Serenade
Ballet in one act

Choreography by George Balanchine
© The George Balanchine Trust
Production of George Balanchine Ballet © SERENADE prepared in cooperation with the George Balanchine Fund © and executed in accordance with the standards of Balanchine Style © and Balanchine Technique ©, as stipulated and made available by the Fund.
Staged by Francia Russell, Suzanne Schorer
Costume Designer: Barbara Karinska
Original Lighting by Ronald Bates
Music Director: Igor Dronov
Adaptation of the Lighting Design: Alexander Rubtsov

World premiere took place in New York (Adelphi Theatre) on March 1, 1935. Then the piece was danced by American Ballet
Was premiered on February 13, 2007.
For the first time was presented with In the Upper Room by Twyla Tharp and Misericordes (Elsinore) by Christopher Wheeldon.
Running time: 35 minutes.

Serenade was first danced by the Bolshoi Ballet in 2007 since when the Company has virtually never been parted from it. It is lyrical ballet, evoking the play of moonlight on water, though it derives, to all intents and purposes, from a lesson in ballet class. Serenade was the great George Balanchine's first American ballet (1935). America became for him a promised land where he would find his feet and his talent would burgeon. George Balanchine: "As part of the school curriculum, I started an evening ballet class in stage technique, to give students some idea of how dancing on stage differs from class-work. Serenade evolved from the lessons I gave. <…>… many people think there is a concealed story in the ballet. There is not. There are, simply, dancers in motion to a beautiful piece of music. The only story is the music's story, a serenade, a dance, if you like, in the light of the moon" (from the book 101 Stories of the Great Ballets). The Bolshoi's new (2010) stage version of the ballet is by Sandra Jennings.

Photo © Damir Yusupov/Bolshoi Theatre


Giselle
Ballet in two acts Production by Vladimir Vasiliev

Premiered on December 25, 1997.

Presented with one interval.
Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes.