Balanchine's sparkling emeralds

by Gwen Herat

There is no other person like George Balanchine who wrote ballet into history, longer than anyone else. Every company around the world, East or West, holds his works in their repertories and none of them gather dust.

No ensemble has escaped his eyes, no dancer his choreography and no composer his music. He never deviated from classicissm or from an original plot but his great creative ideas at times, mixed classics and contemporary mildly where it was necessary. For example, when he choreographed Jewels in 1966, the audiences simply went crazy.

I saw Jewels a few years ago which was Balanchine's production. It was boarded by Elyse Borne and Patriciia Nearly for the Royal Ballet in its entirety for the first time. I remember the year to be 2007.

Jwels in three parts of Emeralds, Rubies and Diamonds were premiered way back in 1967 at the New York City Ballet and in 2007 by the Royal Ballet, the version I saw at Covent Garden.

The ballet was an instant hit mainly because of the spectacular costumes where the dancers were dressed like the precious stones that made up the three parts in Jewels. It was a triumphant debut for Balanchine as well as for The Royal Ballet.

Praise

It drew high praise for the way the Company infused its work retaining its own personality, while honouring the distinctly varied styles choreographed in each part.

Though it was created for the New York City Ballet in 1967 in three separate and complete abstract mini ballets, each linked with each other in their glorious colour themes to gemstones and explore a choreographic style as never seen before. Together, they reflected Balanchine's dance influence on history.

Second nature to the company's dancers from a long relationship with the production of Giselle is the Romantic Fresh manner of Emeralds.

It begins the sequence with music scored by Faure for Giselle as the drifting sylphs and their cavaliers inhabiting a courtly and melancholy dream-world.

That is the first part in the ballet. The second is Rubies that depicts a startling contrast to introduce mid 20th-century jazz infected aura by Stravinsky. In it a cheeky girl steps in and the swagger male roles are infectious. Lastly the third chapter, Diamonds adopts the grand finale of the imperial ballet style of St. Petersburg.

Selecting three movements of Tchaikovsky's Third Symphony, the main duet for the principle couple, the dazzling white tutu'd ensembles and the final exhilarating prossional polonaise make Diamonds an ethereal and glittering homage to the high classicism of Petipa.

Costumes

The magnificent gem-crusted costumes adapted from the original costumes designed by Barabara Karinska by Royala Ballet's Holly Hynes were fabulous and vibrant.

Jean-Marc Puissant''s glorious stage designs that supported Art Nouveau for Emeralds, Art Deco for Rubies and Tsarist splendour for Diamonds, dazzled every eye in the audience was especially commissioned by the Company for this production.

Jewels remain one of the most illustrious and glamorous additions to the repertoire of the Royal Ballet and often tried out by different choreographers,

The wizard behind Jewels, George Melitonovich Balanchivadze was born in St. Petersburg in 1904 and died in New York in 1983. This Russian-American dancer, choreographer and director entered Petrograd Ballet School in 1914, just ten years old at the time. Graduated in 1921 and became a member of the GATOB together to study music, Balanchine created in 1920 for The Evenings Young Ballet. From the beginning, he ran into trouble with his traditionally minded superiors by choreographing very unconvential ballets.

He left for Germany with his small company of Soviet State Dancers. In 1924 he was auditioned for Diaghilav who immediately engaged him and in short time, promoted him as Chief Choreographer of his Ballets Russes in 1925.

From this time his relationship with Stravinsky made them inseparables in ballet productions. After Diaghilev's death, Balachine rose to brilliant heights as no other choreographer and still held in high esteem in the dance world. Jewels is a dedication to his magnificent memory as beautiful as the gems found in it.