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Jewels

Presented by Houston Ballet at Wortham Theater Center - Brown Theater

September 23-October 3, 2010

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From September 23 - October 3, 2010, Houston Ballet presents George Balanchine's masterpiece Jewels, a unified, full-evening work featuring three separate and distinct pieces: -- Emeralds, set to the music of Gabriel Fauré; Rubies, set to Igor Stravinsky's Capriccio for piano and orchestra; and Diamonds, set to Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29.

The gems in Jewels pay tribute to three golden ages of dance and also to the beauty of the ballerinas Balanchine adored. Houston Ballet will give seven performances of Jewels at Wortham Theater Center in downtown Houston.

Balanchine was inspired to create Jewels by the jewelry collection of Van Cleef and Arpels in New York, a French jewelry company founded in 1896 in Paris renowned for their precious stones. Premiered on April 13, 1967 by New York City Ballet, Jewels was hailed as the first plotless full-length ballet. In his article on Jewels in The International Dictionary of Ballet, noted critic Robert Greskovic quoted long-time Balanchine observer Professor Robert Garis who pronounced Jewels "a work of genius both as a work of art and as show-business."

"Jewels will showcase the versatility and stylistic depth of our dancers. The audience will see the whole company on stage. This piece celebrates where Houston Ballet's dancers are today," states Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch. "My goal was always to bring Jewels to Houston Ballet. It has been a long process of preparing the company for such a pivotal ballet. The company is full of so much talent right now and dancing a Balanchine masterpiece every season has prepared the dancers for this vivacious and energetic full length ballet by increasing their understanding of Balanchine's style."

Poetic and flowing, Emeralds evokes France, the birthplace of Romantic dance. Its ballerinas drift on stage in clouds of tulle, whispering of elegance, fashion and fragrance. Rubies mirrors the carefree spontaneity of America, a throwback to the musical comedies and films Balanchine created soon after he arrived in his beloved adopted country: a sassy, jazzy burst of sunshine. Diamonds dazzles as Balanchine's tribute to the work of the great French choreographer Marius Petipa and evokes the grandeur and precision of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg with each shimmering wave of classical elegance.

"Balanchine's Jewels is a multi-faceted look at Romantic, classical and neo-classical ballet. The Emeralds section is soft and moody with fluid movements in the Romantic style. Rubies is sexy, cheeky and sleek in the neo-classical style, a style Balanchine personified. And Diamonds focuses on precision and cleanliness in the classical style," remarks Mr. Welch.

Set to sections of Gabriel Fauré's Pelléas et Mélisande and Shylock, Emeralds features two couples and a trio of two women and one man bordered by 10 corps de ballet women. The Emeralds section evokes 19th century Romantic ballets by giving the women an ethereal look, featuring long green tulle skirts.

Set to the jazzy tune of Igor Stravinsky's Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, Rubies epitomized the legendary collaboration of Balanchine and Stravinsky, and the American style of ballet that Balanchine developed. The piece features a central couple, a female soloist and an ensemble of four men and eight women wearing short, seductive red flapper-like skirts. The dynamic neo-classical choreography is crisp and witty, a true game of wits and teasing.

Diamonds dazzles audiences with its classical Imperial Russian style, representing the refracted colors of a diamond. Set to the last four movements of Peter Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29, the piece features an intimate pas de deux, 14 corps de ballet women, four couples of demi soloists and a forceful polonaise finale of the entire cast. Adorned in white tutus, the ballerinas and their mates fill the stage as glittery diamonds.

Russian/American designer Barbara Karinska created the Jewels costumes. Karinska began her career as the highly acclaimed interpreter of designs by such artists as Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, and Marc Chagall. However, it was as principal costumer of New York City Ballet that she made her name. Karinska's first costumes were made for nightclub performers, but in 1932 she received a commission to make the costumes for Balanchine's ballet Cotillon. After many more commissions for theater and ballet, she quickly became known as the only costumer able to translate an artist's sketches into fabric. In 1948, she won an Academy Award for her designs for Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc. In 1962, Karinska's achievements were publicly recognized when she received the Capezio Dance Award for costumes. Balanchine appointed Karinska as principal costumer of New York City Ballet in 1962. She died in New York in October 1983.

"We are very lucky to have Elyse Borne, one of the most respected repetiteurs from the Balanchine Trust, and former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Maria Calegari, who danced for Balanchine, staging Jewels. Each will focus on the different styles present in Jewels. For our dancers to work with coaches who have such firsthand knowledge will be indispensable," explains Mr. Welch, "Maria is married to Bart Cook who has set numerous works on us, which has increased Maria's knowledge of our company as well."

