New York City Ballet ‘Balanchine Black & White’ (Spring 2018)

DANCE / June 3, 2018 by Editors

New York City Ballet opens and closes its 2018 Spring Season with a Balanchine Black & White program.

Balanchine Black & White Ballets

Concerto Barocco (1941)

The two ballerinas become the two violins in Johan Sebastian Bach’s Concerto in D minor for Two Violins. The dance is a masterly blend of dancer and music.

Concerto Barocco premiered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1941. The exuberant excess of the Baroque is one of the roots of Brazilian modern and contemporary art. Could Balanchine have been thinking about that?

This ballet was on New York City Ballet’s very first program at New York City Center in 1948.

In 1951, Balanchine flipped the Baroque on its head by changing the original costumes to simple leotards and tights. The leotard ballets became a Balanchine signature.

Agon (1957)

Agon means “contest” in Greek. This was Stravinsky’s first 12-tone composition. Twelve dancers move in duos, trios, quartets and so on. It is considered the peak of the Balanchine – Stravinsky collaboration.

The movement is based on 17th-century French court dances.

The Four Temperaments (1946)

This ballet’s title refers to the medieval concept of four personality types: melancholic, sanguinic, phlegmatic, and choleric. The dance has nothing to do with it other than having four parts.