Piano Pieces

Choreography#

Piano Pieces is danced by seven principal dancers and a corps de ballet of six couples, all dressed in Russian style costumes. Deborah Jowitt described that “it’s the patterns and choreographic ideas that create a sense of a village, not just the device of people watching others dance.”

Production#

Piano Pieces was created for the New York City Ballet’s Tchaikovsky Festival. He nevertheless choreographed three ballets for the festival. Piano Pieces uses various piano pieces, including excerpts from The Seasons. Robbins originally planned the ballet to be about a group of dancers rehearsing a fictitious ballet. However, once rehearsals began, he abandoned this idea, and changed the theme to be about the joy of dancing." While the dancers had many rehearsals, he enjoyed the experience more than he expected. Stacy Caddell, who had a small role in the ballet, recalled, “When we did Piano Pieces, it was hard, because Jerry would come in with Version A, B, C, D, E, F, G, up to J—like cut-and-paste.” Piano Pieces is also the first ballet Robbins made on Maria Calegari. The costumes were designed by Ben Benson. The lighting was designed by Ronald Bates.

Original cast#

The principal dancers in the original cast included: * Maria Calegari * Kyra Nichols * Heather Watts * Ib Andersen * Bart Cook * Daniel Duell * Joseph Duell

Performances#

Piano Pieces premiered on June 12, 1981, at the New York State Theater. Later at the festival, when some works had to be cancelled due to injuries, Piano Pieces was performed again.

Critical reception#

After the premiere, New York Times critic compared Piano Pieces to Dances at a Gathering, which is set to works by Frédéric Chopin, and commented, “The differences between the two ballets are perhaps not as great as the difference between Chopin and Tchaikovsky. But choreographically, Mr. Robbins’s interest in partnering reaches a new peak. Piano Pieces is a brilliant step forward in the art of the pas de deux.”

External links#

• Piano Pieces on New York City Ballet’s website