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Maria Kowroski
Maria Kowroski is an American ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet. Early life Kowroski was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She started ballet at the age of five. In 1992, she entered the School of American Ballet in New York City. Career In 1994, at the age of 17, Kowroski entered the New York City Ballet as an apprentice, and became a member of the corps de ballet a year later. She was promoted to soloist in 1997 and principal dancer in 1999. She has danced classical productions such as ''Swan Lake'', Balanchine's works including '' Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux'' and ''The Nutcracker'', and originated roles such as Christopher Wheeldon's '' After the Rain''. Before her retirement she was the company's most senior dancer, and the only remaining dancer to have worked with founding choreographer Jerome Robbins. Kowroski had danced with Mariinsky Ballet and Munich Ballet as guest artist. She also performed in Dance Against Cancer's 2019 concert. Also in 2 ...
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Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the central city of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area, which has a population of 1,087,592 and a combined statistical area population of 1,383,918. Situated along the Grand River approximately east of Lake Michigan, it is the economic and cultural hub of West Michigan, as well as one of the fastest-growing cities in the Midwest. A historic furniture manufacturing center, Grand Rapids is home to five of the world's leading office furniture companies and is nicknamed "Furniture City". Other nicknames include "River City" and more recently, "Beer City" (the latter given by ''USA Today'' and adopted by the city as a brand). The city and surrounding communities are economically diverse, based in the health care, information technology, ...
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Barbie Of Swan Lake
''Barbie of Swan Lake'' is a 2003 computer-animated fantasy film directed by Owen Hurley. It was released to video and DVD on September 30, 2003, and made its television premiere on Nickelodeon on November 16, 2003. Based on the Tchaikovsky ballet '' Swan Lake'', the film is the third CGI entry in the ''Barbie'' film series, and the second entry based on a Tchaikovsky ballet (the first was ''Barbie in the Nutcracker''). Barbie and Odette are voiced by Kelly Sheridan. Plot The story is told by Barbie to her little sister, Kelly, who is feeling uneasy about being at overnight camp for the first time. Odette is a young woman who lives in a small village with her father and sister, and works in the family bakery. Odette is a talented dancer but is shy and timid about it. Meanwhile, Prince Daniel is informed by his mother that it is time for him to marry and she is hosting a ball for him to choose a wife. The men of the village go after a unicorn named Lila. Lila is followed by a c ...
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The Sleeping Beauty (ballet)
''The Sleeping Beauty'' ( rus, Спящая красавица, Spyashchaya krasavitsa ) is a ballet in a prologue and three acts, first performed in 1890. The music was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( Opus 66). The score was completed in 1889, and is the second of his three ballets. The original scenario was conceived by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and is based on Charles Perrault's '' La Belle au bois dormant''. The choreographer of the original production was Marius Petipa. The premiere performance took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 15, 1890. The work has become one of the classical repertoire's most famous ballets. History Tchaikovsky was approached by the Director of the Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg, Ivan Vsevolozhsky on 25 May 1888 about a possible ballet adaptation on the subject of the story of '' Undine''. It was later decided that Charles Perrault's '' La Belle au bois dormant'' would be the story for which Tchaikovsky ...
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Polyphonia
''Polyphonia'' is a one-act ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to music by György Ligeti, costumes designed by Holly Hynes, and was created for the New York City Ballet. It premiered on January 4, 2001 at the New York State Theater. It is regarded as Wheeldon's breakthrough, and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production in 2003. Production Performed by the New York City Ballet, ''Polyphonia'' premiered on January 4, 2001 at the New York State Theater. It was the first premiere of the company's winter season. ''Polyphonia'' is the first ballet Wheeldon created after he became artist-in-residence with the New York City Ballet and retired from dancing. It is plotless. Wheeldon described it as "romantic with comic twists", and said it was inspired by Norman Morrice's works, though reviewers have noted it also includes homage to Frederick Ashton and George Balanchine, especially the latter's "leotard ballets". The title is a reference to micropolyphony ...
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Romeo And Juliet (Prokofiev)
''Romeo and Juliet'' (russian: Ромео и Джульетта, Romeo i Dzhulyetta), Op. 64, is a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev based on William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet''. First composed in 1935, it was substantially revised for its Soviet premiere in early 1940. Prokofiev reused music from the ballet in three suites for orchestra and a solo piano work. Background and premiere Based on a synopsis created by Adrian Piotrovsky (who first suggested the subject to Prokofiev) and Sergey Radlov, the ballet was composed by Prokofiev in September 1935 to their scenario which followed the precepts of "drambalet" (dramatised ballet, officially promoted at the Kirov Ballet to replace works based primarily on choreographic display and innovation). Following Radlov's acrimonious resignation from the Kirov in June 1934, a new agreement was signed with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on the understanding that Piotrovsky would remain involved. However, the ballet's original happy en ...
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Movements For Piano And Orchestra (ballet)
''Movements for Piano and Orchestra'' is a neoclassical ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Stravinsky's score of the same name. The ballet premiered on April 9, 1963, at City Center of Music and Drama, performed by the New York City Ballet. Though the two lead roles were created for Diana Adams and Jacques d'Amboise, seventeen-year-old Suzanne Farrell danced the female lead at the premiere due to Adams' pregnancy. Starting in 1966, ''Movements'' and '' Monumentum pro Gesualdo'' (1960) are performed together. Choreography ''Movements for Piano and Orchestra'' is set to the composition of the same name by Stravinsky, a friend of Balanchine. Balanchine commented that the score's "complexity and compression are remarkable." However, conductor Hugo Fiorato once said, "Who... would listen to Movements of Stravinsky by itself?... I don't think I would. But when you hear ''Movements'' and you see ''Movements'' through Balanchine's eyes and what he has added to the score, it ...
