Wilhelmina Frankfurt & David Richardson. Photo by Martha Swope, 1976. NYPL In 1976 at the Maurice Ravel Festival, Balanchine premiered the ballet, “Le Tombeau de Couperin.”  Anna Kisselgoff declared, this ballet was, “was the masterpiece of the [Ravel] Festival, a ballet that deserves to endure with the best of the Balanchine repertory and one whose creative and intellectual underpinnings are first-rate. “In ‘Le Tombeau de Couperin,’ Mr. Balanchine has used the 18th-century c

The following is a chapter from Twyla Tharp's book Push Comes to Shove : Twyla Tharp Foundation Shortly after Sue's Leg, I met with Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith, co-directors of American Ballet Theatre, and their associate, Antony Tudor, in a very large, fairly intimidating, sumptuously appointed, and appropriately high-up corner office in a Chase Manhattan Bank building. Wasting no time, Miss Chase asked me to make a ballet for Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gelsey Kirkland, Martine v

Peter Martins and Suzanne Farrell in Chaconne. Photo by Max Waldman. I’m so happy today begins NYCB’s Spring Season. Back to my daily...

Tzigane was the first ballet that Balanchine choreographed for Suzanne after she returned to NYCB. She wrote about the choreographic...

“Mr. B was friendly with M. Arpels of Van Cleef and Arpels, and, in a mutually profitable publicity heist, I went with George to the...

[36/60] "In the beginning, there was Tchaikovsky; maybe there still is. 'I always have an idea he is so happy because we do it right,'...

[17/50] Suzanne Farrell on the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy: “She has all the authority. She is an elegant lady, beautiful and kind; and...

When on tour in Russia in 1972, Stravinsky Violin Concerto was a hit with audiences. Russian dance critic, Yuri Slonimsky, praised...

A Robbins biographer, Amanda Vaill, wrote, "In its first movement the two partners indulge in a few folk-inflected gestures […] that seem...

Baryshnikov recalled the rehearsal process for Other Dances with Jerome Robbins: “He himself showed us everything; he moves beautifully,...

(11/12) Here are a few miscellaneous photos that didn’t fit a specific topic, but were too beautiful not to share. (top left) Kyra...

(8/12) The Oberon variation has been described by dancers as one of the fastest and most difficult male variations that Balanchine...