''Pictures at an Exhibition'' is a ballet choreographed by

Alexei Ratmansky Alexei Osipovich Ratmansky (russian: Алексей Осипович Ратманский, born August 27, 1968) is a Russian-American choreographer and former ballet dancer. From 2004 to 2008 he was the director of the Bolshoi Ballet. He left Rus ...

to Mussorgsky's eponymous score. The ballet premiered on October 2, 2014 at the

David H. Koch Theater The David H. Koch Theater is a theater for ballet, modern and other forms of dance, part of the Lincoln Center, at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Originally ...

, danced by the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

Production

Ratmansky's ''Pictures at an Exhibition'' is performed by five men and five women. The original cast includes Wendy Whelan, who had created roles in every Ratmansky's works for the New York City Ballet at that point, and was scheduled to retire from ballet at the end of the season. The score by Mussorgsky is about a posthumous exhibition of works by

Viktor Hartmann Viktor Alexandrovich Hartmann (Russian: Ви́ктор Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; 5 May 1834, Saint Petersburg – 4 August 1873, Kireyevo near Moscow) was a Russian architect and painter. He was associated with the Abramt ...

. However,

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

's painting ''Color Study: Squares With Concentric Circles'' is projected on stage, designed by Wendall K. Harrington.

Adeline André Adeline André (, born in 1949) is a French fashion designer and the head of one of the sixteen haute couture design houses in Paris. Early life She was born in Bangui, French Equatorial Africa in 1949 and studied at the Ecole de la Chambre ...

designed the costumes. The

Pacific Northwest Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is a ballet company based in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States, with 11,000 subscribers in 2004. The company consists of 49 dan ...

made their debut in ''Pictures of an Exhibitions'' in 2017. Whelan stage the ballet for the company, though she had never staged a ballet before. She said she watched the video footage of the ballet repeatedly and spent hours everyday over a month to write down the steps.

Original cast

Original cast:

Reception

On the premiere, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that the ballet "is surely the most casually diverse work Mr. Ratmansky has created, but it gathers unstoppable momentum." The ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'' gave the ballet four stars, and commented that the ballet "abounds in ballet quotations and commentary, yet its tone is not ironic."

Videography

In 2020, in response to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the performing arts, the New York City Ballet released a 2017 video recording of excerpts of the ballet, featuring Peck, Mearns, Stafford, Garcia, Angle, Gordon,

Sterling Hyltin Sterling Hyltin is an American ballet dancer. She is currently a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet. Early life and training Hyltin was born in Amarillo, Texas. She wanted to be an ice skater, and would train before school started. Howe ...

, Claire Kretzschmar, Aaron Sanz and Andrew Veyette. The latter two were making their debut at the taping.

References

{{Reflist 2014 ballet premieres Ballets by Alexei Ratmansky New York City Ballet repertory