American Ballet Theatre

 

one of the foremost international dance companies of the 20th cent. It was founded in 1937 as the Mordkin Ballet and reorganized as the Ballet Theatre in 1940 under the direction of Lucia Chase and Rich Pleasant. It became the American Ballet Theatre in 1956. Its repertoire has included newly staged classical ballets and innovative modern dance works, many concerned with specifically American themes. Most of the company's seasons have been presented in New York City, but it has also toured throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. In 1960 it was the first U.S. ballet company to dance in the Soviet Union.

George Balanchine, Adolph Bolm, Michel Fokine, Léonide Massine, and Bronislava Nijinska staged works for the company, as did the British choreographer Antony Tudor, who was introduced to the American public with such works as Pillar of Fire (1942) and Romeo and Juliet (1943). Agnes de Mille staged nearly all of her dance works for the company, including Fall River Legend (1948) and The Harvest According (1952). Jerome Robbins's Fancy Free (1944) and Michael Kidd's On Stage (1945) were created for the company, as were Alvin Ailey's The River (1970) and Twyla Tharp's Push Comes to Shove (1976). Dancers who gained fame or reached their peak with the American Ballet Theatre include Alicia Alonso, Alicia Markova, Erik Bruhn, Nora Kaye, and Natalia Makarova. Mikhail Baryshnikov was artistic director of the company from 1980 to 1989 and was followed in that position by Jane Hermann (1989–92) and Kevin McKenzie (1992–).

Bibliography

See study by C. Payne (1978).

The American Ballet Theatre, based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century, and a leading dance company in the world today.

There are four levels within the company (in rising order): A Studio Company, a Corps de Ballet, the Soloists, and the Principals.

History

The company was originally founded in 1937 as the Mordkin Ballet, and then reorganized in 1940 with a new name as the Ballet Theatre, with direction from Lucia Chase and Rich Pleasant. In 1956 it became the American Ballet Theatre, and has kept that name ever since. The Metropolitan Opera House in New York is now home to the American Ballet Theatre.

ABT has had several artistic directors:

• 1940–1980: Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith
• 1980–1990: Mikhail Baryshnikov
• 1990–1992: Jane Hermann and Oliver Smith
• 1992–       : Kevin McKenzie

In 1960, the company became the first American company to dance in the Soviet Union.

Principal dancers have included Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gelsey Kirkland, Alicia Alonso, Erik Bruhn, Anton Dolin, Leslie Browne and Natalia Makarova.[1]

ABT Currently

Principal dancers today are Maxim Beloserkovsky, Angel Corella, Jose Manuel Carreno, Irina Dvorovenko, Nina Ananiashvili, Diana Vishneva, Alessandra Ferri, David Hallberg, Michelle Wiles, Julie Kent, Marcelo Gomes, Herman Cornejo, Vladimir Malakhov, Gillian Murphy, Xiomara Reyes, Ethan Stiefel, and Paloma Herrera.

Special repertoire

Many choreographers have staged works especially for ABT, including George Balanchine, Adolph Bolm, Michel Fokine, Léonide Massine, and Bronislava Nijinska. The great British choreographer Antony Tudor, made his American debut with ABT, and the legendary Agnes de Mille staged the majority of her ballet works with them. Other past choreographers include Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, and Alvin Ailey.

ABT's 1976 production of The Nutcracker starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland was televised the following year and has become a broadcast classic.

Their main season is held during eights weeks in the spring at New York City's Metropolitan Opera House. The current (2007) Spring Season includes Manon, The Dream, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet. Their 2006 fall season at New Yorks's City Center Theatre included Fancy Free, Clear, Meadow, Rodeo, Afternoon of a Faun, In the Upper Room, The Green Table, Sinatra Suite, Symphonie Concertante, Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes, Dark Elegies, Glow-Stop, and various pas de deux from the classical ballet repertoire.

Today, ABT encourages the growth of dance and choreography by holding a summer intensive care session every summer for young people across the country. Its Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School teaches the style and techniques specifically used by ABT.

Ballets performed

Below is a list of works which have been performed by American Ballet Theatre. Not all of the works are currently in the company's repertory.

