| The George Balanchine Foundation

315. Square Dance 1957

Antonio Vivaldi (Concerto Grosso in B minor, Op. 3, no. 10; Concerto Grosso in E major, Op. 3, no. 12 [first movement]) and Arcangelo Corelli (Sarabanda, Badinerie, e Giga [second and third movements])

George Balanchine

Lighting by Nananne Porcher

November 21, 1957, New York City Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama, New York. Leader of on-stage string ensemble: Louis Graeler

Patricia Wilde, Nicholas Magallanes, 6 couples. Square dance caller: Elisha C. Keeler

Performance Type

Ballet

Video Archives Recording

The George Balanchine Foundation Interpreters Archive (pas de deux; girls’ dance [female principal]; finale [leading couple]), 1997; Sarabande solo 2019

Note

Balanchine adapted American folk dance motifs to classical ballet, setting them to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music, with fiddlers on stage and rhymed patter invented by the square dance caller.

Additional Productions

Revisions

New Productions by Balanchine Companies

1976, New York City Ballet: Lighting by Ronald Bates

Stagings

1962   Joffrey Ballet
1972   Grand Theatre de Geneve Ballet (Geneva, Switzerland)
1973   Ballet West
1980   Eglevsky Ballet Company
1980   Pacific Northwest Ballet
1981   Pennsylvania Ballet
1981   North Carolina Dance Theatre
1982   Atlanta Ballet
1982   BalletMet (Columbus, Ohio)
1982   Tulsa Ballet Theatre
1983   Los Angeles Ballet
1983   Louisville Ballet
1984   Ballet du Nord (France)
1984   BalletMet (Columbus, Ohio)
1984   Dance Theatre of Harlem
1984   North Carolina Dance Theatre
1984   Pacific Northwest Ballet
1985   Atlanta Ballet
1985   Royal Danish Ballet
1986   Ballet Oklahoma
1986   Ballet du Nord (France)
1986   Boston Ballet
1986   Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
1986   Texas Ballet (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet)
1987   BalletMet (Columbus, Ohio)
1987   Miami City Ballet
1987   Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
1987   Washington Ballet
1988   Ballet du Nord (France)
1988   Boston Ballet
1988   Texas Ballet (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet)
1989   Louisville Ballet
1990   Ballet Chicago
1990   Hong Kong Ballet
1990   Miami City Ballet
1990   Teatro alla Scala (Milan)
1991   Milwaukee Ballet
1991   Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
1991   Texas Ballet (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet)
1992   Ballet Chicago
1992   Cleveland San Jose Ballet
1992   Nashville City Ballet
1993   Miami City Ballet
1993   Pennsylvania Ballet
1994   Milwaukee Ballet
1994   Royal Winnipeg Ballet
1995   Israel Ballet
1995   Texas Ballet (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet)
1996   Miami City Ballet
1997   Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse
1998   Carolina Ballet
1998   English National Ballet (London Festival)
2000   Carolina Ballet
2000   Joffrey Ballet
2001   English National Ballet (London Festival)
2001   Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
2002   Cincinnati Ballet
2004   Kansas City Ballet
2004   San Francisco Ballet
2004   Joffrey Ballet
2005   Nashville City Ballet
2006   Ballet Arlington
2007   Pacific Northwest Ballet
2010   Ballet San Jose
2010   Pennsylvania Ballet
2011   Oregon Ballet Theatre
2015   Ballet West
2015   Louisville Ballet
2016   Ballet Chicago
2016   City Ballet of San Diego
2016   Pacific Northwest Ballet
2016   Pennsylvania Ballet
2017   Ballet Arizona
2017   Ballet Memphis
2018   BalletMet
2020   Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Dusseldorf)

Recorded Performances

Videos/DVD

1996, Nonesuch, The Balanchine Library: The Balanchine Celebration, Part One (male solo [1993]);
2004, Kultur, Balanchine (girls’ dance [partial])

Television

1963 (NBC, Bell Telephone Hour)
1993 male solo (PBS, Dance in America, “The Balanchine Celebration”)