5 replies to this topic

[Mme. Hermine]

that was a good idea, alexandra!
what if all that survived was:
1.  Persephone
2.  PAMTGG
3.  Circus Polka
4.  Union Jack
5.  Stars and Stripes
6.  The Steadfast Tin Soldier
7.  Electronics
8.  Western Symphony (even though I like it)
9.  Bugaku
10. Don Quixote

[Calliope]

I'd try and find the space shuttle with all the others.

[Alexandra]

Chance or Fate?  I didn't mean to say that the works I'd listed were neglible or unworty.  With a choreographer like Balanchine, with such a vast oeuvre, everything needs to be taken in context, and if the only thing that were to survive was PAMTGG, I'd wager that future generations would say, "Hmmh.  There IS something there.  Must be that the style has changed so -- but I wish they'd saved some of his work."

Here are two more What Ifs on Balanchine:

Space Capsule One, which lands on Venus.
1.  Suite No. 3
2.  Scotch Symphony
3.  La Source
4.  Chaconne
5.  Symphony in C
6.  Serenade
7.  Meditation
8.  La Valse

While Space Capsule Two hits Mars with:
1.  Apollo
2.  Agon
3.  Monumentum/Movements
4.  Violin Concerto
5.  Electronics
6.  Variations
7.  Symphony in 3 Movements
8.  The Four Temperaments

Who was Balanchine?

[Mme. Hermine]

of course, there's also space capsule #3, which lands on Pluto and contains:

1.  Harlequinade
2.  Union Jack
3.  Western Symphony
4.  A copy of the choreography in "Goldwyn Follies of 1938".
5.  Bourree Fantasque
6.  Jeu de Cartes
7.  Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
8.  Pulcinella
9.  A copy of the choreography in "Dark Red Roses" (watch out for jealous husbands!)
10. A copy of "I Was an Adventuress" ("Is that tempo right, Miss Vronsky?")

[ January 16, 2002: Message edited by: pmeja ]

[Alexandra]

Yes.  Capsule 3 (the Ashton/Bournonville Cutesy-Wutsey Capsule) is the one I was thinking of when I made my original What If? list.  Nothing wrong with any of those ballets, and within a broader repertory they're wonderful.  But if that's all we have left.....

[dirac]

And maybe a reconstruction of something he did for the "Balanchine Girls" of Charles Cochran's revue for #3.  And "Balustrade."