Listed alphabetically

Adagio for Strings, Afternoon of a Faun (Robbins), Afternoon of a Faun (Nijinsky), Airs, Aleko, Amazed in Burning Dreams, Americans We, Amnon V'Tamar, L'Amour et son Amour, Anastasia, Angrismene, Annabel Lee, Apollo, Appalachian Spring, Artemis, At Midnight Awakening

Bach Partita, Le Baiser de la Fee, Le Bal, Balladen der Liebe, Ballet Imperial, Barn Dance, Baroque Game, La Bayadère, Beatrice, The Beloved, Billy the Kid, Birthday Offering, Bitter Rainbow, Black Ritual (Obeah), Black Tuesday, Blood Wedding, Bluebeard, Bolero (solo), Bolero, Bourree Fantasque, Brahms Quintet, A Brahms Symphony, The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Brief Fling, Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, The Bull Dancers, Bum's Rush

The Capital of the World, Capriccio Espagnol, Capriccioso, Caprichos, The Careless Burghers, Carmen (A. Alonso), Carmen (Roland Petit), Carnaval, The Catherine Wheel, Cinderella, Cinderella (Kudelka), Circo de Espana, Clair de Lune, Clear, The Combat Concerto (Dollar/Chopin), Concerto (Dollar/Mendelssohn), Concerto (MacMillan), Concerto (Ross), Concerto no. 1 for Piano and Orchestra, Concerto Six Twenty-Two (Duet), Concert Waltzes, Configurations, Conflict, Continuum, Conterdances, Coppelia, Corbaille de Fleurs, Le Corsaire (full length), Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, Cruel World

Dancing with Monet, Danses Concertante, Catie Stillwell, Danza del Molinero, Dark Elegies, Death and the Maiden, Les Demoiselles de la Nuit, Designs with Strings, Desir (pas de deux), Dialogues Diana and Acteon, Dim Lustre, Disposition, Diversion of Angels, Divertimento-Rossini Divertissement D'Auber, Don Domingo de Don Blas, Donizetti Variations, Don Quixote (ballet), Don Quixote (Grand pas de deux), Don't Panic! , Dorian, The Dream, Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Duets

Eccentrique, Echoing of Trumpets, Eden (pas de deux), Electra, Elegy, The Elements, The Enchanted, The Encounter, Enough Said, Ensayo Sinfonica, Epilogue, Esmeralda (pas de deux - after Perrot), Esmeralda (pas de deux - Stevenson), [[La Esmeralda (Beriosoff), Espana, Estuary, The Eternal Idol, Etudes, Everlast

Facsimile, Fair at Sorochinsk, Fall River Legend, Fancy Free, Fandango, Fantaisie Serieuse, The Fantastic Toyshop, Festa, Fest Polonaise, Field Chair and Mountain, La Fille Mal Gardee, Firebird, Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan, Five Sketches, Flames of Paris, Flower Festival in Genzano, Follow the Feet, The Four Marys, Francesca da Rimini, The Fugue

Gaite Parisienne, Gala Performance, The Garden of Villandry, Gartenfest, Gayaneh (pas de deux), Gemini, Getting Closer, Gift of the Magi, Giselle, Glinka Pas de Trois, Glow - Stop, Gong , Goya Pastoral, Goyescas, Graduation Ball, Grand Pas Classique, Le Grand Pas de Deux, Grand Pas Glazunov, Grand Pas Romantique, Le Grand Spectacle, Grand Tarantella, Grass, Graziana, The Great American Goof, Great Galloping Gottschalk, The Green Table, The Guards of Amager

Hamlet Connotations, Harbinger, Harlequinade (pas de deux - Balanchine), Harlequinade (Pas de deux - Stevenson), The Harvest According, Harvest Time, Helen of Troy, Hereafter, Las Hermanas, Hommage a Lucia, How Near Heaven, The Howling Cat, Huapango

In a Country Garden, In Volo, L'Inconnue, The Informer, Interludes, Intermezzo, Interplay, In The Upper Room, Italian Suite (four dances)

Jabula, Jack And Jill (Pas de deux), Jardin Anime (from Le Corsaire, Act II), Jardin aux Lilas, Jeu D’Esprit (Pièce d’Occasion), Le Jeune Homme et la Mort, Jeux, Jeux des Cartes, Journey, Jubilee, Judgment of Paris, Jump Start

Kaleidoscope, Known by Heart, Kontraste

Lady From the Sea, Lady into Fox, The Leaf and the Wind, The Leaves Are Fading, Legende (pas de deux), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Lilting Fate, The Little Ballet, Little Improvisations, The Love Song

Mademoiselle Angot, The Maids, Manon, Marimba, Meadow, Mechanical Ballet, Medea (pas de deux), The Meeting, Mendelssohn Symphony, The Merry Widow, Minkus Pas de Trois, The Miraculous Mandarin, The Mirror, Miss Julie, The Mollino Room, Momentum, Monument for a Dead Boy, Moondance, Moonlight Sonata, Moon Reindeer, The Moor's Pavane, La Muerte Enamorada, Murder, My Funny Valentine

