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Ballet Notes
The Four Seasons
Cruel World
Theme and Variations
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Rebekah Rimsay, Chan Hon Goh, Rex Harrington and Sonia Rodriguez in Spring from The Four Seasons. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.
I
| The Four Seasons
choreography: James Kudelka
music : Antonio Vivaldi — The Four Seasons
costume design: trac costume — Carmen Alie and Denis Lavoie
lighting design : David Finn
projections and scenic effects: Chris Wise
The Four Seasons is a gift from the volunteer committee, the national ballet of canada
II
| Cruel World
choreography: James Kudelka
staged by: David Richardson
music : Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Souvenir de Florence, Opus 70
costume design: trac costume — Carmen Alie and Denis Lavoie
Costumes Courtesy of American Ballet Theatre
lighting design : Scott Zielinski
III
| Theme and Variations
choreography: George Balanchine
music : Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky — The final movement of Suite No. 3 for Orchestra in G major, Op. 55
originally staged by: Patricia Neary
guest ballet master: Lindsay Fischer
set and costume design: Santo Loquasto
lighting design : Robert Thomson
Theme and Variations is a gift from the volunteer committee, the national ballet of canada
The performance of Theme and Variations, a Balanchine® Ballet, is presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trustsm and has been
produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® Service standards established and provided by the Trust.
Martine Lamy with Artists of the Ballet in Autumn from The Four Seasons. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.
JAMES KUDELKA AND
THE NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA
the national ballet of canada, a company with more than
50 dancers and its own symphony orchestra, is Canada’s premier dance
company and ranks as one of the world’s top international dance companies.
Founded in 1951 by English dancer Celia Franca, the company was
established in Toronto as a classical company and is still the only
Canadian company to present a full range of traditional full-length
classics. The company not only presents the classical repertoire, but
also embraces contemporary works and encourages the creation of
new ballets and the development of Canadian choreographers.
In 1996 the National Ballet named James Kudelka as Artistic Director.
Born in Newmarket, Ontario and trained at the National Ballet School
in Toronto, Kudelka has the rare ability to marry classical tradition
with modern movement and is recognized for his remarkable talent in
combining both idioms. An internationally acclaimed choreographer
who is much sought after to create for the stages of other companies,
for seven years Kudelka has devoted most of his own artistic energies
to expanding the National Ballet’s horizons through creating and
commissioning new works, mounting company premieres and judiciously
reviving touchstone works from the company’s vast repertoire.
Kudelka has introduced many new works to the National Ballet during
his tenure. Of his own ballets, some were first created elsewhere: Cruel
World for American Ballet Theatre and Désir for Les Grands Ballets
Canadiens. Others, created specifically for the National Ballet, extend its
Kudelkan image by re-imagining the classics, like his Russian Nutcracker,
his flamboyant Firebird, or his dark, extraordinary take on that greatest of
classics, Swan Lake. His completely original ballets, like The Four Seasons
and The Contract, are gems that give the company that unique repertoire
all companies covet.
Knowing that even his own great productivity isn’t enough, Kudelka
consistently nurtures the creative impulse of other brilliant Canadians,
commissioning from John Alleyne Septet and the full-length Tristan
and Isolde; from the late master Jean-Pierre Perreault The Comforts of
Solitude; from Dominique Dumais the weight of absence and one hundred
words for snow; and from the young Matjash Mrozewski A Delicate Battle
and Monument.
For The National Ballet of Canada, Kudelka has brought forth a golden
age of creativity and artistic greatness.
Rex Harrington in Winter from The Four Seasons. Photo by Lydia Pawelak.
The Four Seasons
A BALLET FOR ALL SEASONS
By Gary Smith
james kudelka, canada’s most celebrated classical choreographer,
takes a kaleidoscopic ride through Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
Created for The National Ballet of Canada, The Four Seasons received its
world premiere on February 12, 1997 at Toronto’s Hummingbird Centre.
Lake, Kudelka explores the relationship between life and art, lingering on
themes of love, loss and loneliness. A ballet redolent with emotion,
yet unencumbered by a constraining narrative thread, The Four Seasons
seeks meaning in atmosphere and mood.
