The Washington Ballet
Julie Kent, Artistic Director
BALANCHINE + ASHTON
Featuring The Washington Ballet Orchestra

From a lively and jazzy Broadway production to divine elegance, witness bellwether ballets by 20th-century dance titans George Balanchine and Sir Frederick Ashton. BALANCHINE + ASHTON provides a mixed repertoire of styles and opposites that are still relevant to today’s audiences. Ashton’s Birthday Offering and Balanchine’s Slaughter on Tenth Avenue are both company premieres. Balanchine’s exuberant and athletic Allegro Brillante and the somber Méditation for Thaïs, one of Ashton’s more sublime and legato creations, round out the program. 

This season, The Washington School of Ballet is celebrating 75 years of providing the highest level of dance training to thousands of students in the DC Metropolitan area. In honor of this milestone anniversary and to honor founder Mary Day, Artistic Director Julie Kent has created her own Défilé. This miniature ballet will be presented before each performance of BALANCHINE + ASTON and showcases and honors our talented student body

Défilé [followed by a pause]
Choreography by Julie Kent
Music Leo Delibes Scène et Pas d’action from “La Source” Act II 

Birthday Offering  [followed by an intermission]
Choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton
Music by Alexander Glazunov, arranged by Robert Irving

Méditation from Thaïs  [followed by a pause]
Choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton
Music by Jules Massenet

Allegro Brillante  [followed by an intermission]
Choreography by George Balanchine (© The George Balanchine Trust)
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Choreography by George Balanchine (© The George Balanchine Trust)
Music by Richard Rodgers