29 June 1964
Boston Ballet made its first professional engagement on Monday, June 29, 1964 taking part in the Boston Arts Festival in the Boston Public Garden. The eight week festival included dance, drama, and poetry on the festival's lagoon-sited stage and featured American and European repertory companies. The Boston Ballet presented La Fille Mal Gardee, with choreography after Jean Dauberval, E. Virginia Williams' Sea Alliance, John Taras' Design with Strings, and George Balanchine's Donizetti Variations, Concerto Barocco, and the Pas de Deux from Stars and Stripes. The June 29th performance was the first time Boston Ballet presented La Fille Mal Gardee, a ballet which "enjoys the distinction of being the oldest ballet in current repertoires."
Boston Arts Festival Gala Dinner, 1964
Pictured: Rosemary Dunleavy, Robert Rodham, Rosanne Caruso, Nicolyn Emanuel, Earle Sieveling, and Sara Leland
Unsigned photograph
Boston Ballet Archives