Address:
David H. Koch Theater, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza (Columbus Ave. at 63rd St.)
Phone: 212-721-6500
Website: nycballet.com
Description: Alexi Ratmansky's Russian Seasons is an inventive and exciting combination of dance and musical flavors. The ballet uses classical steps with elements of folk and jazz mixed in. There are also many humorous passages for the six male and female dancers. The music is a 12-part composition by Lenoid Desyatnikov for a string orchestra, solo violin and soprano. Ratmansky asked Galina Solovyeva to create the costumes and she responded with a modern interpretation of Russian folk costumes: shirts and tights for the men and dresses for the women, who at times also wear pillbox-style hats. Solovyeva chose bright colors: orange, red, green, blue, purple and magenta. Desyatnikov's composition progresses through the seasonal and Russian Orthodox liturgical calendars in the course of its 12 parts. The stories told in the sung passages are not literally conveyed in dance steps, but the emotions they evoke make up the substance of the ballet. The girl in orange picks flowers and mourns, as the singer recounts the story of a husband lost at war; the girl in green is mischievous in one section, soulful in another, while the ballerina in red is wildly spirited during another segment.At the end of the ballet the couple previously in orange comes on stage dressed in white. The soprano's song says that while we may want to take all we can, we need very little, only a small patch of earth and four walls at the end. The couple moves off into a distant light as the other dancers look on. This is a beautiful, but sad image that is a fitting conclusion to a ballet rich in emotion and metaphor. Leonid Desyatnikov (b. 1955) graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1978. He is the author of the opera Poor Liza, the ballet A Love Song in Minor, the symphony Sacred Winter, vocal cycles to the poems of Rilke, and instrumental variations on the themes of Astor Piazzola. In recent years he has worked closely with violinist Gidon Kremer. He is well known in Russia for his compositions for film. He composed the scores for Tycoon: A New Russian (2003) and Prisoner of the Mountains (1997), among other films. In 2000 he wrote a chamber piece, Russian Seasons, influenced by both Vivaldi and Shostakovich.
Venue Description: Founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine, New York City Ballet (NYCB) has the largest repertoire of any American ballet company and is currently the largest dance organization in America. The company stages more than 60 ballets in its winter and spring seasons at Lincoln Center each year and more than 20 in its summer season in Saratoga Springs. Balanchine's creativity influenced dance both across the United States and in Europe and The School of American Ballet (SAB), which Balanchine founded, is the official training school of New York City Ballet, where young American dancers are trained and schooled under the guidance of the world's greatest ballet masters. New York City Ballet has made numerous appearances in the world?s most influential capitals, with an active repertory of over 150 works, principally choreographed by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Peter Martins. NYCB's performances include "The Nutcracker," "Romeo and Juliet," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," among others. The New York City Ballet also has a permanent orchestra and holds annual classical music festivals like the Stravinsky Festival, the Tchaikovsky Festival, and the American Music Festival.
The New York City Ballet's permanent performance space is located at Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater on 63rd Street in Manhattan, and the other at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY. The School of American Ballet is located in the Samuel B. & David Rose Building at Lincoln Center. For more information: nycballet.com.
Upcoming Events at New York City Ballet:
