Reisen, Balanchine & Robbins
Old meets new in a bracing program of celebrated repertory favorites and bold new pieces, coming to the New York City Ballet in the Spring of 2019. The company's powerhouse performers kick things off with 'Composer's Holiday', a marriage of fleet footwork and music by the NYCB's youngest ever commissioned choreographer Gianna Reisen. First debuting when Reisen was just 18, the work is set to Lukas Foss's 'Three American Pieces' for violin and piano and elevates the male-female duet with a daring sense of theatricality and suspense.
Next is Balanchine's 'Kammermusik No. 2' and 'Symphony in C', both rousing works that require the iconic balletmaster's energy, speed and precision. The program comes to a close with Jerome Robbins' 'Opus 19/The Dreamer', a wistful yet powerfully kinetic ballet in three acts that capitalises on Prokofiev's fever-dream-like violin score score. Filled with mystery and momentum, its story follows a male lead dancer, 'the dreamer' through a fitful and feverish night of sleep. His interactive movements with an otherworldly counterpart become an emotional and physical marathon that leaves the audience in the half-remembered state between sleep and waking.
