On the heels of a record-setting Nutcracker season and the first-ever Company tour to The National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada, Boston Ballet is in full preparation for the 2010 spring season. The spring line-up, featuring a Company premiere of George Balanchine’s Coppélia, Ultimate Balanchine, and Jiří Kylián’s acclaimed Black and White continues Boston Ballet’s first season in its new performance home, The Boston Opera House.
“Our spring season brings the best of so many facets of dance to one stage,” said Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen. “Boston Ballet continues its tradition of presenting the world’s most exciting classic and new works. We begin with Coppélia, making Boston Ballet the first American company outside of New York City Ballet to present the work. Boston Ballet is ready to shine in Balanchine’s most demanding works in the Ultimate Balanchine program, and we finish with Kylián’s explosive Black and White. It’s a great challenge, and a dream, to present our audiences with this rich season featuring the classical, neo-classical and contemporary styles of ballet. If you think you know dance – this series of exceptional performances will get you thinking again.”
Preparations for the Company premiere of George Balanchine’s seldom-performed Coppélia are underway. Judith Fugate, who will stage Coppélia on behalf of The Balanchine Trust, begins rehearsals with the Company this week. The Boston Ballet Costume Shop and production department will re-create costumes and sets for the production. Simplistic in beauty and light-hearted in comedy, Coppélia is based upon the book by Charles Nuitter, after “Der Sandmann” by E.T.A. Hoffman. This charming and sentimental tale revolves around the life-size dancing doll created by Doctor Coppélius who becomes the source of love troubles for a village couple. The ballet, first choreographed by Arthur St. Léon, was restaged by Marius Petipa and again by Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti. Balanchine maintained elements from these versions in Acts I and II, but created entirely new choreography for Act III, which features more than 30 children from Boston Ballet School. Léo Delibes score, called by The New York Times, “a classic of melody, orchestration, rhythm, and storytelling,” is at once lively and accessible.
Boston Ballet follows Coppélia with Ultimate Balanchine, featuring The Four Temperaments, Apollo and Theme and Variations. The Four Temperaments, choreographed in 1946, is a ballet divided into themes: Melancholic, Sanguinic, Phlegmatic and Choleric. The Four Temperaments features Balanchine’s signature invention, a fusion of traditional and contemporary movement, which would become a new language in dance. In summer 2007, Boston Ballet toured The Four Temperaments before international audiences in Spain receiving critical acclaim. Apollo, originally choreographed in 1928 for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, marked the beginning of a lasting and significant relationship between Balanchine and Stravinsky. The work, one Balanchine regarded as milestone in his career, centers around the young god of music who is visited by three muses. Theme and Variations, set to Tchaikovsky, received its premiere in 1947. A spectacular, glittering work, Theme and Variations evokes the purity and beauty of the classics. Boston Ballet continues to develop and expand its Balanchine repertoire and was hailed by The New York Times for its 2009 production of Jewels.
The season comes to a triumphant close with Jiří Kylián’s Black and White program. The five-ballet program, premiered in February 2009, provided audiences with a view into Kylián’s unique and honest vision of movement and humanity. Black and White includes a dynamic range of works which create a powerful dialogue between the audience and performance. No More Play, a study in contrasts, is both somber and light, engaging and introspective. Petite Mort, a visual stunner, incorporates artistic swordplay set to Mozart. Sarabande, a powerful work for ten men, and Falling Angels, a mesmerizing, patterned dance for women balance each other. Sechs Tänze, a light, madcap romp concludes the evening with energy and Kylián’s unique wit. Black and White made company history by exceeding sales goals a day before opening and making Boston Ballet the first company outside the Nederlands Dans Theater to perform the program. The Phoenix raved, saying “the energy was palpable everywhere. The Wang was full and the curtain calls were enthusiastic. So much for the notion that Boston is interested only in classical story ballets.”
