If you have yet to introduce your children to ballet, now is your opportunity. With youngsters, the performance needs to be interactive and relatively short. The New York Theatre Ballet is known for its one-hour adaptations of classics treasured by children and parents alike.
Their upcoming performance of Exquisite Little Ballets will be performed on Saturday, April 9th at 11 am & 1 pm and Sunday, April 10th at 11 am, 1 pm & 3:30 pm at Florence Gould Hall.
Renowned 20th-century choreographer Antony Tudor’s Little Improvisations is a light portrayal of two children at play on a rainy afternoon, using no more than their imagination and a blanket to create fanciful scenes. The ballet is set to Robert Schumann’s Kinderscenen (Scenes from Childhood).
Agnes de Mille, widely recognized for her theatrical ballets during the golden age of musical theater, choreographed Debut at the Opera. Danced by Elena Zahlmann, this solo is a comic depiction of a young ballerina who is about to perform onstage for the first time and has a bad case of stage fright.
The third work, Bounces, was choreographed by Lotte Goslar, a German-born performer who mixed theater, dance and pantomime. The piece, created in 1984 for the 30th anniversary of her company, The Lotte Goslar Pantomime Circus, is danced to a traditional Irish gig.
Between the ballets, children will learn “fun facts” about all of the important people who bring a ballet to them, the audience: the lighting designer, costume designer, stage manager, dancers and musicians.
Details: EXQUISITE LITTLE BALLETS – at Florence Gould Hall at 55 East 59th Street between Park & Lexington Avenues in Manhattan.
Performance schedule: Saturday, April 9th at 11 am & 1 pm and Sunday, April 10th at 11 am, 1 pm & 3:30 pm.
Tickets: Tickets are $35 for children and (includes a $1 per ticket facility fee) and can be purchased at www.nytb.org , Ticketmaster (800-982-2787) or the box office, 55 East 59th Street, (212-355-6160). $40 for adults.
Exquisite Little Ballets is the third ballet in New York Theatre Ballet’s Once Upon A Ballet series, which ends with Sleeping Beauty on May 14 & 15. The Once Upon A Ballet series is made possible in part with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Please visit www.nytb.org for more information.