is the matter with connecting, what’s the matter with love, what’s the matter with celebrating positive things?”
Jerome Robbins dedicated Dances at a Gathering to the memory of lighting designer Jean Rosenthal.
The PNB premiere of Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering is generously underwritten by Jeffrey & Susan Brotman.
After the Rain pas de deux© — PNB Premiere
Music:Arvo Pärt
Music:Arvo Pärt
Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon
“Spare and poignant, the duet intimates a renewal of faith, the reburgeoning of love.” (Village Voice) Christopher Wheeldon’s pas de deux from After the Rain is the second half of a two-part work, the first of which features an ensemble of three couples dancing to Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa. The following pas de deux is performed to Pärt’s spare and tender duet for piano and violin, Spiegel im Spiegel. The ballerina is dressed in pink and her partner is bare-chested. In a series of unfolding partnering movements, the dancers explore the shifting emotions of their relationship. After the Rain pas de deux is the fourth work by Christopher Wheeldon to enter PNB’s repertory.
The PNB premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain pas de deux is generously underwritten by Ernest & Diane Burgess.
Symphony in C
Music:Georges Bizet
Choreography:George Balanchine © The School of American Ballet
Bizet composed his Symphony in C major when he was a 17-year-old pupil of Charles Gounod at the Paris Conservatory. The manuscript was lost for decades, and was published only after it was discovered in the Conservatory’s library in 1933. Balanchine first learned of the long-vanished score from Stravinsky. In only two weeks, he choreographed the work as Le Palais de Cristal for the Paris Opera Ballet, where he was serving as a guest ballet master in 1947. When he revived the work the following year for the first performance of New York City Ballet, he simplified the sets and costumes and changed the title to Symphony in C.
Following the structure of the symphony, the ballet is in four movements, each featuring a different ballerina, cavalier, and corps de ballet. The first movement is formal and regal. The second movement features one of Balanchine’s greatest pas de deux, and its ballerina role is considered one of the most privileged in all the Balanchine repertory. The third and fourth movements feature bravura allegro dancing. The entire cast of dancers from all four movements gathers for the impressive finale.
May 28–June 7, 2009
Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
321 Mercer Street, Seattle Center
Seattle, WA 98109
May 28-30 & June 4-6 at 7:30 pm
May 30 at 2:00 pm
June 7 at 1:00 pm
For more info: www.pnb.org
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