Kudelka has a way of making movement melt seamlessly into metaphor.
From melodic inspiration he fashions movement that is poetic and
inventive, seeking in the corners of a chosen score liberation for the
human body framed in flight. The ingenuity of his choreography has
also been seen in his many other works for the company. This is especially
true of his innovative Swan Lake created in 1999.
A dancemaker of emblematic genius, James Kudelka tends to stir the
imagination and disturb the senses. By keeping audiences deliberately
off-balance, he allows for that exciting moment where performers and
audience find a symbiotic union. Working away from the centre of the
comfort zone, Kudelka establishes a climate for discovery. With The
Four Seasons, he uses the familiarity of Vivaldi’s entrancing score, but
creates choreography that plays with and against the driving tension
of the music. Kudelka’s ballet is an entry into a metaphysical world of
the seasons where winter is just a memory of the mordant, where
the revivification of spring lurks just around the corner.
With this ballet, Kudelka explores the cycle of The Four Seasons, finding
within the harmony of Vivaldi’s familiar Baroque score an expression
of the cyclical nature of life. It would appear to be a perfect union of a
visionary dancemaker and an eminently danceable score.
Here, Kudelka created the role using the dramatic force of Principal Dancer
Rex Harrington: a darkly handsome, intense creature of earth and air.
In his powerful, masculine flight Harrington is the perfect central image
to suggest The Four Seasons interplay of shadow and light.
Essentially abstract in nature, The Four Seasons nevertheless encompasses
familiar Kudelka themes. As in Musings, The Actress, Désir and Swan
In June 1999, Rhombus Media Inc. and Veronica Tennant Productions Ltd.
filmed The Four Seasons which was aired by the CBC. Directed by Barbara
Willis Sweete, the film features Principal Dancers Rex Harrington, Chan
Hon Goh, Greta Hodgkinson, Martine Lamy, Victoria Bertram and
Jeremy Ransom along with members of The National Ballet of Canada.
Vivaldi’s celebrated score is performed by the National Arts Centre
Orchestra conducted by Pinchas Zuckerman.
Ryan Boorne and Chan Hon Goh in Cruel World. Photo by Lydia Pawelak.
Cruel World
A NOTE ON CRUEL WORLD
in 1994 james kudelka was invited to create a ballet for
American Ballet Theatre by its Artistic Director, Kevin McKenzie. At that
time Kudelka was Artist in Residence at The National Ballet of Canada
and had just finished creating The Actress for the company. The Actress
consisted mostly of a series of duets centring around the character
portrayed by Karen Kain. In his new work for American Ballet Theatre,
Kudelka wanted to create a piece that showcased an entire ensemble
of stars, using the premiere talent in their company. Entitled Cruel
World, the ballet was again constructed as a series of duets, but was
shaped by the personalities of the many dancers he was working with.
The music for Cruel World is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s turbulent Souvenir
de Florence, a work for String Sextet expanded for String Orchestra. James
Kudelka first took notice of this piece in 1993 during the celebrations of
the centenary of Tchaikovsky’s death. Looking for music to which to set a
new National Ballet work, he heard Tchaikovsky’s sextet on the radio and
was instantly captivated by this rarely heard piece. Though this music
did not surface in a work for the National Ballet, Kudelka guarded this
selection in his memory for future use. After the premiere of Cruel World,
which uses an orchestrated version of Souvenir de Florence, choreographer
Glen Tetley congratulated Kudelka on finding such spectacular and
perfectly suited music for his ballet. William Littler of The Toronto Star
wrote “…the ensemble of dancers rode the crest of the music through
steps of such consistent ingenuity that one could imagine the composer
smiling down from that cloud he inhabits above the spires of
St. Petersburg.”
Because this piece was rarely used for dance, Kudelka only had a taped
version of Souvenir de Florence to work with, not the usual piano
accompaniment for rehearsals. American Ballet Theatre’s limited sound
system did not allow for the music to be properly heard by Kudelka or
the dancers. As luck would have it, during the 1993 Tchaikovsky celebrations,
choreographer John Tarras created a work for New York City Ballet using
sections of Souvenir de Florence. For this piece, New York City Ballet
created a piano reduction score of most of the music for their rehearsals
and American Ballet Theatre was able to borrow it for Kudelka.
