skip navigation | text only | accessibility | site map
Share
American Ballet Theatre

American Ballet Theatre

ABT's tremendous stars perform Petipa's full-length Swan Lake (Feb. 20–22). The engagement also includes a program of mixed repertory (Feb. 17–19) featuring works by Balanchine, Tudor, and Tharp.

  • Feb 17 - 22, 2009
  • Opera House
  • Approx. 2-1/2 hours
  • $29.00 - $99.00

About the Program | Related Events | Gift Items

This event has already closed.
Please use the event calendar to search for current events.

About the Program

Artists:
American Ballet Theatre
Kevin McKenzie, Artistic Director
 
"Gorgeous…a radiant eyeful. A marvel to witness."
--The Washington Post
 
A living national treasure since its founding in 1940, American Ballet Theatre continues to unlock classics from its expansive repertoire in two programs. They include Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky's glorious fable of dreamlike trans­formation, mistaken identity, and ill-fated passion. For nearly a decade, Washington audiences have had an ongoing love affair with Kevin McKenzie's spellbinding production. For its world premiere at the Kennedy Center in 2000, the Washington Post hailed the ballet as "a spectacle of shimmering light that builds in force until its most luminescent moment--the moonlit entrance of the enchanted Princess Odette." And when ABT's Swan Lake returned in 2005, PBS filmed the sumptuous production in the Opera House for its acclaimed national TV broadcast.
 
The engagement will also include a mixed repertory program. The Company premiere of George Balanchine's Allegro Brillante, performed to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 3, is the embodiment of Russian romanticism. As a nod to the Kennedy Center's "Modern Masters of American Dance" celebration this season, Twyla Tharp's Brief Fling is a kinetic Scottish-inspired ballet created for the company in 1990, featuring Percy Grainger's Country Gardens and Handel in the Strand. The program will also feature Antony Tudor's Pillar of Fire danced to Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht. ABT celebrates its close association with Tudor over the centenary season of his birth.

Mixed Repertory performance timing:  approximately 2-1/2 hours, with two 20-minute intermissions
 Feb. 17–19
Allegro Brillante  (16 min.)
Choreography by George Balanchine
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Staged by Darla Hoover
Flames of Paris, Pas de deux (Feb. 17 & 19)  (7 min.)
Choreography from the original by Vasily Vainonen
Music by Boris Asafiev
Tchaikovsky Pas de deux (Feb. 18 only)  (10 min.)
Choreography by George Balanchine
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Brief Fling  (27 min.)
Choreography by Twyla Tharp
Music by Michel Colombier and Percy Grainger
Staged by Keith Roberts
Pillar of Fire  (32 min.)
Choreography by Antony Tudor
Music by Arnold Schoenberg
Staged by Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner

Swan Lake performance timing: Acts I & II - 64 min.; Intermission - 20 min.; Acts III & IV - 54 min.
Feb. 20–22
Swan Lake
Choreography by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

PRINCIPAL CASTING
Tue., Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Allegro Brillante
Gillian Murphy and Cory Stearns
Flames of Paris Pas de Deux
Sarah Lane and Daniil Simkin
Pillar of Fire
Michele Wiles, David Hallberg, and Marcelo Gomes
Brief Fling
Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo
 
Wed., Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Allegro Brillante
Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky
Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux
Michele Wiles and David Hallberg
Pillar of Fire
Gillian Murphy, Gennadi Saveliev, and Jose Manuel Carreño
Brief Fling
Yuriko Kajiya and Marcelo Gomes
 
Thu., Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Allegro Brillante
Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky
Flames of Paris Pas de Deux
Sarah Lane and Daniil Simkin
Pillar of Fire
Michele Wiles, David Hallberg, and Marcelo Gomes
Brief Fling
Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo
 
Fri., Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Swan Lake
Veronika Part, Marcelo Gomes, and David Hallberg
 
Sat., Feb. 21 at 1:30 p.m. (mat.)
Swan Lake
Gillian Murphy, Gennadi Saveliev, and Cory Stearns
 
Sat., Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. (eve.)
Swan Lake
Nina Ananiashvili, Jose Manuel Carreño, and Jared Matthews
 
Sun., Feb. 22 at 1:30 p.m. (mat.)
Swan Lake
Michele Wiles, David Hallberg, and Marcelo Gomes

All events and artists subject to change without prior notice.

Group of 20 or more? Group Sales offers special terms and discounts for most performances.

Additional Resources

About the Kennedy Center Ballet Series

Cast and Company

Company:
American Ballet Theatre

Related Events

Open Rehearsal: American Ballet Theatre  Feb 17, 2009 at 1:30 PM [Performance Plus logo.]

From the Gift Shop


This event has already closed.

Please use the event calendar to search for current events.