Semperoper Ballett

Now, Balanchine repetiteur Nanette Glushak is in Dresden until 11 May in order to study and rehearse this renowned work with the dancers of the Semperoper Ballett. The acclaimed ballerina performed at the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre in leading roles of the classical repertoire. Between the 1980s and 2012, she also held positions as Artistic Director at the Dallas Fort-Worth Ballet, the Scottish Ballet and the Ballet du Capitole. Since 1987, she has been rehearsing Balanchine's works worldwide and works as a guest ballet master on an international level.

Mr Balanchine, who was born and trained as a dancer in Russia, emigrated to the US at the beginning of the 1930s. Together with the American patron and ballet lover Lincoln Kirstein, he founded the School of American Ballet in 1934. This institution also formed the basis for the New York City Ballet. This Russian-American fusion made George Balanchine a pioneer of neoclassical dance technique at that time. »Serenade« was his first choreography created in the US and was originally developed with the students of his dance school. Nevertheless, this work is characterised by the highest level of technical sophistication, e.g. in terms of the (inter)actions in the space or the handling of the tempo of the music on part of the dancers. With »Serenade«, Mr Balanchine created a so-called symphonic ballet, inspired by Pyotr. I. Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C major, op. 48 (1880), in which the choreographer does not tell a concrete story, but rather creates an abstract work from the music. He succeeded in elaborating an elegant interplay between music and dance by playing with motifs which he mirrors, varies or sets in counterpoint. 

»Serenade’s« simple aesthetic is visually complemented by the costumes by Karinska, a Ukrainian-American designer for the dance, musical and film scene. Although this choreography met different costume designs time and again, long, light blue tulle skirts and a blue set design have become established through the decades in order to visualise the romantic atmosphere of the music. This colour scheme traces back to the 19th century - in particular the »ballets blancs«, the »white« ballets, in which the narrative part is of minor significance. In these, it was primarily the ladies of the corps de ballet who danced on pointe, thus embodying supernatural beings such as sylphs or shadows.