''Symphony in Three Movements'' is a

neoclassical ballet Neoclassical ballet is the style of 20th-century classical ballet exemplified by the works of George Balanchine. The term "neoclassical ballet" appears in the 1920s with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, in response to the excesses of romanticis ...

choreographed by George Balanchine to the music of the same name by Stravinsky. 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' ...

Stravinsky Festival in 1972, a tribute to the composer following his death. The ballet premiered on June 18, 1972, 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 ...

Production

Balanchine and Stravinsky had collaborated for many years until the latter's death in 1971. As a tribute to the composer, Balanchine decided to have his company, the

, hold the weeklong Stravinsky Festival. The festival included 22 premieres, seven by Balanchine. One of Stravinsky's works chosen for the festival was Symphony in Three Movements, which was written during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

for different aborted film projects, though he admitted it referenced the war. Despite its complex choreography, intricate music and large cast, Balanchine completed the ballet in a week due to the pressures of the festival. Gordon Boelzner, the company's pianist and associate conductor, recalled, " alanchinejust tossed off steps without hesitation." He added, "He threw whole chunks of choreography at the dancers. I couldn't make head or tail of what was going on. Then Balanchine took one afternoon to clean it all up, and all of a sudden it came absolutely clear."

Edward Villella Edward Villella (born October 1, 1936) is an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He is frequently cited as America's most celebrated male dancer of ballet at the time. He has won numerous awards, including the Daytime Emmy Award for Out ...

, one of the original cast members, called Stravinsky's score "the single most complicated score I had ever danced to." He added, "During rehearsals, despite all my experience dancing Stravinsky, I couldn't really hear the music and couldn't count it." Balanchine's assistant Barbara Hagan recalled

Sara Leland Sally Harrington (August 2, 1941 – November 28, 2020), known professionally as Sara Leland, was an American ballet dancer and '' répétiteur''. She started her career with the Joffrey Ballet in 1959, and was recruited to join the New York City ...

, another original cast member and a newly promoted principal dancer, "was a quick learner", while "Balanchine really struggled with ''Symphony'' with regard to tempos", therefore Balanchine used Leland to demonstrate the steps to the corps de ballet. After she retired, Leland, known for her ability to remember choreography, went on to stage and coach ballets, including ''Symphony in Three Movements''. Christine Redpath, a New York City Ballet repertory director who would also stage the ballet, noted Leland had memorized all the difficult counts.

Choreography

The first movement begins with sixteen women in a diagonal line, before the six principal dancers and five soloist couples enter. Critic Zoe Anderson described, "Dancers leap on, followed by small entourages, or spin their way among the jogging corps." Villella noted dancing to the first movement was "the biggest musical challenge I had ever faced". The second movement is a pas de deux. Anderson called this movement "both sensuous and remote". She added, "Although there is some partnering, the dancers keep an emotional and sometimes physical distance." The full cast returns for the third and final movement. Villella wrote, "The movement for everyone here is aggressive, mysterious and frightening." ''

The 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 d ...

'' critic

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 ...

noted, "Stravinsky's allusion to an Allied victory in World War II is not to be taken literally. But the triumphant note is translated in the massed groupings on stage: Dancers frozen in semaphores and abstractions of warriors at the ready."

Original cast

The principal dancers at the premiere of ''Symphony in Three Movements'' were: *

*Marnee Morris *Lynda Yourth * Helgi Tomasson *

* Robert Weiss

Performances

''Symphony in Three Movements'' premiered on June 18, 1972, at the

. Other companies that have performed the ballet include the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

and Boston Ballet.

References

External links

''Symphony in Three Movements''
on New York City Ballet's website
''Symphony in Three Movements''
on George Balanchine Trust's website {{Balanchine ballets 1972 ballet premieres Ballets by George Balanchine Ballets to the music of Igor Stravinsky New York City Ballet repertory