343. Bugaku 1963 | The George Balanchine Foundation

343. Bugaku 1963

Toshiro Mayuzumi (1962, commissioned by the New York City Ballet)

George Balanchine

Scenery and lighting by David Hays. Costumes by Karinska. Scenery executed by Nolan Brothers

March 20, 1963, New York City Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama, New York. Conductor: Robert Irving

Allegra Kent, Edward Villella, 4 couples

Performance Type

Ballet

Video Archives Recording

George Balanchine Foundation Interpreters Archive (principal roles), 2002, 2020

Note

Following the appearance of the Imperial Gagaku company of musicians and dancers from Japan on programs of the New York City Ballet in 1959, Mayuzumi was invited to compose a piece in the spirit of Japanese court music (Bugaku), but with Western instrumentation. The ballet, in three movements, suggests ceremonial rites of courtship and marriage.

Stagings

1975   Dance Theatre of Harlem
1980   Zurich Ballet (Ballett des Opernhauses Zurich)
1982   Chicago City Ballet (prior to 1980 known as Chicago Lyric Opera Ballet)—disbanded
1984   Dance Theatre of Harlem
1984   Pennsylvania Ballet
1986   Ballet West
1986   Dance Theatre of Harlem
1988   Dance Theatre of Harlem
1988   Royal Ballet
1989   Ballet West
1989   Miami City Ballet
1989   Pennsylvania Ballet
1991   Dance Theatre of Harlem
1991   San Francisco Ballet
1993   Miami City Ballet
1994   San Francisco Ballet
1995   Miami City Ballet
1996   Texas Ballet (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet)
1998   Dance Theatre of Harlem
1999   Miami City Ballet
1999   Pennsylvania Ballet
2002   Ballet Arlington
2002   Pennsylvania Ballet
2007   State Ballet of Georgia
2007   The Suzanne Farrell Ballet
2010   Miami City Ballet
2011   Tbilisi Ballet
2018   The Sarasota Ballet

Television

1977 pas de deux (PBS, Dance in America)
1978 (CBC [Montreal])