American Ballet Theatre

Overview

This dazzling company of dancers presents a programme that brings together the work of three different choreographers. Skilfully contrasted in style, it showcases every element of the dancers’ abilities. The intricate choreography of Raymonda: Grand Pas Hongrois, created byMarius Petipa and staged by Susan Jaffe, represents classical ballet at its finest and is followed by the gravely transcendental, intellectual questing of Ratmansky’s Serenade after Plato’s Symposium, before concluding with Balanchine’s grand classicism in his Theme and Variations, set to Tchaikovsky’s glorious music.

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Programme

Theme and Variations

Choreography by George Balanchine

Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

This is, in a sense, an homage to Balanchine’s Russian homeland and a tribute to his love ofTchaikovsky’s music, set to the final movement of the composer’s Orchestral Suite No. 3, as well as to the classical choreography of Marius Petipa, one of the most influential teachers and dance creators in classical ballet.

It is a deliberate evocation of the grandeur of 19th-century St. Petersburg in its elaborate and graceful formality. Balanchine, who also created ballets of stripped-down neoclassical rigour, was able to turn his hand with immense skill to this complex set of variations.

 In this sense, the description of Theme and Variations as ‘the niece of The SleepingBeauty’ is apt. It calls for bravura performances from the lead couple and from all 24 soloists, weaving a seemingly endless sequence of intertwining patterns.

Intermission

Serenade after Plato’s Symposium

Choreography by Alexei Ratmansky

Music by Leonard Bernstein

This is a ballet set to a violin concerto composed in 1954 that was in its turn based on a philosophical tract that attempts to define love. Plato’s Symposium takes the form of a conversation over the dinner table between seven men who take it in turn to say what they think love is. Bernstein characterises the speakers in his music with themes that reflect their thoughts. In the final section, Plato’s revered teacher, Socrates, describes a visit he made to the famous seer, Diotima of Mantinea, who told him that she considered love to be a ladder, on which one could progress from physical passion to a purer, abstract love.

Ratmansky imbues this almost all-male ballet with a vivid sense of fellowship – the dancers are happily at ease in each other’s company and move in and out of dance patterns in a visual realisation of a lively conversation. This is an abstract exploration of a discourse on how love can help the soul to understand truth in the pursuit of wisdom and beauty.

In one culminating, direct reference to Plato, Ratmansky introduces the character of Diotima. In a series of soaring and ambitious lifts, she personifies the illuminating idea of a ladder of love.

Intermission

Raymonda: Grand Pas Hongrois

Choreography by Marius Petipa staged by Susan Jaffe

Music by Alexander Glazunov

Raymonda was first seen in St. Petersburg in 1898 and was one of the most successful ballets to be staged during the golden years of Marius Petipa’s career, following on from his creation of The Sleeping Beauty in 1890. Originally set in medieval Europe and featuring beautiful noblewomen and heroic Crusader knights, a scheming antagonist and a mysterious White Lady, it dazzled audiences with scenes of enchantment and a magnificent final wedding act.

Glazunov’s radiant music conjures up a Hungarian landscape in the Grand Pas Hongrois, which represents classical ballet at its finest. In a spirit of celebration, the intricate choreography allows for displays of artistry and elegance.

Great dancers have always been fascinated by Raymonda and it was staged by the ballerina Anna Pavlova in 1915, by George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova in 1946 and by Rudolf Nureyev in 1964 and again in 1983.

Artists

American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is recognised as one of the great dance companies in the world. Few ballet companies equal ABT for its combination of size, scope and outreach. Founded in 1940, ABT is the only major cultural institution that annually tours the United States, performing for more than 300,000 people. The company has also made more than 30 international tours to 45 countries as perhaps the most representative American ballet company and has been sponsored by the United States Department of State on many of these engagements.

When American Ballet Theatre was launched, the aim was to develop a repertoire of the best ballets from the past and to encourage the creation of new works by gifted young choreographers, wherever they might be found. Under the direction of Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith from 1945 to 1980, the company more than fulfilled that mission. Perhaps unmatched in the history of ballet, ABT’s repertoire includes beloved full-length classics from the 19th century, such as Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and Giselle; many of the finest works from the 20th century: Apollo, Les Sylphides, Jardin aux Lilas, Fancy Free, Rodeo, Airs, Push Comes to Shove, In the Upper Room; and acclaimed contemporary masterpieces, including Shostakovich Trilogy and Serenade after Plato’s Symposium. Throughout the curation of this repertoire, ABT has commissioned works by celebrated choreographers of the 20th and 21st centuries: George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille, Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Wheeldon, among others.

In 1980, Mikhail Baryshnikov became Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre. Under his leadership, numerous classical ballets were staged, restaged and refurbished and the company experienced a strengthening and refining of the classical tradition. In 1990, Jane Hermann and Oliver Smith succeeded Baryshnikov and immediately established an agenda that was dedicated to maintaining the great traditions of the past while pursuing a vital and innovative future.

In October 1992, the former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Kevin McKenzie was appointed Artistic Director. McKenzie, steadfast in his vision of ABT as American, was committed to maintaining the company’s vast repertoire and to bringing the art of dance theatre to the great stages of the world.

Former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Susan Jaffe was named Artistic Director in December 2022. Jaffe is dedicated to preserving the beauty and depth of classical ballet while moving the company artistically into the future, expanding ABT’s audience and exploring diverse choreographers and styles.

In keeping with ABT’s long-standing commitment to bring the finest in dance to the widest international audience, the company has recently enjoyed triumphant successes with engagements in Abu Dhabi, Brisbane, Paris, Muscat, Oman, Shanghai and Seoul. On 27 April 2006, the United States Congress honoured ABT by recognising its service as ‘America’s National Ballet Company’.