Napoli Divertissements, N.Y. Export: Op. Jazz, Night Journey, Nimbus, Nine Sinatra Songs, Les Noces, The Nutcracker (Baryshnikov), The Nutcracker (McKenzie)

Odalisque, Ode to Glory, Offenbach in the Underworld, Once More Frank, On Stage!, Onegin, Ontogeny, Othello, The Other, Other Dances, Ovid Metamorphoses

Paean, Paquita, Paquita (pas de deux), The Parliament of the Birds, Pas de Deux, Pas de Deux Holberg, Pas de Deux Imperiale (from Anastasia, Act II), Pas de "Duke", Pas de Quatre, Pas d'Esclave (from Le Corsaire), Pas des Deesses, Pas de Trois, Pas et Lignes, Le Passage Enchante, Les Patineurs, Pavane, La Peri (pas de deux), Petite Mort, Peter and the Wolf (Bolm), Peter and the Wolf (Smuin), Petrouchka, Pièce d’Occasion, The Pied Piper, Pierrot Lunaire, Pillar of Fire, Pleroma, Points of Jazz, Polovtsian Dances, Polyandrion, Prevailing Westerlies, Princess Aurora (excerpt from The Sleeping Beauty), The Prodigal Son, A Promise, Pulcinella Variations, Push Comes to Shove

Quartet, Quintet

Raymonda, Raymonda (Act III), Raymonda (Divertissments), Raymonda (Divertissements from Act II & Act III), Raymonda (Grand Pas Classique), The Red Shoes, Remanso, Les Rendezvous, Rendezvous(Pas de deux - Hoff), Rendezvous (pas de deux - Nijinska), Requiem, Le Retour, Reverie, Rib of Eve, Ricercare (pas de deux), Rigaudon, The Rite of Spring, The River, Rodeo, Romantic Age, Romeo and Juliet (MacMillan), Romeo and Juliet (Tudor), Romeo and Juliet (pas de deux - Bruhn), Romeo and Juliet (pas de deux - Nureyev), Romeo and Juliet (Pas de deux - Tchernichov), A Rose for Miss Emily, Russian Soldier

Le Sacre du Printemps, (The Rite of Spring), Sargasso, Scherzo for Massah Jack, Schubertiade, Schuman Concerto, Sea-Change, Sebastian, Sechs Tänze, Sentient Bach, Serious Pleasures, Seven Faces of Love, Seven Spanish Songs, Shadow of the Wind, Shadowplay, Side Show, Sin and Tonic, Sinatra Suite, Sinfonietta, "...smile with my heart" Slavonika, The Sleeping Beauty, The Snow Maiden, Soiree Musicale, A Soldiers Tale, Solitaire (pas de deux), Solo, Some Assembly Required, Something Special, Some Times, La Sonnambula, Spartacus (pas de deux, Act III), S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A., Le Spectre de la Rose, Sphinx, The Sphinx, Spring and Fall, Spring Waters, States of Grace, Stepping Stones, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, A Streetcar Named Desire, Streetcar Royalty, Summer Day (pas de deux), Sunset, Swan Lake, Swan Lake (McKenzie), La Sylphide, Les Sylphides, Sylvia, Sylvia (pas de deux), Symphonic Variations, Symphonie Concertante, Symphony in C

Tales of Hoffmann, Tally Ho- or the Frail Quarry, The Taming (pas de deux), The Taming of the Shrew, Tarantella (Pas de deux), Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Texas Fourth, Theatre, Theme and Variations, The Thief Who Loved a Ghost, This Property is Condemned, Three-Cornered Hat, Three Essays, Three Preludes, Three Virgins and a Devil, The Tiller in the Fields, Till Eulenspiegel, Times Past, Top Hat and Tails, Torso, The Traitor, Transcendental Etudes, Triad, Trio a Deux, Triptych, Tristan (pas de deux), Tropical Pas de Deux, Turnstile

Undertow, Unfinished Symphony, Us (pas de deux)

Variations on 'America', Variations for Four, La Ventana, Vestris, Venetian Carnival, Voices of Spring, Voluntaries

Walk This Way, Waltz Academy, The Wanderer (Errante), Way Out, Weren't We Fools?, The Wild Boy, The Wind in the Mountains, Winter's Eve, Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison, Without Words, The Wooden Prince (solo), Workout, workwithinwork

External links

• Official website
• American Ballet Theatre entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica

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