''Piano Pieces'' is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The ballet was made for New York City Ballet's Tchaikovsky Festival, and premiered on June 11, 1981, at the

New York State Theater The David H. Koch Theater is a theater for ballet, modern and other forms of dance, part of the Lincoln Center, at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Originally ...

Choreography

''Piano Pieces'' is danced by seven principal dancers and a corps de ballet of six couples, all dressed in Russian style costumes. The ballet starts with pieces for the ensemble, followed by solos and pas de deux performed by the principal dancers. The full cast returns for the finale, with a male dancer leading the dancers. Author

Amanda Vaill Amanda Vaill is an American writer and editor, noted for her non-fiction. She lives in New York City. A graduate of Harvard University, she worked in publishing before becoming a writer full-time in 1992. In the 1970s Vaill was an editor at Viki ...

described it as "a dance about the joy of dancing." Deborah Jowitt described that "it's the patterns and choreographic ideas that create a sense of a village, not just the device of people watching others dance." Critic

Jennifer Dunning Jennifer Dunning (born February 4, 1942) is a writer and critic for ''The New York Times'' on the subjects of dance and ballet. She is the author of the 1985 ''But First a School: The First Fifty Years of the School of American Ballet'', the 1996 ...

wrote that it "contains some of Robbins's favorite themes, among them playful Russian folk-dance moves, goofy sequences of jumps and a hint or two of competition."

Production

''Piano Pieces'' was created for the New York City Ballet's Tchaikovsky Festival. The festival was conceived by

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

. Robbins, however, was not interested in choreographing to Tchaikovsky's works. He nevertheless choreographed three ballets for the festival. He later recalled, "Two months before the Tchaikovsky festival, I thought, I don't like Tchaikovsky... Why should I do Tchaikovsky? Because Mr. Balanchine wants me to do Tchaikovsky? But you don't necessarily have to enjoy doing something for it to be good." ''Piano Pieces'' uses various piano pieces, including excerpts from '' The Seasons''. Robbins originally planned the ballet to be about a group of dancers rehearsing a fictitious ballet. However, once rehearsals began, he abandoned this idea, and changed the theme to be about the joy of dancing." While the dancers had many rehearsals, he enjoyed the experience more than he expected. Stacy Caddell, who had a small role in the ballet, recalled, "When we did ''Piano Pieces'', it was hard, because Jerry would come in with Version A, B, C, D, E, F, G, up to J—like cut-and-paste." ''Piano Pieces'' is also the first ballet Robbins made on

Maria Calegari Maria Calegari (born March 30, 1957) is an American ballet dancer, teacher and répétiteur. She joined the New York City Ballet in 1974 and became a principal dancer in 1983. She left the company in 1994, then occasionally performed until 2004. ...

. The costumes were designed by Ben Benson. The lighting was designed by Ronald Bates.

Music

Source:

Original cast

The principal dancers in the original cast included: *

* Kyra Nichols *

Heather Watts Heather Watts (born Linda Heather Watts; September 27, 1953) is a ballet dancer, most known for her time with the New York City Ballet. Biography Born in Long Beach, California, her dream as a little girl was to be an actress. An acting coa ...

Ib Andersen Ib Andersen (born 14 December 1954) is a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, and painter. Biography Early days Born in Copenhagen, Andersen was first exposed to dance through ballroom dancing. At age 7, he was accepted into the Royal Dani ...

Bart Cook This is a list of New York City Ballet dancers. Principal dancers Soloists This is a list of New York City Ballet soloists. Corps de ballet The following is a list of the current members of the corps de ballet. * Victor Abreu * Devin Albe ...

*Daniel Duell *

Joseph Duell Joseph Duell (April 30, 1956 – February 16, 1986) was an American dancer and choreographer for the New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln K ...

Performances

''Piano Pieces'' premiered on June 12, 1981, at the

. The piano was played by Jerry Zimmerman. Later at the festival, when some works had to be cancelled due to injuries, ''Piano Pieces'' was performed again.

Critical reception

After the premiere, '' New York Times'' critic compared ''Piano Pieces'' to ''Dances at a Gathering'', which is set to works by

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

, and commented, "The differences between the two ballets are perhaps not as great as the difference between Chopin and Tchaikovsky. But choreographically, Mr. Robbins's interest in partnering reaches a new peak. ''Piano Pieces'' is a brilliant step forward in the art of the pas de deux."

References

External links

''Piano Pieces''
on New York City Ballet's website {{Jerome Robbins 1981 ballet premieres Ballets by Jerome Robbins Ballets to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky New York City Ballet repertory