Portraits of a Lady
Martha Graham is the Georgia O’Keefe of dance. No matter what the source material, the primary subject of her works is womanhood.
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To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the School of American Ballet, advanced students performed Balanchine’s “Serenade” (also 90 this year) on a special, one-off New York City Ballet program. Though “Serenade” is one of the NYCB’s signature works, it was choreographed on SAB students in 1934, fourteen years prior to the formation of the company. SAB has always been a pipeline to City Ballet, including this season: Gianna Reisen’s “Signs”—originally made for the 2022 SAB Workshop—will make its company premiere at the Fall Fashion Gala later this month. Jonathan Stafford, the artistic director of both the company and the school, stressed the interdependence of the institutions in a pre-curtain speech. He noted that only three dancers on the current company roster of 98 were not trained at SAB. (And five of the eight “Serenade” principals are already NYCB apprentices.) Although the school has performed part of the first movement of “Serenade” on a NYCB bill a handful of times over the years, this was the first time that students performed the ballet in its entirety. As always, “Serenade” was impeccably staged for SAB by Suki Schorer.
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Martha Graham is the Georgia O’Keefe of dance. No matter what the source material, the primary subject of her works is womanhood.
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