Walter Terry: "Sheer delight. Last evening's audience guffawed, sighed, and cheered as the ballet progressed along an unexpected route from horseplay through tender romance to a flamboyant, circuslike finish. The fun is spontaneous and not at all contrived, the romantic section is fresh yet easy in its movement patterns, and the closing polonaise incorporates practically every known trick for bringing down the house. Harold Lang, Tanaquil LeClercq, Nicholas Magallanes, Maria

The original costumes for The Four Temperaments did not last long. The ballet premiered in 1946 and the costumes were discarded in 1951. Today the ballet is performed in black leotard and skin-toned tights. In this post I have gathered all of the photos I can find of the original costumes in order of appearance in the ballet, listed with the original principals dancers of each section. "Tchelitchev suggested Kurt Seligmann, an erudite painter with a big library of alchemy and

Suki Schorer. Photo by Martha Swope, 1964. Nicholas Magallanes, Suki Schorer, Gloria Govrin, Frank Ohman 1964. Photo by Erio Piccagliani...

Bart Cook and Allegra Kent in Episodes. Photo by Martha Swope. From Once a Dancer... by Allegra Kent: "When Balanchine created the part...

Elisha C. Keeler Square dance calling was in Elisha’s blood. His father, Thaddeus Keeler, farmer, carpenter and sawyer, was a well known...

Nicholas Magallanes and Patricia Wilde. Photo by Martha Swope, 1957. "Last night at the City Center the New York City Ballet presented its first new work, and the hitherto sluggish young season came to life with a bang. The work in question was George Balanchine's "Square Dance" and it is a gem. "The set is just a bare hall such as usually houses square dancing, and on a dais sits a band of fiddlers in shirt-sleeves. Below them is caller (a famous one he is, named Elisha C. K

Patricia McBride and Nicholas Magallanes in La Valse. Photo by Fred Fehl, 1963. In 1919, Diaghilev requested that Maurice Ravel compose...

Men (L-R): Nicolas Magallanes, Jonathan Watts, ? Women(L-R): ?, Diana Adams, Melissa Hayden, Jillana, ? On Balanchine’s Divertimento No....

Maria Tallchief: “In Allegro Brillante George extended aspects of classical technique beyond anything I had done before. Rather than...

"By the time Le Clercq emerged as the Balanchine-favored executant of Concerto Barocco, she had become recognized as ‘most nearly the...

Back in August, I discovered several photos of a very young Suzy Pilarre in the corps of Serenade: Photos by Fred Fehl, 1964 Harry Ransom...

Below is the program note that accompanied Serenade at its second performance in December, 1934 performance in Hartford, CT: “Without an...

For a ballet that turns 90 this Monday (June 10th), Serenade has endured it fair share of audiences and critics hypothesizing and...

In Balanchine's Bourrée Fantasque, Maria Tallchief was the second movement ballerina. She wrote, "Increasingly, the roles George created...

“The night was mild, a star glittered somewhere in the distance, the water of the plaza fountain soared and splashed, and a brass quintet...

“During the day we rehearsed both ballets [Serenade & Symphony in C], and it was painful. The Covent Garden stage took getting used to....

(37/50) Maria Tallchief on the preparation for the first Nutcracker: “As usual, he created the pas de deux for André and me with a...

Speaking of the opening night performance in 1948, Anatole Chujoy wrote, "The thrill of the evening came with Balanchine's Symphony in C....

“Serenade is like a labyrinth Balanchine has constructed to guide us, gently, but with no recourse but to proceed.” —Toni Bentley in...

On October 11, 1948, New York City Ballet gave its first official performance at the City Center Theater. The program was all Balanchine....