{{short description|Ballet by Jerome Robbins}} {{Italic title}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox ballet | name = Dances at a Gathering | italic title = yes | image = Dances at a Gathering Royal Ballet 2008.jpg | image_size = 260px | alt = | caption = Royal Ballet dancers at the curtain call of ''Dances at a Gathering'' (2008) | choreographer = Jerome Robbins | composer = Frédéric Chopin | premiere = {{Start date|1969|05|22}} | place = New York State Theater | ballet_company = New York City Ballet | designer = Joe Eula | created_for = | genre = Neoclassical ballet | type = | url = <!--{{URL|example.com}}--> }} '''''Dances at a Gathering''''' is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to music by Frédéric Chopin, with costumes designed by Joe Eula. The ballet premiered on May 22, 1969, at the New York State Theater, performed by the New York City Ballet.
==Production== ''Dances at a Gathering'' is the first ballet Robbins created for the New York City Ballet (NYCB) in years, after he worked on Broadway theatre.<ref name=Lin>{{cite news|url=https://bachtrack.com/feature-dances-at-a-gathering-jerome-robbins-esplanade-paul-taylor-america-month-may-2019|title=American masterworks: Dances at a Gathering and Esplanade|website=Bachtrack|last=Lin|first=Ivy|date=May 1, 2019}}</ref> He first planned to make a pas de deux for Patricia McBride and Edward Villella, but it was eventually expanded to five couples.<ref name=Oxford/> According to NYCB, after George Balanchine saw 25 minutes of the ballet, he said: "[m]ake more, make it like popcorn", so Robbins enlarged the ballet to an hour long.<ref name=NYCB/> With costumes by Joe Eula and lighting by Thomas Skelton, the ballet had a gala preview on May 8, 1969, before premiering on May 22. Robbins dedicated the ballet to lighting designer Jean Rosenthal, who had died on May 1.<ref name=Oxford/>
Following the premiere, there were many speculations regarding the narratives of the ballet so Robbins wrote to ''Ballet Review'' in all caps to insist that the ballet has no stories, plot or roles, and the dancers are merely "themselves dancing with each other to music in that place."<ref name=Macaulay/> In the ballet, the performers are credited by the colors of their costumes.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/25/archives/delia-peters-beguiling-in-dances-at-a-gathering.html|title=Delia Peters Beguiling in 'Dances at a Gathering'|newspaper=New York Times|date=May 26, 1976}}</ref> The ballet starts with a solo performed by Brown Boy, originally Villella, and in the middle of the ballet, a woman who had not appeared in the ballet before dances a solo.<ref name=Macaulay>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/arts/dance/the-wisdom-beneath-the-steps-of-dances-at-a-gathering.html|title=The Wisdom Beneath the Steps of 'Dances at a Gathering'|newspaper=New York Times|last=Macaulay|first=Alastair|date=October 11, 2016}}</ref><ref name=SF/> In one section featuring three men and three women, the women are tossed from partner to partner. The most well-known part of the ballet is a pas de deux between Pink Girl (originally McBride) and Mauve Boy.<ref name=Lin/> No more than six dancers are on stage at the same time until the finale.<ref name=Macaulay/>
==Other companies and revivals== The Royal Ballet in London premiered ''Dances at a Gathering'' in 1970, staged by Robbins himself.<ref name=Oxford>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095659272|title=Dances at a Gathering|website=Oxford References}}</ref> When he taught the role originated by Villella to Rudolf Nureyev, who was regarded as one of the best ballet dancer in his generation, Robbins attempted to make Nureyev unrecognizable to the audience.<ref name=Macaulay/> The Royal Ballet continued to perform the ballet until 1976, then did not revive it until 2008, staged by Susan Hendl and Ben Huys.<ref name=Royal>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/arts/dance/19gath.html|title=Memory Transfigured by Spontaneity|newspaper=New York Times|last=Macaulay|first=Alastair|date=May 19, 2008}}</ref> Robbins also staged the ballet for the Paris Opera Ballet, and the company debuted it in 1991.<ref name=Oxford/> The San Francisco Ballet first performed it in 2002, also staged by Hendl and Huys.<ref name=SF/>
In 2014, when original cast member Patricia McBride was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors, an excerpt of ''Dances at a Gathering'' was performed by Tiler Peck and Jared Angle.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://dancetabs.com/2014/12/patricia-mcbride-honoured-at-the-37th-annual-kennedy-center-honours/|title=Patricia McBride Honoured at The 37th Annual Kennedy Center Honours|website=DanceTabs|last=Khadarina|first=Oksana|date=December 16, 2014}}</ref>
== Casts == * World premiere: Allegra Kent, Sara Leland, Kay Mazzo, Patricia McBride, Violette Verdy, Anthony Blum, John Clifford, Robert Maiorano, John Prinz, Edward Villella<ref name=NYCB>{{cite web|url=https://www.nycballet.com/discover/ballet-repertory/dances-at-a-gathering/|title=Dances at a Gathering|website=New York City Ballet}}</ref> * Royal Ballet premiere (1970): Laura Connor, Ann Jenner, Monica Mason, Lynn Seymour, Antoinette Sibley, Michael Coleman, Anthony Dowell, Jonathan Kelly, Rudolf Nureyev, David Wall<ref name=ROH>{{cite web|url=http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/performance.aspx?performance=12022&row=0|title=Dances at a Gathering – 19 October 1970 Evening |website=Royal Opera House Collections Online}}</ref> * Paris Opera Ballet premiere (1991): Monique Loudières, Marie-Claude Pietragalla, Isabelle Guérin, Claude de Vulpian, Véronique Doisneau, Manuel Legris, Kader Belarbi, Jean-Yves Lormeau, Patrick Dupond, Wilfred Romoli<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.memopera.fr/SpectRepres.cfm?SpeCode=ROB&SpeNum=9192&Dist=10860|title=Jerome Robbins|website=MémOpéra}}</ref> * San Francisco Ballet premiere (2002): Sherri LeBlanc, Tina LeBlanc, Joanna Berman, Lucía Lacarra, Yuan Yuan Tan, Stephen Legate, Gonzalo Garcia, Damian Smith, Vadim Solomakha, Roman Rykine<ref name=SF>{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Ballet-shows-Robbins-humanity-2875646.php|title=Ballet shows Robbins' humanity|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicles|last=Roca|first=Octavio|date=February 7, 2002}}</ref>
==Music== All the music used in ''Dances at a Gathering'' is composed by Frédéric Chopin, including:<ref name=NYCB/> {{columns-list|colwidth=20em| * Mazurka, Op. 63, No. 3 * Waltz, Op. 69, No. 2 * Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 3 * Mazurka, Op. 6, No. 4 * Mazurka, Op. 7, No. 5 * Mazurka, Op. 7, No. 4 * Mazurka, Op. 24, No. 2 * Mazurka, Op. 6, No. 2 * Waltz, Op. 42 * Waltz, Op. 34, No. 2 * Mazurka, Op. 56, No. 2 * Etude, Op. 25, No. 4 * Waltz, Op. 34, No. 1 * Waltz, Op. 70, No. 2 * Etude, Op. 25, No. 5 * Etude, Op. 10, No. 2 * Scherzo, Op. 20 * Nocturne, Op. 15, No. 1 }}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8GOTCkrekU Tiler Peck on ''Dances at a Gathering'']
{{Jerome Robbins}} {{Chopin ballets |state=autocollapse}}
Category:Ballets by Jerome Robbins Category:Ballets to the music of Frédéric Chopin Category:1969 ballets Category:New York City Ballet repertory