STAGE DANCE

According to Balanchine's own notes on the ballet, it was Stravinsky who hit upon the idea of a suite of dances based on a 17th century manual of French court dances--sarabandes, gillards, branles. The title of the ballet, Agon, is the Greek word for contest, protagonist, as well as agony or struggle. In addition to the court dances, a traditional classic pas de deux is added. The ballet is in three parts, performed without interruption. The first part consists of a pas de quatre for four boys, a double pas de quatre for eight girls and a triple pas de quatre for all twelve dancers. Then two girls and a boy dance a pas de trios. The boy dances a sarabande. The two girls dance a gaillard. A pas de trios is replaced by another and the second part of the ballet begins with three branles. Next comes the pas de deux with variations for the boy and the girl. The music for the first movement of the ballet is repeated and the piece ends as it began, with four boys dancing alone.

Jardin aux Lilas is a dramatic ballet in one act; a tragedy of manners. A haunting story about a marriage of convenience set in England in the late 19th Century. A moonlit garden filled with lilacs, but still dark and foreboding set the scene as Caroline, a young bride, bids farewell to her lover while her financé (whom she does not love) parts with his mistress. Jardin Aux Lilas (Lilac Garden) was one of the first ballets by English choreographer and dancer Antony Tudor to be staged in the United States.

Léonide Massine's fabulous Gaîté Parisienne danced to a score by Jacques Offenbach rounds out the program. A story of romance and high spirits set in a turn-of-the-century café, this mini-ballet features the rousing and uninhibited Can-Can in a tale of the nightlife of old Paris.