Episode 155: Hear the Dance: Dances at a Gathering

Host Silas Farley is back with another fascinating Hear the Dance conversation, joined this week by Kay Mazzo, Christine Redpath, and Jean-Pierre Frohlich to discuss Jerome Robbins' masterpiece Dances at a Gathering. In this wide-ranging and intimate conversation, they share memories of the ballet's momentous 1969 premiere as well as time spent with Robbins in the rehearsal studio. As they discuss the various sections of Dances, they reflect on moments when Robbins' humor emerges; the "freedom" and even suspense of certain passages; and the ways in which the ballet is a gift from the choreographer as much to the dancers, who share in its rich sense of community, as to the audience. (1:09:57)

Written by Silas Farley

Edited by Emilie Silvestri

Music:

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major (1931) by Igor Stravinsky

Mazurka, op. 63, no. 3; Waltz, op. 69, no. 2; Mazurka, op. 33, no. 3; Mazurkas, op. 6, nos. 2 and 4, op. 7, nos. 4 and 5, op. 24, no. 2; Waltz, op. 24; Waltz, op. 34, no. 2; Mazurka, op. 56, no. 2; Etude, op. 25, no. 4; Waltz, op. 34, no. 1; Waltz, op. 70, no. 2; Etude, op. 25, no. 5; Etude, op. 10, no. 2; Scherzo, op. 20, no. 1; Nocturne, op. 15, no. 1

All music performed by New York City Ballet Orchestra

Reading List:

Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins by Amanda Vaill

Jerome Robbins, by Himself: Selections from His Letters, Journals, Drawings, Photographs, and an Unfinished Memoir Edited and with Commentary by Amanda Vaill

Life of Chopin by Franz Liszt

Chopin: Prince of the Romantics by Adam Zamoyski