On April 29, 1994, American Ballet Theatre premiered Kudelka’s Cruel
World at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. As the curtain went
down in the 4,000 seat auditorium a roaring ovation resounded through
the theatre. Kudelka’s inaugural creation for American Ballet Theatre
was highly acclaimed. Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times hailed it
“A near perfect ballet and a total triumph for Mr. Kudelka.”
Classically constructed, Cruel World shakes the audience’s expectations
with inventive turns and astonishing lifts. The couples ease into beautiful
romantic lifts that twist into unexpected shapes and flowing sequences are
suddenly halted, almost mid-step. There is an obvious element of danger
in the non-narrative Cruel World. Throughout the complex choreography,
Kudelka encourages each dancer to take risks, both physically and
emotionally. In describing Cruel World freelance journalist Gary Smith
writes, “Here, in a work that unlocks its secrets slowly, allowing the
pleasure of discovery, the human condition is revealed in a dark current
of choreographic invention. In Cruel World the emotional connection
between choreographer and dancer is exquisitely complete.”
The success of Cruel World forged a continuing relationship between
Kudelka and American Ballet Theatre. Following the success of the
Cruel World Kudelka has returned several times to American Ballet Theatre
to create States of Grace (1995), The Firebird (2000, co-production
with Houston Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada) and Sin and
Tonic (2002).
Martine Lamy with Artists of the Ballet in Theme and Variations. Photo by Lydia Pawelak.
Theme and Variations
A NOTE ON THEME AND VARIATIONS
The National Ballet of Canada’s former Artistic Director, Reid Anderson,
saw Cruel World in New York and immediately wanted to secure it for the
National Ballet’s repertoire. It was decided that the National Ballet would
add Cruel World to its dynamic roster of Kudelka works for the 1996/97
season. In an interview with William Littler of The Toronto Star Kudelka
stated “Kevin [McKenzie] and I have been talking. We are both concerned
with the future of the art form, rather than saying ‘This is mine!’ When
we rent and share productions, we can expose our dancers and our
audiences to new work and everyone benefits.”
When creating a ballet for another company, Kudelka likens himself to a
portrait painter. He creates using what he sees in front of him. When
creating a ballet like Cruel World, many layers of the choreography come
from earlier pieces, but each new commission adds new personalities
which energize the creative process.
David Richardson, former Artistic Associate for American Ballet Theatre,
came to Toronto to set Cruel World on the National Ballet in May 1996.
The portrait Kudelka created of American Ballet Theatre now imbues the
personality and technique of his own company’s dancers. Kudelka
remarked “my own dancers at the National Ballet are more comfortable
with my choreography than other companies. They instinctively
understand my motivation and my vocabulary of movement is instilled
in their muscle memory.”
Cruel World was previewed by The National Ballet of Canada on June 15,
1996 at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa as part of the Canada Dance
Festival. The Toronto premiere of the ballet took place on November 20,
1996 at the Hummingbird Centre.
george balanchine wrote that theme and variations,
one of the choreographer’s best-known works, was intended “to evoke
that great period in classical dancing when Russian ballet flourished with
the aid of Tchaikovsky’s music.” And while the work is a beautiful and
exuberant tribute to the Petipa legacy, it is also pure Balanchine.
Set to the final movement of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 3 for
Orchestra in G major, the ballet consists of a set of twelve variations,
through which the vocabulary of classical dance is explored and celebrated.
A corps of twelve women forms the basis of the ballet’s choreographic
excursions, and their dances are interwoven with the solo performances
of a principal couple. A grand polonaise builds to the climactic finale
for the entire cast of 26 dancers. Theme and Variations is one of the most
technically demanding in the Balanchine canon, especially for the male
dancers, whose variations are not only of an astonishing intricacy, but are
intended to be danced at great speed.
Theme and Variations was premiered on November 26, 1947 by Ballet
Theatre (later known as American Ballet Theatre). The first performance
starred Alicia Alonso and Igor Youkesvitch and was hailed an immediate
success by critics and audiences alike. It was not until February 5, 1960
that Balanchine’s own company, New York City Ballet, premiered
this work. In 1970 Balanchine added the first three movements of the
Tchaikovsky suite to Theme and Variations to create a larger ballet
known as Suite No. 3.
