The Suzanne Farrell Ballet
Suzanne Farrell, Artistic Director
In Artistic Partnership with Ballet Austin, Stephen Mills, Artistic Director
 
"The Suzanne Farrell Ballet is one of the most courageous projects in ballet today…energy, scale, detailed nuance, and musical sophistication seldom found anywhere."
--The New York Times
 
Through the Kennedy Center's own ballet company, Suzanne Farrell continues to share her intimate understanding of George Balanchine's vanguard body of work. In the newly renovated Eisenhower Theater, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet's two all-Balanchine programs will include many special projects unique to the Company and to Farrell's singular insight.

The first program opens with Liebeslieder Walzer. In this rarely performed ballet of Brahms waltzes set to poems by Friedrich Daumer and Goethe, the dancers are joined on stage by a vocal ensemble from the Master Chorale of Washington and two pianists on one piano, all in period costume. Beginning in a ballroom in formal evening wear, the dancers transform into ballet skirts under a starry sky before returning to their original dress. Suzanne Farrell then continues her acclaimed Balanchine Preservation Initiative by re-staging Ragtime, one of his "lost" treasures. Recreating the choreography from her own personal film footage, the new staging will feature Stravinsky's score performed by an onstage jazz band. Concluding the program is Episodes, an Artistic Partnership with Ballet Austin. Balanchine's homage to the music of Anton von Webern ends with the composer's tribute to J.S. Bach.

For the second program, the Company brings back its presentation of "The Balanchine Couple," last staged in 2003. Suzanne Farrell takes the stage as narrator, navigating audiences through the evolution of Balanchine's legendary pas de deux style. Beginning with the pas de deux from the early years of Apollo, La Sonnambula, Ivesiana, La Valse, and Agon…through to the "Farrell years" of Meditation, Don Quixote, and Diamonds…and concluding with the classic Stars and Stripes, this program is the perfect showcase for Balanchine's legacy, masterfully carried forth by his most celebrated muse.

All performances with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.
 
Oct. 8, 9, 11 eve., 12 mat.
Liebeslieder Walzer
Music by Johannes Brahms
Ragtime
Part of the Balanchine Preservation Initiative
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Episodes
In Artistic Partnership with Ballet Austin
Music by Anton von Webern
 
Oct. 10, 11 mat., 12 eve.
"The Balanchine Couple"
Narrated by Suzanne Farrell, to include pas de deux from:
Apollo
Music by Igor Stravinsky
La Sonnambula
Music by Vittorio Rieti, after Vincenzo Bellini
"The Unanswered Question" from Ivesiana
Music by Charles Ives
La Valse
Music by Maurice Ravel
Agon
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Meditation
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pas de Mauresque from Don Quixote
Music by Nikolas Nabokov
Diamonds
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Stars and Stripes
Music by John Philip Sousa