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A Midsummer Night's Dream (ballet)
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a two-act ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn), Felix Mendelssohn's music to A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's play of the same name. History ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', Balanchine's first completely original full-length ballet, premiered at New York City Ballet on 17 January 1962, with Edward Villella in the role of Oberon, Melissa Hayden (dancer), Melissa Hayden in the role of Titania (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Titania, and Arthur Mitchell (dancer), Arthur Mitchell in the role of Puck. They were joined by Francisco Moncion in the role of Theseus- Duke of Athens. Description In addition to the incidental music, Balanchine incorporated other Mendelssohn works into the ballet, including the Overtures to ''Athalie'', ''Die Heimkehr aus der Fremde, Son and Stranger'', and ''The Fair Melusine'', the "String Symphony No. 9 in C minor" and ''Die erste Walpurgisnacht, The First Walpurgis Night' ...
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Jewels (ballet)
''Jewels'' is a three-act ballet created for the New York City Ballet by co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine. It premièred on Thursday, 13 April 1967 at the New York State Theater, with sets designed by Peter Harvey and lighting by Ronald Bates. ''Jewels'' has been called the first full-length abstract ballet. It has three related movements: '' Emeralds'', '' Rubies'', and ''Diamonds'' (usually separated by intermissions). It can also be seen as three separate ballets, linked by their jewel-colored costumes. Balanchine commented: "The ballet had nothing to do with jewels. The dancers are just dressed like jewels." Each of the three acts features the music of a different composer: ''Emeralds'' is set to the music of Gabriel Fauré, ''Rubies'' to the music of Igor Stravinsky and ''Diamonds'' to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Costumes The costumes were created by Balanchine's long-time collaborator Barbara Karinska, who created a distinct look for each diffe ...
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The Firebird
''The Firebird'' (french: L'Oiseau de feu, link=no; russian: Жар-птица, Zhar-ptitsa, link=no) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who collaborated with Alexandre Benois on a scenario based on the Russian fairy tales of the Firebird and the blessing and curse it possesses for its owner. It was first performed at the Opéra de Paris on 25 June 1910 and was an immediate success, catapulting Stravinsky to international fame. Although designed as a work for the stage, with specific passages accompanying characters and action, the music achieved equal if not greater recognition as a concert piece. Stravinsky was a young, virtually unknown composer when Diaghilev recruited him to create works for the Ballets Russes; ''L'Oiseau de feu'' was the first such major project. The success of the ballet was ...
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Dances At A Gathering
''Dances at a Gathering'' is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to music by Frédéric Chopin, with costumes designed by Joe Eula. The ballet premiered on May 22, 1969, at the New York State Theater, performed by the New York City Ballet. Production ''Dances at a Gathering'' is the first ballet Robbins created for the New York City Ballet (NYCB) in years, after he worked on Broadway theatre. He first planned to make a pas de deux for Patricia McBride and Edward Villella, but it was eventually expanded to five couples. According to NYCB, after George Balanchine saw 25 minutes of the ballet, he said: " ke more, make it like popcorn", so Robbins enlarged the ballet to an hour long. With costumes by Joe Eula and lighting by Thomas Skelton, the ballet had a gala preview on May 8, 1969, before premiering on May 22. Robbins dedicated the ballet to lighting designer Jean Rosenthal, who had died on May 1. Following the premiere, there were many speculations regarding the narra ...
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Concerto Barocco
''Concerto Barocco'' is a neoclassical ballet made for students at the School of American Ballet by George Balanchine, subsequently ballet master and co-founder of New York City Ballet, to Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto in D minor for Two Violins, BWV 1043. After an open dress rehearsal on May 29, 1941, in the Little Theatre of Hunter College, New York, the official premiere took place June 27, 1941, at Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro as part of American Ballet Caravan's South American tour. ''Concerto Barocco'' subsequently entered the repertory of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, premiering on September 9, 1945, at New York City Center.Martin, John"THE DANCE: BALLET RUSSE: Monte Carlo Company to Present New Works in City Center Season,"''New York Times'' (August 26, 1945). The New York City Ballet premiere was October 11, 1948, as one of three ballets on the program of its first performance at New York City Center. Three years later, in 1951, Balanchine replaced the ...
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The Concert (ballet)
''The Concert (or The Perils of Everybody)'' is a ballet made by Jerome Robbins, subsequently New York City Ballet's ballet master, to Chopin's: : Polonaise in A major "Military", Op. 40, No. 1 : Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57 : Prelude in F minor, Op. 28, No. 18 :Prelude in B flat minor, Op. 28, No. 16 : Waltz in E minor, Op. posth. :Prelude in A major, Op. 28, No. 7 :Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4 : Mazurka in G major, KK IIa/2 : Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 47 The décor was by Saul Steinberg, the costumes by Irene Sharaff and the lighting by Ronald Bates. The premiere took place at City Center of Music and Drama, New York, on Tuesday, 6 March 1956. Robbins made three subsequent ballets to Chopin's music: ''Dances at a Gathering'' (1969), '' In the Night'' (1970), and '' Other Dances'' (1976), made for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova. Original cast *Tanaquil LeClercq * Todd Bolender *Yvonne Mounsey * Robert Barnett * Wilma Curley * John Mandia * ...
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