Northrop Dance at the University of Minnesota brings the classic beauty of George Balanchine performed by The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, one of the world's most pioneering ballerinas and Balanchine's famous muse. With two different performance programs, Farrell and her company are bringing to the stage many unseen or rarely seen works, alongside well-known pieces.
Classic Balanchine (Friday, March 12, 8:00 pm)
An evening of classic and rare, full-company works including their latest piece from The Balanchine Preservation Initiative, the newly reconstructed and rarely performed Haieff Divertimento. A mixed repertory features short ballets or sections of longer ballets together in one program. This program includes parts of three ballets choreographed by Balanchine-the pas d'action from Divertimento No. 15, Contrapuntal Blues pas de deux from Clarinade, and Agon, a ballet that revolutionized dance forever. Also on the program is the scène d'amour from Romeo and Juliet by French choreographer Maurice Béjart.
Haieff Divertimento (1944): Music by Alexei Haieff. This work was composed in five sections: "Prelude," "Aria," "Scherzo," "Lullaby," and a "Finale." The ballet is choreographed for a leading couple and four supporting couples dressed in simple costumes. Haieff Divertimento features a blues pas de deux and combines popular American dance idioms and modern concert dance with classic ballet.
Pas d'Action from Divertimento No. 15 (1956): Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Divertimento No. 15 was choreographed for eight principal dancers, five women and three men, with an ensemble of eight women. The ballet omits the second minuet and the andante from the sixth movement; a new cadenza for violin and viola by John Colman was added in the late 1960's. Balanchine's variations and pas de deux seamlessly follow the spirit of Mozart's fragile score-a divertimento written to "divert" and amuse audiences at social occasions in the 1700s. Fun fact: The tutus for this ballet have metal hoops in them for support (a homage to court clothes of the time)-making them heavier and less flexible than regular tutus and having to work harder against gravity. The stage is never empty as dancers overlap their entrances and exits to and from the stage; each solo and pas de deux differs from one another in style and spirit; and the eight dancers come together at the end.
Contrapuntal Blues Pas de deux from Clarinade (1964): Music by Glenn Gould. To jazz music, a young couple explores a world inspired by the marathon dance crazes of the 1930s. In this pas de deux, Balanchine introduced more modern styles of movement to ballet choreography with jazzy movements such as thrusting hips, rocking back on one's heels, and drooping postures.
Béjart: Scène d'Amour from Romeo and Juliet (1966): Music by Hector Berlioz. French choreographer Maurice Béjart is particularly well-known for his innovative and theatrical choreography. Suzanne Farrell worked closely with him from 1970 to 1974. Rather than simply retell the story of Shakespeare's play, Béjart uses movement to explore the play's themes. In the love scene (scène d'amour), Romeo and Juliet express their young love in a pas de deux that also reveals the tension between their families and foreshadows the tragedy that awaits them. A contrast exists between love and hatred, the white costumes signifying youth and innocence, and the choreography suggests combat between the families.
Agon (1957): Music by Igor Stravinsky. Together, Balanchine and Stravinsky designed the structure of the ballet during the creation of the music. The outline for the score specifies in detail, with exact timings, the basic movements for twelve dancers clad in simple black and white costumes. Loosely themed on the idea of "struggle" or "contest" (the meaning of the Greek word agon), this very athletic and energetic ballet features different groupings of twelve dancers. The work broke new ground by combining Igor Stravinsky's complex meter changes with Balanchine's vision of 17th-century court dance. Notice how the ballet begins and ends the same way. Notice the simple and body-hugging practice clothes-these signature Balanchine costumes reveal each movement for its own pure athleticism.
The Balanchine Couple (Saturday, March 13, 2 pm)
A unique program of nine classic Balanchine duets with live, onstage narration by Suzanne Farrell. In each of these selections, the focus is on the couple, dancing together in pas de deux. The program is presented in loose chronology, reflecting Balanchine's evolving career as an American choreographer. From the French, meaning literally, 'step for two,' it is designed to show the virtuosity of the ballerina and her partner. The key to the pas de deux is the interactions between the partners. Whether telling a story through mime, or creating purely architectural shapes, the dancers are working together to communicate the choreographer's vision. Sometimes, they are formal and distant, other times, in intimate unison.
