Balanchine’s Serenade in Sacramento
Serenade is one of my favorite ballets. It was the first ballet Balanchine choreographed in the US – in 1934, ninety years ago, although it’s timeless – and one of his very greatest as well as one of the greatest ballets, period. Balanchine incorporaed serendipitous events into its structure: for example, one time a dancer was late to rehearsal and he used that in the ballet, when one dancer makes a late entrance and then finds her way into the pattern. Another dancer falls, as happened one day in rehearsal. Different numbers of dancers showed up on different days, and so he varied the number of dancers in different sections of the piece. He didn’t have too many male dancers, so he didn’t use very many.
The end result was a sublime creation.
And yet – like many ballets, but even more than some – Serenade is very difficult to photograph. For this post I watched many YouTube renditions, and none convey the beauty of this ballet in person. The following performance by the Sacramento Ballet is, strangely enough, the best-photographed one I’ve found; even though the company, while very very good, is not considered one of the very best companies in the US. But other video versions tend to cut back and forth between distant views and closeups in a really stupid way; this one does it in a smart way. However, there’s always a built-in conflict between wanting to get the entire pattern onto the screen, and wanting to be able to see more clearly what’s happening in terms of clarity of movement and individuals. Plus, all videos are two dimensions and therefore lack that exciting 3-D element of reality.
I think it’s still very much worth watching. The opening sequence is especially wonderful in this ballet but tends to photograph especially poorly, so after this video I’ll offer another video that shows the opening movements in more closeup:
Here are those opening moments again, from a different company (Pacific Northwest Ballet). Such beautiful Tchaikovsky music, too, although purists will notice that the order of the movements is different than in the original piece “Serenade for Strings“:
[NOTE: I’ve seen the Sacramento Ballet in person, and I recommend going if you’re anywhere nearby.]
My lady friend’s daughter was a professional (employed) prima ballerina until her big toes gave out at age 40. Swan Lake every Christmas for 25 years!
I do not approve of making young girls (or boys) ballet dancers. It is a dreadful process of torture for them as they age.
I can handle and admire modern dance quite well, thank you.
Cicero:
Most ballet dancers do it through love of the art and not because someone – parent or others – forced the dancer into anything. Nor do they consider it torture, and if they do perceive it that way they nearly always quit.
And most ballet dancers end up fine physically, although injuries are fairly common, as they are in virtually all sports played at a high level, and as they also are in modern dance, or in a different physical art such as playing a string instrument, which can lead to repetitive motion injuries.
Here’s a link to some data on modern dance injuries. You’ll see they’re very common, as they are in most endeavors that require extreme physical training and achievement.
This is the first Balanchine I’ve watched. Though I know neo has (Use the Search Function) covered him before.
I’m a newbie at ballet, but this sure doesn’t look like the versions of “Swan Lake” I’ve seen before. Balanchine is doing something between ballet and modern dance and striking a sweet spot.
Quite a find.
I’ve been curious about Balanchine since I read an interview (forgotten) in which Edward Gorey, that sui generis writer and artist with the Addams Family touch, mentioned that he was a huge fan of Balanchine.
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Edward Gorey Lived at the Ballet
On the evening of April 23, 1964, the New York City Ballet opened the doors to its new home, the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, with a gala performance of George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante and Stars and Stripes. It was, for all practical purposes, Edward Gorey’s new home, too, five months out of the year.
As in all the rituals that governed his life, Gorey was compulsive in his devotion to routine, arriving for eight o’clock performances at seven thirty, when the doors opened. Yet he sometimes spent long stretches in the lobby if he didn’t like one of the evening’s offerings. Gorey “had to be there on time, partly (he would say) because maybe they would change the order of the program, but I think it was just his compulsion—he had to be there,” says Peter Wolff, a ballet friend of Gorey’s who now sits on the board of the George Balanchine Foundation. “It was all part of his insane routine.”
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/11/01/edward-gorey-lived-at-the-ballet/
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Turns out Gorey was also a Harvard roommate of one of my favorite poets, Frank O’Hara.
Granddaughter was initially interested in ballet. Was a Sugar Plumb two years for Nut Cracker. Stopped on her own because her interest shifted to being the Kewpie Doll and tiny girl atop the cheer leading pyramid. Not exactly a trade up on the safety scale. So much, her dad couldn’t bear to watch as they flung her 20+ feet up to catch her.
Things happen, like the time in class when I was doing lifts from behind; one, two, the girl should have waited ’till three, bam, I woke up on the floor surrounded by thirty or so ballerinas. I too traded interests, in my case to MA. Again not a trade up.
Life is full of hurts. You build your salad with them.
Oh, yeah, thanks once more, neo.
Oligonicella:
So your granddaughter is a “flyer”? (I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s called.) Argghh!! Good luck; hope she stays safe.
huxley:
How interesting. I had no idea Gorey was such a devoted NYCB fan.
I have been aware, though, of a cadre of people who attended just about every night and knew almost everything about the company and the dancers.
As for Balanchine: a genius. I absolutely love some of his stuff, like Serenade. A lot of it leaves me pretty cold, though. For me, although I acknowledge he’s a genius, it’s a mixed bag.
I have been aware, though, of a cadre of people who attended just about every night and knew almost everything about the company and the dancers.
neo:
Isn’t that a beautiful thing!
@neo:
Yep. I guess she inherited some of my danger junkie genes. Not sure how as those are usually on the Y. 🙂
Interesting as it was her mother that grew up in the stunt group. Helluva scrapper but had no interest at all in the MA/stunt/weapons work. Scrapping served her well with one boyfriend though.
Fosse strikes me the same way. I hate a great deal of his stuff but every once in a while, kazang.
Cicero:
I played football and I considered practice a form of torture. Especially two-a-day practices in August. I had my share of injuries, too. It is no exaggeration to say I played injured throughout the season. But I don’t regret it. It was all very character-building, and fun.
Broke my finger playing center field baseball–middle school girl’s gym class–six weeks in a cast. I have also been dragged by a horse quite a distance. Thrown over jumps and bitten several times. Would do it all again if I could!
**Well, maybe not all of it!