About this Event
Classic ballets from the 19th century may be household names, but what does their original history tell us about how they were first performed and what we can learn from the past that is useful for today’s stagings? Marian Smith and Doug Fullington discuss long-forgotten aspects of some of the most well-known ballet classics with the dance writer Marina Harss. The two dance historians recently published Five Ballets from Paris and St. Petersburg, a book that provides an in-depth look at the earliest productions of Giselle, Paquita, Le Corsaire, La Bayadère, and Raymonda, including detailed accounts of choreography, mime, music, and action.
These classic story ballets were intended to appeal to popular audiences—they were easy to follow, full of variety, and they dazzled with special effects and spectacle. But in the 20th century, many of them underwent radical changes. And more recently, serious discussions have arisen about cultural insensitivity and exoticization. What is still interesting about them today?
By revealing in unprecedented detail what they were like when first created, Smith and Fullington explore the viability of a number of ballet classics that are commonly revived for today's audiences.
Photo Credit: Press illustration by Henry Augustin Valentin depicting Paquita, Act Two, Scene I, Paris Opéra, 1846. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.
SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but registration is requested. Check-in line forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. Five minutes before the advertised start time, all seats are released, regardless of registration, to our patrons in the stand-by line. If you arrive after the program starts, you will be seated at the discretion of our front-of-house staff.
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ASSISTIVE LISTENING AND ASL | ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing [email protected].
BRUNO WALTER POLICY | Please note that any unoccupied seat will be released five minutes before the show begins and holding seats for anyone beyond that is prohibited. There is no food or drink allowed inside the venue.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts -Bruno Walter Auditorium, Enter via 111 Amsterdam Ave. between West 64th and 65th Street, New York, United States
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