Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2
Formerly Ballet Imperial
American Ballet Caravan, a predecessor to the New York City Ballet, toured South America in 1941 with choreographer George Balanchine at the helm, ready to campaign for America and the Allies in WWII using the arts- specifically, classical ballet. Balanchine set out to make a ballet that reimagined the imperial, classic technique of Russian ballet, and of Frenchman-turned-St. Petersburgian Marius Petipa, who created popular ballets such as Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. The result was Ballet Imperial, a sparkling dance that exemplified the hierarchal structure of a classical ballet while showcasing Balanchine’s ability to truly allow the corps de ballet- the background dancers- to dance, and no stand to the side (literally). There is a principal couples leading the piece, with a duet and difficult solos. There is a soloist woman who performs in a pas de trois (literally, step of three) with two soloist men, and demi-soloist women leading a large corps de ballet.
The original production, featuring Marie-Jeanne as the principal ballerina, included infamously trick steps for her role: the double sou de basque, a jumping step usually reserved for men in which the dancer throwing a leg up, simultaneously pushing off the standing leg, and rotates, twice, before landing. Marie-Jeanne had also premiered the principal role in Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, another difficult principal role, in the same year.
The costumes for the ballet have undergone six transformations throughout the years at New York City Ballet alone, spanning Karinska tutus to Swarovski-laden chiffon blue dresses. In 1973, Balanchine also renamed the ballet to Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2, claiming that there was no “imperial” anymore- only the Empire Hotel (which, to this day, sits across the street from New York City Ballet’s home at Lincoln Center). In my opinion, may have been a delayed response to his 1962 trip back to Russia, the first time Balanchine had seen what his country had become under Soviet rule in forty years. His 1964 production, grand and imperial, might not have done enough to restore his faith in his, and classical ballet’s, home land.
However, Balanchine’s shift towards chiffon dresses and plain blue cyclorama’s in place of tutus and backdrops of St. Petersburg did not diminish the royal feel of the ballet as a whole. Nor did these changes take away from the echoes of the classical full-length ballets. The structure draws parallels to a mini-Petipa ballet.
The opening introduces everyone in the cast. Then there is a “vision scene”, reflecting scenes like the Kingdom of the Shades in La Bayadere’s protagonist’s dream, or, in Sleeping Beauty, the vision Prince Desire has where he first sees the slumbering princess, or an apparition of her. The principal ballerina is just out of reach, and the corps are slyphs or shades or circumstance keeping her from her partner’s embrace.
Finally, a jubilant celebration brings the whole cast back out, recalling a wedding scene of Sleeping Beauty and the like.
For more information on the ballet, read, listen, and watch the following!
https://podcast.nycballet.com/episode-97-hear-the-dance-tschaikovsky-piano-concerto-no-2
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGjP_oLaps/Uz5Boyn2uK1cqIFgTgyu1A/edit
https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/all-essays/dry6w74i5lw1ze3n9gjgd1vm8z2y2e?rq=ballet%20imperial
https://www.nycballet.com/discover/ballet-repertory/tschaikovsky-piano-concerto-no-2/
So interesting to read the vision scene parallels you drew with story ballets, and the changes illustrated in your timeline! 😊