George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations – NYC Ballet’s 2021 Digital Season
New York City Ballet‘s programming for the week of March 1-6 will focus on George Balanchine‘s Theme and Variations, the second ballet to be featured in the multi-part series Three Sides of Balanchine. The series explores the choreographer’s narrative, classical, and neoclassical traditions. The programmes related to Prodigal Son are airing this week, and Theme and Variations will be followed by the final instalments on Stravinsky Violin Concerto.
On Monday, 1 March, a new episode of City Ballet The Podcast will feature NYCB Music Director Andrew Litton on Tschaikovsky’s score for Theme and Variations.
Tuesday, 2 March, at 8pm EST, will see NYCB present an Inside NYCB episode focusing on the first solo performed by the male principal dancer in Theme and Variations, with rehearsal footage and interviews with Principal Dancers Joseph Gordon, Andrew Veyette, and Repertory Director Kathleen Tracey.
Then on Thursday, 4 March, at 8pm EST, NYCB will release a previously recorded performance of Theme and Variations, with Principal Dancers Tiler Peck and Andrew Veyette in the leading roles.
Both the Inside NYCB episode and performance stream will be available to view on NYCB’s website and YouTube channel until Thursday, 11 March.
Other events and activities can be seen here: www.nycballet.com/digitalseason
Top photo: Joseph Gordon performing George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations. Credit Erin Baiano
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