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Balanchine (1904-1983) is regarded as a major artistic figure of the 20th century who revolutionized the look of classical ballet. Taking classicism as his base, he heightened, quickened, expanded, streamlined, and even inverted the fundamentals of the 400-year-old language of academic dance. This had an inestimable influence on the growth of dance in America. With Lincoln Kirstein, Balanchine founded New York City Ballet in 1948, and served as its ballet master and principal choreographer until his death in 1983. Balanchine's more than 400 dance works include Serenade (1934), Concerto Barocco (1941), Le Palais de Cristal, later renamed Symphony in C (1947), Orpheus (1948), The Nutcracker (1954), Agon (1957), Symphony in Three Movements (1972), Stravinsky Violin Concerto (1972), Vienna Waltzes (1977), Ballo della Regina (1978), and Mozartiana (1981).

Houston Ballet has 11 Balanchine works in its repertory, including Apollo (1928), Symphony in C (1947), Serenade (1934), Western Symphony (1954), La Valse (1951), Theme and Variations (1947), The Four Temperaments (1946), Agon (1957), Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (1960), Concerto Barocco (1941) and Pas de Dix (1955).

JEWELS (1967): Houston Ballet Premiere
Choreography by George Balanchine
Costume Designs by Karinska
Lighting Recreated by Christina R. Giannelli

EMERALDS
Music by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), from Pelléas et Mélisande, 1898, and Shylock, 1889

RUBIES
Music by Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Capriccio for piano and orchestra, 1929

DIAMONDS
Music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29, first movement omitted

Houston Ballet Orchestra conducted by music director Ermanno Florio September 23, 25, 26; David Briskin, music director and principal conductor for National Ballet of Canada October 1, 2, 3.

About Houston Ballet

On February 17, 1969 a troupe of 15 young dancers made its stage debut at Sam Houston State Teacher's College in Huntsville, Texas. Since that time, Houston Ballet has evolved into a company of 53 dancers with a budget of $18.4 million, a state-of-the-art performance space built especially for the company, Wortham Theater Center, and an endowment of just over $50.7 million (as of December 31, 2009), making it the United States fourth largest ballet company by number of dancers. Under the administrative leadership of managing director C.C. Conner since 1995, the company has maintained a strong financial position.

Houston Ballet has toured extensively both nationally and internationally. Over the last decade, the company has appeared in London at Sadler's Wells, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, in six cities in Spain, in Montréal, at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in New York at City Center, and in cities large and small across the United States.

Houston Ballet has emerged as a leader in the expensive, labor-intensive task of nurturing the creation and development of new full-length narrative ballets. The company has also commissioned new one-act ballets from some of the world's most respected choreographers, including Julia Adam, Christopher Bruce, James Kudelka, Trey McIntyre, Paul Taylor, Glen Tetley, Natalie Weir and Lila York.

Writing in The Financial Times on March 6, 2006, dance critic Hilary Ostlere praised Houston Ballet as "a strong, reinvigorated company whose male contingent is particularly impressive, a well-drilled corps and an enviable selection of soloists and principals." Dance Europe editor Emma Manning observed of the company in November 2004, "One of the first things that hits you about this company is the technical strengths not just of the principals, but throughout the ranks. Watching artistic director Stanton Welch take class on a Sunday morning before a matinee, one could not help but marvel at the multiple turns tossed off by the young women in the corps....The three new works shown in this program will be followed by no fewer than four more Houston premieres. Can any other major ballet company in the world match that?"

In a move designed to propel Houston Ballet to the next phase of its development, the company broke ground on July 15, 2009 on the Center for Dance, a new 115,000-square-foot facility located in downtown Houston. The building, which will cost $53 million, is set for completion in the spring of 2011. The six-story building will boast nine dance studios, a black box dance laboratory for presentations as well as rehearsals, and artistic, administrative and support facilities for Houston Ballet and its Academy. The new facility will more than double the space that Houston Ballet has at its current home.

Houston Ballet Academy has reached over 18,000 Houston area students (as of the 2009-2010 season) and has had four academy students place at the prestigious international ballet competition the Prix de Lausanne, with one student winning the overall competition in 2010.

Pictured above: Dancers: Jaquel Andrews, Mireille Hassenboehler and Amy Fote. Ballet: Jewels. Photo by Pam Francis