''Square Dance'' is a ballet made by

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 ...

co-founder and balletmaster

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 ...

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread ...

's '' Concerto Grosso in B minor'' and the first movement of his '' Concerto Grosso in E major'', Op. 3, nos. 10 and 12, respectively; in 1976 he added

Arcangelo Corelli Arcangelo Corelli (, also , , ; 17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the preeminence of th ...

's '' Sarabanda, Badinerie e Giga'', second and third movements. The premiere took place on November 21, 1957, at City Center of Music and Drama, New York, with lighting by Mark Stanley. The original version placed the musicians on stage with a

square dance A square dance is a dance for four couples, or eight dancers in total, arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances contain elements from numerous traditional dances and were first documente ...

caller calling the steps; from its 1976 revival the caller was eliminated, the orchestra placed in the pit, and a solo added for the ''premier

danseur A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...

'' to the Corelli ''Sarabanda''. The

Pacific Northwest Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is a ballet company based in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States, with 11,000 subscribers in 2004. The company consists of 49 dan ...

restored the caller for one performance at the 2007

Vail International Dance Festival Damian Woetzel (born May 17, 1967) is an American choreographer. Woetzel was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he performed from 1985 until 2008. He also frequently performed with companies like the Kirov Ballet and Americ ...

Original cast

Patricia Wilde Patricia Wilde (July 16, 1928 – July 17, 2021) was a Canadian-born ballerina and dance instructor. She was a principal ballerina of New York City Ballet, where she danced every major role in the repertoire, many of them created especially for he ...

* Nicholas Magallanes

References

*''

Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's p ...

'', New York City Ballet, Friday, June 27, 2008 *
Dance review: OBT does a little 'Song and Dance'
Arts Dispatch, Monday, April 25, 2011

Reviews

by John Martin, November 22, 1957
NY Times
by

Anna Kisselgoff Anna Kisselgoff (born 12 January 1938) is a dance critic and cultural news reporter for ''The New York Times''. She began at the ''Times'' as a dance critic and cultural news reporter in 1968, and became its Chief Dance Critic in 1977, a role she h ...

, May 22, 1976
NY Times
by Jack Anderson, October 13, 1984
Ballet Dance review
by Jeff Kuo, April 3, 2004

by

Moira Macdonald Moira Macdonald is an Australian-born entertainer and singer. She was a member of an '' à cappella'' group, Polyphony, which later became the Phones, "…one of the best live acts in Australia" (Melbourne Times). The Phones toured Australia a ...

, September 22, 2007
NY Times
by

Alastair Macaulay Alastair Macaulay is an English writer and dance critic. He was the chief dance critic for '' The New York Times'' from 2007 until he retired in 2018. He was previously chief dance critic at '' The Times'' and Literary Supplement and chief theater ...

, September 25, 2007
NY Times
by

, April 1, 2008
NY Times
by

, June 30, 2008

External links

Square Dance
on the website of the Balanchine Trust {{Balanchine ballets Ballets by George Balanchine New York City Ballet repertory 1957 ballet premieres Ballets to the music of Antonio Vivaldi Ballets to the music of Arcangelo Corelli