NYCB Vol. 19 No. 7 - La Source
"Yes, there is something of the Paris Opera Ballet and the 19th‐century about the ensembles in the New York City Ballet's 'La Source.' With so many pretty girls in pink tutus waving their arms and kicking their legs to Leo Delibes's music, one can just hear a Comte de Cambriolage looking the field over from his box and asking about the third one from the left.
"But if there is a touch of decadence about George Balanchine's musings on the 19th century French music from two Delibes scores, 'La Source' and 'Naila,' decadence is not its essence. There is more than decorative dancing by a chorus line here. There is also an unconventionally structured pas de deux, quite unlike anything else choreographed by Balanchine. It is this duet, interwoven with the more chic, weaker ensemble passages, that rescues 'La Source' from triviality.
"Tuesday night at the State Theater, at the first performance in more than a year, 'La Source' found salvation in the brilliant dancing of Violette Verdy and Edward Villella as the principals. The ballerina role was created upon Miss Verdy in 1968 when Balanchine reworked an earlier ballet into the present enlarged duet and divertissement It was a perfect example of entente cordiale between a choreographer and a dancer.
"French‐born and French trained, Miss Verdy brings the Parisian piquancy and pizzicato that Balanchine requires in the ballerina's solos to differentiate them from the more formal classicism of his 'Russian' style. Like Mr. Villella she is the rare dancer who can hold the stage completely by herself.
"Mr. Villella has now made the other leading role his own, excelling particularly in the partnering and lifts that recur so frequently in the choreography. Carol Sumner, dancing securely, led the ensemble.
--Anna Kisselgoff, New York Times, 1973
This footage was originally posted by @john_cliff26 as silent footage. I have taken the time to retrofit the audio to the video, with what I would say is about an 85% success rate. The majority of the dancing is aligned with the music, but if you notice moments that are out of sync, it is due to the variance of tempi between the video performance and audio performance.
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