''Octet'' 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's fir ...

balletmaster in chief

Peter Martins Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish former ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and J ...

to Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat major (1825). The premiere took place November 14, 2003 at the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet ( Danish: ''Den Kongelige Ballet'') is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world a ...

, Copenhagen; the NYCB premiere was November 23, 2004, at the

New York State Theater The David H. Koch Theater is a theater for ballet and dance at Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Originally named the New York State Theater, the venue has been home to the New York City Ballet sinc ...

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

Original casts

Royal Danish Ballet

Silja Schandorff Silja Maria Wendrup Schandorff (born 1969) is a Danish ballerina who performed with the Royal Danish Ballet from 1985 to 2009. She has since served the Royal Theatre as ballet instructor and deputy ballet master. Biography Born on 10 February 196 ...

*Yao Wei *Andrew Bowman *Kristoffer Sakurai

NYCB

Ashley Bouder Ashley Bouder (; born December 10, 1983) is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet. She also founded and currently runs her own project, The Ashley Bouder Project. Early life Ashley Bouder was ...

Darci Kistler Darci Kistler (born June 4, 1964) is an American ballerina. She is often said to be the last muse for choreographer George Balanchine. Early life Kistler was born in Riverside, California, the fifth child (with four older brothers) of a medic ...

Benjamin Millepied Benjamin Millepied (; born 10 June 1977) is a French dancer and choreographer, who has lived and worked in the United States since joining the New York City Ballet in 1995, where he became a soloist in 1998 and a principal in 2002. He has als ...

* Stephen Hanna {{col-end

Reviews

NY Times

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 ...

, November 25, 2004

Articles

NY Times
Rebecca Milzoff, August 20, 2006 Ballets by Peter Martins New York City Ballet repertory 2003 ballets Ballets to the music of Felix Mendelssohn