Serenade (ballet)

This article is about Balanchine's 1934 ballet. For the musical form, see Serenade. For other uses, see Serenade (disambiguation).
Serenade
Choreographer George Balanchine
Music Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Premiere March 1, 1935
Adelphi Theatre
New York City, United States
Original ballet company American Ballet

Serenade is a ballet by George Balanchine to Tschaikovsky's 1880 Serenade for Strings in C, Op. 48. Students of the School of American Ballet gave the first performance on Sunday, 10 June 1934 on the Felix M. Warburg estate in White Plains, N.Y., where Mozartiana had been danced the previous day. This was the first ballet that Balanchine choreographed in America.[1] It was then presented by the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet on 6 December at the Avery Memorial Theatre of the Wadsworth Atheneum, to return the favor of sponsoring Balanchine's immigration to America.[2] The official premiere took place on 1 March 1935[3] with the American Ballet at the Adelphi Theatre, New York, conducted by Sandor Harmati.

NYCB principal dancer Philip Neal chose to include Serenade in his farewell performance on Sunday, 13 June 2010.

The blue tutus used in Serenade inspired the naming of the Balanchine crater on the planet Mercury.[4]

Analysis

The work can be considered a bridge between his two early works for Sergei Diaghilev and his later, less episodic American works.[5] The dance is characterized by two falls, a choreographic allusion to Giselle, but also an element in the Khorumi, a Georgian folk dance which influenced Balanchine.[5]

Casts

original

  • Leda Anchutina
  • Holly Howard
  • Elise Reiman
  • Elena de Rivas
  • Sylvia Giselle (Gisella Caccialanza)
  • Helen Leitch
  • Annabelle Lyon
  • Kathryn Mullowny
  • Heidi Vosseler
  • Ruthanna Boris
  • Charles Laskey

NYCB revivals

1984 New York State Theater 20-Year Celebration

2008 Winter

2009 Spring Dancers' Choice benefit

2009 Fall tour to Japan

first cast
second cast

2010 Fall

Saturday, October 2nd

2011 First Tour to Hong Kong (Saturday, March 5)

notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 first time in rôle
  2. 1 2 3 4 All performers in Dancers' Choice appeared for the first time in the rôles which they danced.

References

  1. ↑ Jack Anderson, City Ballet: A 20-Year Celebration, NY Times, April 26, 1984 – accessed May 2, 2009
  2. ↑ Balanchine, George (1968). Francis Mason, ed. Balanchine's New Complete Stories of the Great Ballets. Doubleday. pp. 363–5.
  3. ↑ Kourlas, Gia (22 May 2013). "A Ballet With Russian Roots Captures the American Spirit". New York Times. New York City, United States. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  4. ↑ Ritzel, Rebecca (20 December 2012). "Ballet isn't rocket science, but the two aren't mutually exclusive, either". Washington Post. Washington DC, United States. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  5. 1 2 Scholl, Tim (Fall 2012). "Serenade: From Giselle to Georgia". Ballet Review. 40 (3): 26––.

General references

  • Playbill, NYCB, Friday, February 22, 2008
  • Repertory Week, NYCB, Winter season, 2008 repertory, week 7

Articles

Obituaries

Reviews

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