Serenade* & Fancy Free**
Enter one of ballet’s most fascinating periods, when impresarios and daring choreographers changed the course of dance history. Ballet Russe Reimagined is a three-part series paying homage to the innovations that propelled ballet into the 20th and 21st centuries.
Paris 1909 — impresario Serge Diaghilev devised the avant-garde Ballets Russes company that became one of the most influential catalysts of performing arts to date. Artistic collaborations, innovative choreography, and compelling compositions created a sensation that reignited the public’s passion for the art of dance, shaping the artistic and popular culture of the time.
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Ballet Russe Reimagined III will feature Balanchine’s Serenade and Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free.
George Balanchine is the most prominent ballet choreographer of the 20th century. He began his career as a choreographer at the Ballets Russes before immigrating to America and founding the New York City Ballet. In this series, Fort Wayne Ballet will be performing the first ballet he choreographed in America, Serenade, which remains one of the most significant ballets of the 20th century since it premiered in 1935.
According to New York City Ballet’s website, “Balanchine began the ballet as a lesson in stage technique and worked unexpected rehearsal events into the choreography; a student’s fall or late arrival to rehearsal became part of the ballet.” Often described as a plotless ballet, audience members tend to find their own story within the choreography.
Jerome Robbins, along with Balanchine, is one of the most significant choreographers of the 20th century. A Tony Award winner, Robbins choreographed Broadway productions such as West Side Story and On the Town. Fancy Free is the first ballet Robbins choreographed and is a beloved comedic ballet set in the 1940s that tells the story of three sailors on a night out in New York City while on leave.
These performances take place at the new Pearl Street Arts Center!
*Serenade performed with permission of the George Balanchine Trust
** Fancy Free performed with the permission of the Jerome Robbins Trust
Tickets $30 if purchased by February 28, 2025
Tickets $35 starting March 1, 2025