Requiem for a Rose

Pennsylvania Ballet
Program IV

Merriam Theater
Wednesday, May 5 - Sunday, May 9
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Square Dance: Choreography by George Balanchine (Music: Vivaldi/Corelli)
Afternoon of a Faun*: Choreography by Jerome Robbins (Music: Debussy)
Requiem for a Rose: Choreography by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (Music: Schubert)
In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated*: Choreography by William Forsythe (Music: Willems)

Master choreographer George Balanchine's Square Dance explores the juxtapositions of American folk dances and classical ballet. The hierarchal pairings and partner exchanges suggest the formal patterns of square dance, but the piece also offers virtuosic performances from the lead ballerina and male soloist. The Company has not performed this celebrated work since its 1992-1993 Season. The transient nature of love is explored in Requiem for a Rose, a dynamic work created for the Company during its 45th Anniversary Season. This encore engagement reunites choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's vision of 12 dancers as bouquet of roses, in bold and fluid movements that hinge on a single heartbeat. The Company's newest Robbins acquisition, Afternoon of a Faun, is considered a landmark piece of lyrical dance theater. A nymph-like figure interrupts a male dancer's work in the dance studio, and the pair engages in a delicate duet with the audience as their mirror. The stunning simplicity of the choreography underscores the compelling complexities that lie behind the glass. Nuance and depth saturate In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated, a frenetic experiment in angular movement that demands the raw commitment of its cast. The feigned disdain of the dancers contrasts the technical demands of the choreography. The New York Times declared this work "changed the way people perceived classical dance: how the fundamental principles of ballet technique could be used in new ways, how dancers could behave onstage, how we could see them." The Company Premiere of In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated has been funded by The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, through Dance Advance.

All artists and programs subject to change.