美国国家公共电台 NPR 3 Top Ballet Companies Convene For The Golden Anniversary Of 'Jewels'

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

There's a very important meeting tonight in New York City involving Russian, American and French ballet dancers. They have gathered in a bit of cultural diplomacy 1 at Lincoln Center to celebrate the 50th anniversary of George Balanchine's masterpiece "Jewels." It is considered the first full-length non-narrative ballet. Here's Jeff Lunden.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE 2: It's two days before the gala opening, and New York City Ballet's dancers have gathered to rehearse "Rubies 3," the middle movement of "Jewels." They practice under the watchful 4 eye of ballet mistress Rosemary Dunleavy.

ROSEMARY DUNLEAVY: I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Tess (ph). (Unintelligible), right?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yeah.

DUNLEAVY: Just stay downstage a little bit so that you can get in front of her - OK, all right.

LUNDEN: "Jewels" is a three-act ballet each named for a gem 5 and each with a different choreographic style representing different periods in George Balanchine's life. It's been a signature piece for The New York City Ballet since it premiered in 1967. And Megan Fairchild has been dancing one of the leading roles for a decade.

MEGAN FAIRCHILD: You know, I don't think Balanchine will ever feel dated to me and especially something as jazzy as "Rubies" - that you're off-balance. Your hips 6 are out. You're, you know, throwing yourself around in extreme positions. It couldn't get any more modern to me for something like this. And then at the same time, it's still really pure ballet.

(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE OF STRAVINSKY'S "CAPRICCIO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA")

LUNDEN: Pure ballet is the key here. There are no swans or princes or sugar plum fairies, says Lincoln Center Festival's Nigel Redden, who brought the Paris Opera Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet to join the New Yorkers.

NIGEL REDDEN: It is a plotless ballet, the first full-length plotless ballet choreographed 7 by arguably the most important choreographer 8 of the 20th century, certainly one of the great geniuses to be at Lincoln Center.

(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE OF FAURE'S "PELLEAS ET MELISANDE")

LUNDEN: And Redden says there's a reason he brought in dancers from these two countries. The first movement, "Emeralds," features the music of French composer Gabriel Faure and will be performed by the Paris Opera Ballet. Balanchine came of age as a choreographer in 1920s Paris. And Aurelie Dupont, the ballet's director of dance, says you can practically smell the perfume.

AURELIE DUPONT: I think "Emerald" has something very French about the technique, which is the feet. Like the French school, we work a lot about the position and something very precise about the feet and the music. And Balanchine, for "Emerald," put the dancers with long tutus, so we really see the leg. It's of course very romantic.

(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE OF FAURE'S "PELLEAS ET MELISANDE")

LUNDEN: Even though "Rubies," the second movement, has music by Igor Stravinsky, ballerina Megan Fairchild says it feels very American, very Broadway, which is where the Russian-born Balanchine did much of his work when he first came to America in the 1930s.

(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE OF STRAVINSKY'S "CAPRICCIO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA")

FAIRCHILD: There's no classical mold to fit into. We're not wearing tutus. I have this little skirt of jewels on, just teeny, teeny, little miniskirt of jewels hanging down. And they kind of clink together as I'm dancing. Like, I don't even know if the audience can hear, but it's got, like, a fun kind of party air to it.

(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE OF STRAVINSKY'S "CAPRICCIO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA")

LUNDEN: The final movement harkens back to where Balanchine grew up, says Lincoln Center's Nigel Redden.

REDDEN: "Diamonds" is a dance to Tchaikovsky, who always conjures 9 up a sense of Russia and a sense of the grandeur 10 of the Imperial Court.

(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE OF TCHAIKOVSKY'S "SYMPHONY NO. 3 IN D MAJOR")

REDDEN: And that particular dance has the most dancers in it, has the largest corps 11 and has a kind of grandeur to it, which I think is very splendid.

LUNDEN: The Bolshoi and New York City ballets will alternate performing "Diamonds" and "Rubies." Peter Martins runs the city ballet and danced in "Jewels" for Balanchine. He told an audience at a recent symposium 12 that Balanchine didn't think much of, quote, unquote, "interpretation 13."

PETER MARTINS: He would say, don't act. Just dance. It's all in the choreography. You don't have to add artistry. I provide.

LUNDEN: Still, Makhar Vaziev, the Bolshoi's ballet director, says he's very excited to see how all three companies actually do interpret the choreography.

MAKHAR VAZIEV: The most important for me is Mr. B - Balanchine. He was genius, and that's why we're here.

LUNDEN: And audiences in New York can experience that genius when "Jewels" is performed by all three dance companies at Lincoln Center through the weekend.

(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE OF TCHAIKOVSKY'S "SYMPHONY NO. 3 IN D MAJOR")

LUNDEN: For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF COLUMBIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE OF STRAVINSKY'S "CAPRICCIO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA")