American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is recognized as one of the great dance companies in the world.
American Ballet Theatre, led by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie, is recognized as one of the great dance companies in the world. Few ballet companies equal ABT for its combination of size, scope, and outreach. Recognized as a living national treasure since its founding in 1940, ABT performs for more than 300,000 people each year. The Company has also made more than 30 international tours to 50 countries as perhaps the most representative American ballet company and has been sponsored by the State Department of the United States on many of these engagements.
PROGRAM AFebruary 22, 2018 and February 24, 2018
TudorThe Leaves are Fading, pas de deuxWheeldonThirteen DiversionsRatmanskyNew work
One of choreographer Antony Tudor’s final ballets, The Leaves are Fading was premiered by American Ballet Theatre in 1975. The piece’s simple forest-like scenery and music from Dvorák’s little-known Cypresses for string quartet set the stage for the wistful pas de deux, a contemplation of love, memory, and the passage of time.
Christopher Wheeldon’s Thirteen Diversions, “full of handsome geometries and refreshing contrasts, its energies beautifully focused” (The New York Times), premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House in 2011. The piece is performed to and draws its name from Benjamin Britten’s Diversions for Piano (Left Hand) and Orchestra, playing on the music’s themes as it highlights the incredible grace and physicality of the American Ballet Theatre dancers.
PROGRAM BFebruary 23, 2018 and Febraury 25, 2018
Robbins | Other DancesLang | Her NotesRatmansky | Serenade After Plato’s SymposiumMillepied | New work
A self-proclaimed “visual artist whose medium is dance," choreographer Jessica Lang incorporates striking design elements and transforms classical ballet language to conceive a complete universe.
For Her Notes, Lang finds an intriguing inspiration for her “visual music” in a suite by Fanny Mendelssohn, whose most famous work, Das Jahr (The Year), is a musical diary depicting the months of the year she spent in Rome with her family. At the end of each month, on different colored pieces of paper, she wrote a musical reflection of their experience. Das Jahr is 13 movements, one movement for each month and a final postlude that reflects the end of her year.
