''Sonatine'' is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Ravel's eponymous music. The ballet was made for the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

's Ravel Festival, which celebrated the centenary of Ravel, and premiered on May 15, 1975, 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 ...

, following a preview performance the previous day. The ballet was originated by

Violette Verdy Violette Verdy (born Nelly Armande Guillerm; 1 December 1933 – 8 February 2016) was a French ballerina, choreographer, teacher, and writer who worked as a dance company director with the Paris Opera Ballet in France and the Boston Ballet in t ...

and

Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux (born 9 April 1943, in Bourg en Bresse, France) is a French ballet dancer and instructor. He is the former artistic director of the Charlotte Ballet and the Chautauqua Institution. At 14, Bonnefoux joined the Paris Opera ...

Choreography

In his book ''Balanchine's Complete Stories of the Great Ballets'', Balanchine described the ballet, "The pianist and the dancers are on stage together when the curtain goes up on the ballet. The pianist begins to play; the girl and the boy stand up and listen. They like what they hear, apparently, for they begin to move to it, following its line, and gradually becoming imbued with its spirit."

Production

Balanchine decided that for French composer Maurice Ravel's centenary in 1975, the

would hold the Ravel Festival to honor him. In the previous forty years, Balanchine had only made two ballets to Ravel's works. However, he stated he always enjoyed his music and decided "it would be a good idea to celebrate this wonderful composer’s life and work by arranging new dances to as many scores as we could." The festival featured sixteen premieres. While some were large productions, others, including ''Sonatine'', were much smaller productions, which were "a few minutes long, simply using Ravel’s music and making what we could of it." Two French-born principal dancers,

and

, were chosen to originate the two roles in the ballet. Verdy in particular had not created roles for Balanchine for several years prior to ''Sonatine''.

Performances

''Sonatine'' had a preview performance on May 14, 1975, at the

, during a gala benefit attended by French and American dignitaries. The following day, the ballet had its official premiere, as the first ballet performed at the Ravel Festival. Madeleine Malraux played the piano at the premiere. In 2004, the New York City Ballet included ''Sonatine'' in its Balanchine centenary celebration, with the ballet danced by guest artists from the

Paris Opera Ballet The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded a ...

Aurélie Dupont Aurélie Dupont (born 15 January 1973 in Paris) is a French ballet dancer who performed with the Paris Opera Ballet as an '' Étoile''. She began her career in dance in 1983 when she entered the Paris Opera Ballet School (''L’École de danse de ...

and

Manuel Legris Manuel Legris is a French ballet dancer, born in Paris on October 10, 1964. He was an '' étoile'' (star dancer) of the Paris Opera Ballet for 23 years. On September 1, 2010, he began direction of the Vienna State Ballet. He was appointed artist ...

. In 2015, ''Sonatine'' was filmed during the New York City Ballet's appearances at

Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a ...

, Paris. It was aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is p ...

'' broadcast "New York City Ballet in Paris" in 2017. Other ballet companies that have performed ''Sonatine'' include the Paris Opera Ballet, which performed the ballet during a tribute program to Verdy in 2016, as well as the

Miami City Ballet Miami City Ballet is an American ballet company based in Miami Beach, Florida, led by artistic director Lourdes Lopez. MCB was founded in 1985 by Toby Lerner Ansin, a Miami philanthropist. Ansin and the founding board hired Edward Villella, ...

and Suzanne Farrell Ballet.

Critical reception

Following the premiere of ''Sonatine'', ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' critic

Clive Barnes Clive Alexander Barnes (13 May 1927 – 19 November 2008) was an English writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977, he was the dance and theater critic for ''The New York Times'', and, from 1978 until his death, '' The New York Post.'' Barnes had sig ...

commented, "The form of the duet – with its casual dancers around a piano – recalls '' Duo Concertante'' in its calculated informality, and Mr. Balanchine's dances hug the music comfortably. The mood is light and rhapsodic, but there are a few happy moments of unaffected originality."

References

External links

''Sonatine''
on the New York City Ballet website
''Sonatine''
on the George Balanchine Trust website {{George Balanchine 1975 ballet premieres Ballets by George Balanchine Ballets to the music of Maurice Ravel New York City Ballet repertory