World-class review of ballet and dance.
The School of American Ballet is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. So is George Balanchine’s iconic “Serenade”—the first piece he made in America in 1934, choreographed on students from his brand-new academy. Fittingly, SAB’s annual workshop performances led off with Suki Schorer’s clear and energetic staging of the ballet. An excerpt of Balanchine speaking about how “Serenade” came to be (from the 1977 edition of Balanchine’s Complete Stories of the Great Ballets) was included in the program notes: “As part of the school curriculum, I started an evening ballet class in stage technique, to give students some idea of how dancing on stage differs from classwork. ‘Serenade’ evolved from the lessons I gave.” Balanchine makes an interesting distinction here. SAB no longer has a class in stage technique, but since 1965 the school has held yearly workshop performances to supply that crucial lesson. It is fascinating to witness these apt young pupils encountering rich adult repertory every year. This year’s crop of precocious children and teenagers tackled four difficult ballets: “Serenade” and the third movement of “Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #2” by Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon’s “Scènes de Ballet,” and, for one night only, Lauren Lovette’s “Tendu.” Some of the roles in these ballets are among the puffier in the NYCB rep (like the tall corps of “PC#2” and the Russian girls in “Serenade”), so the kids were definitely in great shape. From the two performances I caught, it was clear that the youngsters were honing their artistic personae as well.
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