Kylián, the world’s foremost contemporary choreographer, was born in Prague, Czech Republic. He trained at the Prague Conservatory and at the Royal Ballet School, London. He began his choreographic career with Stuttgart Ballet before moving to the Nederlans Dans Theatre (NDT), where he became director in 1978. Through the years, Kylián has moved away from lyrical works to abstract and often surrealistic ballets. In 1995, Kylián celebrated 20 years with NDT when he received one of the Netherlands’ highest honors, becoming Officer in de Orde van Oranje Nassau. Kylián is currently resident choreographer and artistic advisor of NDT and artistic advisor of the Saitama Arts Foundation in Japan.
Boston Ballet 2010 Season at a Glance
Coppélia – BOSTON BALLET PREMIERE
April 8-18, 2009
Music: Léo Delibes
Choreography: George Balanchine
Explore The Making of Coppélia:
www.bostonballet.org/making-of-coppelia.html
Ultimate Balanchine
May 6-16, 2009
The Four Temperaments
Music: Paul Hindemith
Choreography: George Balanchine
Apollo
Music: Igor Stravinsky
Choreography: George Balanchine
Theme and Variations
Music: Peter Ilych Tchiakovsky
Choreography: George Balanchine
View footage from Ultimate Balanchine:
www.bostonballet.org/explorebb/videos/ultimate-balanchine.html
Black and White
May 20-30, 2010
Petite Mort
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Choreography: Jiří Kylián
No More Play
Music: Anton Webern
Choreography: Jiří Kylián
Sarabande
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach
Choreography: Jiří Kylián
Falling Angels
Music: Steve Reich
Choreography: Jiří Kylián
Sechs Tänze
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Choreography: Jiří Kylián
View footage from Black and White:
www.bostonballet.org/explorebb/videos/black-and-white.html
2009-2010 Season Tickets
Spring season tickets are on sale now. All 2009-2010 tickets may be purchased through Boston Ballet by phone at 617.695.6955 or in person at the box office at 19 Clarendon Street, Boston, Mon–Fri, 9am-5pm, Sat, 11am-6pm (Sat hours Sept–May only), and performance days only on Sun, 11am – 4pm (or 6pm for Nutcracker) . Subscriptions and all tickets will be available for sales online 24 hours a day at www.bostonballet.org. Prices for season ballets start at $25. Discounted group tickets (10 or more for season ballets) are available by calling Boston Ballet’s Group Sales at 617.456.6343. Contact the Boston Ballet Box Office at 617.695.6955 or visit www.bostonballet.org for details. 3-ballet subscriptions starting at $90 still available for the spring 2010 season!
Since 1963, Boston Ballet has been one of the leading dance companies in the world on stage, in the studio and in the community. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen and Executive Director Barry Hughson, the Company maintains an internationally acclaimed repertoire and the largest ballet school in North America, Boston Ballet School.
Boston Ballet maintains a repertoire of classical, neo-classical and contemporary works, ranging from full-length story ballets to new works by some of today's finest choreographers. Boston Ballet's second company, Boston Ballet II, is comprised of pre-professional dancers who gain experience by performing with the Company and independently, presenting lecture-demonstrations and special programs to audiences throughout the Northeast.
Boston Ballet School, the official school of Boston Ballet, has a long-standing dedication to excellence and access and reaches more than 10,000 students ages 2-adult each year through Boston Ballet School classes, Summer Dance Workshop, Summer Dance Program, Citydance, Taking Steps, and Adaptive Dance. The wide array of dance programs are held at four studio locations in Boston, Newton, Norwell and Marblehead, as well as community centers and in Boston Public Schools.
Boston Ballet gratefully acknowledges the following institutional partners:
State Street Corporation, 2009 Presenting Sponsor, The Nutcracker
Jane’s Trust
Massachusetts Cultural Council
National Endowment for the Arts
Boston Organ & Piano, Official Piano Supplier of Boston Ballet
