9 replies to this topic

[Dale]

I thought I'd repost this info from the Heads Up! forum:

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The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, November 20-25, 2007 – Opera House

In November 2003, following the company’s highly successful West Coast premiere, The San Francisco Chronicle said of artistic director Suzanne Farrell that “she seems to be reinventing the art of ballet itself .” Under the auspices of the Kennedy Center, Farrell’s international company of dancers returns to the Opera House with two all-Balanchine mixed repertory programs. Program A features Bugaku; Symphony in Three Movements and Divertissements from Don Quixote, one of the reconstruction works from the Balanchine Preservation Initiative. Program B features Bugaku; Ballade; Pithoprakta, one of the reconstruction works from the Balanchine Preservation Initiative, and Chaconne, a work presented in artistic partnership with Cincinnati Ballet.

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet Artistic Partnership with Cincinnati Ballet,
October 22-November 10, 2007

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet is proud to announce a special artistic partnership this fall with Cincinnati Ballet (Victoria Morgan, Artistic Director). This outreach effort will highlight Suzanne Farrell’s strengths as a coach and teacher, as well as her unique artistic relationship with George Balanchine, while providing performance opportunities for the Farrell Ballet dancers. It is fitting for the company’s first partnership of this nature to be in Ms. Farrell’s hometown of Cincinnati. Cincinnati Ballet will host The Suzanne Farrell Ballet for a three-week residency beginning October 22, including performances on November 9-10 in a shared program as part of Cincinnati’s home season. Ms. Farrell will teach and rehearse Balanchine’s Chaconne, which will be performed jointly. In addition, each company will also perform its own repertory as part of the program. In return, selected members of the Cincinnati Ballet will perform in Chaconne during the Farrell Ballet’s Kennedy Center engagement in November.

An interesting season.  I think Farrell (or somebody else in/near the company) is smart, at this stage of the company's development, to pair up with an existing group to gain further performances and exposure.  This is beginning to look like the season of Bugaku, which hasn't been seen much in the past 10 years.  Now two companies will be performing the work in near season.  And Ballade -- I wonder if Merrill Ashley will be used to set the ballet.

[carbro]

Dale, on Mar 9 2007, 06:54 PM, said:

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The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, November 20-25, 2007 – Opera House

Which Opera House?  Kennedy Center's?

[Leigh Witchel]

Re: Ballade. Like Ballo, the copyright is held by the Balanchine Trust, but I can't think of anyone else right now who sets Ballo (though I bet someone else does).  There are a lot fewer people who have danced Ballade.  Odds are Ashley stages it.

[Dale]

Carbro, yes - Kennedy Center's opera house.

Leigh - you're probably right.  Maybe Ashley will be involved in the reconstruction of Pithoprakta; she was in the corps de ballet when the work was made.

[carbro]

Dale, on Mar 9 2007, 07:39 PM, said:

Carbro, yes - Kennedy Center's opera house.

I was hoping maybe they'd be touring over Thanksgiving weekend -- out there, somewhere.

Would it kill anyone to give them the second or fourth weekend in November?  In my family, Thanksgiving (i.e. Wednesday night through at least Saturday lunch) is not optional.

[Farrell Fan]

Thanks, Dale. Let us not forget that the Farrell Ballet will also be at the Opera House of the Kennedy Center friom this June 6 to 10 with two mixed repertory programs of Balanchine and Bejart. Can you kindly provide details? Thanks again.

[Dale]

We sort of had a discussion about it at the thread linked below (it was more on the reconstructions), but I'll add more info here and change the title of this thread to reflect 2007 Summer and Fall:

http://ballettalk.in...showtopic=23797

[Dale]

Info on the summer performances:

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet: Two Mixed Repertory Programs
Jun 6 - 10, 2007
Opera House

As the Kennedy Center's own ballet company, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet is claiming a place among the nation's finest ensembles and preserving classic works of the 20th century. The San Francisco Chronicle declares that Farrell "seems to be reinventing the art of ballet itself."

With her intimate knowledge of the Balanchine canon, the company will dance a number of his masterworks in two mixed repertory programs, including Scotch Symphony to music by Mendelssohn and Mozartiana to music by Tchaikovsky. The engagement will also feature the DC premieres of two reconstructed works as part of Farrell's Balanchine Preservation Initiative, the pas de deux from Concierto de Mozart to music by Mozart and Divertimento Brilliante to music by Glinka.

Also on both programs are two works by innovative French choreographer Maurice Béjart, who worked closely with Suzanne Farrell in the early 1970s. His landmark 1959 staging of Stravinsky's controversial Rite of Spring replaced the scenario of the sacrificial maiden with a ritual mating dance between a beautiful young man and woman. The company will also dance the scène d'amour from Béjart's 1966 version of Romeo and Juliet--which speaks to the themes rather than the narrative of the story--set to French composer Hector Berlioz's dramatic symphony. Part of the citywide festival Shakespeare in Washington.

Program A (Wed., June 6, Thu., June 7, & Sat., June 9 at 7:30 p.m.; Sun., June 10 at 1:30 p.m.):
Scotch Symphony (Balanchine/Mendelssohn)
Scène d'amour from Romeo and Juliet (Béjart/Berlioz)
Pas de deux from Concierto de Mozart (Balanchine/Mozart)
Rite of Spring (Béjart/Stravinsky)

Program B (Fri., June 8 & Sun., June 10 at 7:30 p.m.; Sat., June 9 at 1:30 p.m.):
Mozartiana (Balanchine/Tchaikovsky)
Divertimento Brilliante (Balanchine/Glinka)
Scène d'amour from Romeo and Juliet (Béjart/Berlioz)
Rite of Spring (Béjart/Stravinsky)

www.kennedy-center.org

[Farrell Fan]

Béjart's "Rite of Spring" has been replaced by Balanchine's "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue."

[Ray]

Farrell Fan, on Mar 30 2007, 11:20 AM, said:

Béjart's "Rite of Spring" has been replaced by Balanchine's "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue."

That's a shame--not that I love Béjart or dislike Slaughter; it's just that we rarely get to see the former and see the latter a lot.