Masters at Work: Balanchine & Robbins

Why You Should Watch Masters at Work: Balanchine & Robbins

Although Balanchine and Robbins had fundamentally different approaches to ballet, their genius was unmatched. While George Balanchine revolutionised classical ballet by fusing it with movement patterns from various other schools, Jerome Robbins spread his influence across various mediums of art including theatre, ballet, and film. Robbins won five Tony Awards and Two Academy Awards for his outstanding contributions as a director. Balanchine too won several accolades including a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Masters at Work pays homage to some of their greatest works with three separate shows. On 7 May, the celebrated Jamar Roberts’ choreography will be presented as the first act instead of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Pieces. The second show, Sylvia: Pas de Deux will feature the accomplished Maria Tallchief and Nicholas Magallanes. The Four Temperaments is an intense and thoroughly thought-provoking ballet that explores the Greek idea of psychology and human physiology.

The Show

The show opens with Piano Pieces, fifteen of Tschaikovsky’s most memorable piano compositions including Le Petit Cavalier, op. 39, no. 3, November – Troika, op. 37, no. 11, and Natha Waltz, op. 51, no. 4 amongst others. It is fascinating to watch Robbins’ choreography come to life, as it projects a range of emotional atmospheres with only solo piano compositions to back it. There is a bright tinge of folk music and folk dance routines that permeates the performance, making it all the more enjoyable. Tschaikovsky specifically composed these pieces for a general audience, keeping it free of complicated melodic sequences. The miniature music vignettes fit snugly into the 38-minute performance.

This is followed by a dance duet titled Sylvia: Pas de Deux. This piece is choreographed by George Balanchine with music by Leo Delibes. It sticks to the traditional duet ballet format with entrée, two solos, adagio, and a coda. The dreamy costumes coupled with Delibes’ atmospheric music make this the perfect centre-piece of Masters at Work: Balanchine & Robbins. The show concludes with a 32-minute long ballet that delves into the ancient theory of four humours. It was believed that every human being is composed of four temperaments (humours) that resulted in four fundamental psychological types: sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic, and choleric. The ballet explores this idea in a cryptic and intriguing manner.

Good For

Fans of George Balanchine | Fans of Tchaikovsky | Lovers of Ballet