Movement & Melody

Music has the power to move us — literally! Artistic Partner David Roberston leads a rhythmic program full of music created expressly for movement and dance. First up are two pieces by Chopin — a Parisian-style waltz and a graceful nocturne — arranged by the dance-minded Stravinsky for Diaghilev’s ballet Les Sylphides. Diaghilev also commissioned ballet music from Debussy, who responded with the unpredictable music of Jeux (“Games”); in the ballet, a young couple play with a tennis ball like children until suddenly, “Surprised and alarmed, the young man and the girls disappear into the nocturnal depths of the garden.” Ravel composed his lush 1912 ballet Daphnis et Chloé by request of (no surprise!) Diaghilev; it tells the story of a romance between Daphnis the goatherd and Chloé the shepherdess, with appearances by Pan, nymphs, and even pirates.