Celebrated choreographer George Balanchine’s ballet Jewels has returned to its New York birthplace!
Balanchine first choreographed this dazzling piece in 1967 for The New York City Ballet, a company that he himself co-founded. The performance piece is credited as the first full-length, abstract ballet.
Jewels consists of three unrelated, yet beautifully linked acts, set to the music of three different composers with distinct choreography styles.
Emeralds
The first act, “Emeralds,” is set to the music of Fauré, and Balanchine considered it to be “an evocation of France – the France of elegance, comfort, dress, perfume.”
Rubies
“Rubies,”the second act, is set to music composed by Stravinsky and is meant to represent the jazz-age fire in our very own New York.
Diamonds
The final act, “Diamonds,” conveys the grandeur of Balanchine’s native Imperial Russia, which is reinforced by Tschaikovsky’s majestic Symphony No. 3.
Each act represents a different era in classical ballet as well as individual periods in Balanchine’s own life. Although Jewels happens to be a “plotless” ballet, it has the ability to evoke a wide range of emotion from its audience. It is romance, exhiliaration, and drama in one glittering production.
Performances will begin on January 22nd, 2014.
For tickets and information please visit: nycballet.com
