''Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes'' (also stylized as ''Rōdē,ō: Four Dance Episodes'') is a one-act ballet choreographed by

Justin Peck Justin Peck (born September 8, 1987) is an American choreographer, director, and dancer associated with New York City Ballet, of which he was appointed Resident Choreographer in July 2014, being the second person in the history of the instituti ...

to "Four Dance Episodes" from Copland's ''

Rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqu ...

''. The ballet premiered on February 4, 2015, at the

David H. Koch 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 ...

, danced by 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 fir ...

Production

When Peck made ''Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes'', he had only been appointed resident choreographer of the

months ago. Reid Bartelme, Harriet Jung and Peck designed the costumes, and

Brandon Stirling Baker Brandon Stirling Baker is an American lighting designer working internationally in ballet, opera and theatre. Baker received a 2024 Tony Award nomination for Best Lighting Design in a Musical for his design of '' Illinoise'' on Broadway. Bi ...

designed the lighting. The ballet features a woman and fifteen men. Peck said it is an "invert" of

romantic ballet The Romantic ballet is defined primarily by an era in ballet in which the ideas of Romanticism in art and literature influenced the creation of ballets. The era occurred during the early to mid 19th century primarily at the Théâtre de l'Acadé ...

, which usually has one man and a female

corps de ballet In ballet, the ''corps de ballet'' (; French language, French for "body of the little dance") is the group of ballet dancer, dancers who are not principal dancers or Soloist (ballet), soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and ...

. Peck's ''Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes'' is set to "Four Dance Episodes" from Copland's ''

'', which was originally written for

Agnes de Mille Agnes George de Mille (September 18, 1905 – October 7, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer. Early years Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMill ...

's 1942 ballet of the same name. Peck claimed he saw the de Mille version performed by the

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...

three years prior, and several different versions at the

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

, before making his own. He said he "wanted to understand what she did" but not let de Mille's choreography "loom over" him. On why he chose this score, he said it was due to the "kinetic energy that it embodies" and "it also felt deep enough for the exploration of an entirely different ballet, one that didn’t snub or get in the way of the Agnes de Mille original." He also deliberately chose to use the concert score. The night before the premiere, dancer Andrew Veyette injured himself while performing

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

's ''Donizetti Variations'', so Peck, who was still dancing at the time, cast himself in Veyette's role in the first movement of ''Rodeo'', while Sean Suozzi replaced Veyette in the fourth movement. Peck went on stage before the premiere to explain the situation.

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 ...

has also performed Peck's ''Rodeo''.

Original cast

Original cast:

Reception

On the premiere, the ''New York Times'' wrote that "the work’s energy, charm, inventiveness, musicality and polish proved irresistible" despite Veyette's injury. The reviewer particularly singled out the second movement male quintet with Applebaum, Hall, Peiffer, Scordato and Stanley for bringing "Peck’s most haunting poetry." In a 4-star review, the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' commented the ballet has "unsettling moments," though "these scenes did not change the ballet’s temperature." The men in the ballet were listed in ''

Pointe Magazine ''Pointe'' was launched in 2000 as a quarterly, international ballet magazine and was converted from print to a digital magazine in 2020. The magazine covers news on ballet company premieres, established and rising ballet stars, ballet competitio ...

'' "Top 12 Standout Performances of 2015".

Awards and nominations

References

{{Reflist 2015 ballets Ballets by Justin Peck New York City Ballet repertory Ballets by Aaron Copland