The National Ballet of Canada first performed Theme and Variations
on February 18, 1998 at the Hummingbird Centre starring Martine Lamy
and Johan Persson in the principal roles. The National Ballet is
performing Theme and Variations this season to mark the centenary
of George Balanchine’s birth.
A NOTE ON GEORGE BALANCHINE
By Gary Smithith
in many ways new york city ballet is still dancing
f o r Balanchine. Though it’s been over 20 years since the great
choreographer’s death, his influence in reshaping the face of
classical ballet in America, and indeed in much of the dance world,
remains a powerful force.
Balanchine created a neo-classical style of dance that in a sense
revolutionized ballet. So many choreographers think they are daringly
different today, yet you can find the genesis for much of their creation
in Balanchine. Minimalist, before we even thought of such abstraction,
Balanchine frequently created ballets in practice clothes on a bare stage.
Ballet master, teacher and choreographer of extraordinary vision,
Balanchine gave music intense visual expression. Like Igor Stravinsky,
the great composer, he sought new ways to reinvent, redefine and
reshape classical structure. From the architecture of great music he
fashioned great dance. And, like Pablo Picasso, he sought exciting
new ways of expressing traditional thought, in serious, yet deliriously
pleasurable new ways.
It would be impossible to produce a short list of the major works of
George Balanchine. There are simply too many important and ground
breaking ballets in his canon, but certainly The Four Temperaments,
Symphony Concertante, Symphony in C, La Valse, Western Symphony, Who
Cares? and Mozartiana define the wide parameters of his brilliant ouevre.
Born January 22, 1904 in St. Petersburg, Russia, a stone’s throw from
the Tsvichevsky Palace, George Melitonovice Balanchivadze fell into
ballet, tagging along with his sister. He first appeared on stage in a
small dance part in The Sleeping Beauty at the Maryinsky Theatre. He
grew up in the ballet world of Alexandra Danilova, Michel Fokine and
Tamara Karsavina.
He created his first ballet La Nuit in 1920 at the age of 16. Lacking
the physical necessities of a danseur noble, he appeared in demicaractère roles, his startling attributes being musicality, speed, a big
jump and sharp attack. These were all to become hallmarks of New
York City Ballet.
George Balanchine was to dance what Mondrian and Picasso were to
painting, what Stravinsky and Bernstein were to music. He saw an art
form in a new and daring way. When his creative genius was stilled
April 30th, 1983, his legend eked into the ether of mythology. He once
said: “I don’t want my ballets preserved as museum pieces for people
to go and laugh at what used to be. Absolutely not. I’m staging
ballets for today’s bodies. Ballet is N O W .”
From our vantage point, here at the beginning of the 21st century, no
one is laughing, just paying homage to a great innovator, ballet
genius ahead of his time.
Gary Smith is the theatre and dance critic for The Hamilton Spectator.
He also writes on the arts for a variety of international publications.
In 1924 Balanchine joined the vestiges of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets
Russes working in Paris and London, honing his choreographic craft.
In 1928 his landmark work Apollon Musagète was premiered in Paris.
It was a harbinger of so many brilliant ballets to come.
Lured to America in 1933 by Lincoln Kirstein, Balanchine entered the
fabled world of his own Hollywood imagination. He founded the
School of American Ballet that would teach American dancers and
ultimately become the foundation for a company. Utilizing the talents
in the school he created his signature piece Serenade in 1934. At the
same time Balanchine also worked on Broadway and in Hollywood
films. In a sense, it was a fusion of this blatant American iconography
that informed his later work. In 1948, along with Lincoln Kirstein,
Balanchine founded New York City Ballet. The company first
performed at City Centre, and in 1964 moved to its own home at
The New York State Theater, Lincoln Centre.
The National Ballet of Canada
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The National Ballet of Canada
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Toronto, Ontario M5V 3K4
Phone: 416-345-9686
Fax: 416-345-8323
Email: info @ national.ballet.ca
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Cover: Rex Harrington and Greta Hodgkinson in Summer from The Four Seasons. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.