Serenade

Stringer, Walter: Artists of the Australian Ballet in George Balanchine's 'Serenade' [2], 1970

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Serenade was first seen in Australia in Sydney on 17 April 1958 when it was the opening work on opening night of New York City Ballet’s first Australian tour. It entered the repertoire of the Australian Ballet in 1970. Most recently it featured on the Australian Ballet's 2004 Balanchine tribute program, Mr B. Its various stagings in Australia have been by Victoria Simon.

Balanchine wrote of Serenade that it had no concealed story. It was, he said, simply dancers in motion to beautiful music – ‘a serenade, a dance, if you like, in the light of the moon’. It premiered on 8 December 1934 by students of the School of American Ballet, at the Avery Memorial Theatre, Hartford, Connecticut. The stage premiere was preceded by an outdoor performance in June 1934 by students of the School of American Ballet at the estate of Felix M. Warburg, White Plains, New York. Named after the music that accompanies it, Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C major for String Orchestra, the work is in four movements danced without interruption. It was the first ballet Balanchine made after arriving in the United States and it has become a kind of talisman, a piece of magic that even from its first performances held within it the promise of the riches that Balanchine would go on to create in his new country.

See also: Australian Ballet, The ; New York City Ballet Australian Tours

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Find more about Serenade in:

• Internet - Google
• Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
• Pictures - Picture Australia