Ballare

Whitener and Troy in a promotional photo. Photo by Richard Avedon.

Company dancers in the final movement.

Colton and Cheryl Jones in a promotional photo. Photo by Richard Avedon.

Santee and Foster in a promotional photo. Photo by Richard Avedon.

Premiere

Date

30 August 1986

Company

Twyla Tharp Dance

Venue

Murray Theatre at Ravinia

Location

Highland Park, IL

Production

Choreographer

Twyla Tharp

Composer

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448, 1781)

Lighting Designer

Jennifer Tipton

Costume Designer

William Ivey Long

Dancers

Stephanie Foster, Julie Nakagawa, Catherine Oppenheimer, Ellen Troy

Richard Colton, Kevin Santee, William Whitener

Number of Dancers

7

Runtime

00:21:08

Description

Ballare is a classical ballet blanc set to Mozart’s “Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major.” The interplay of the two keyboards creates a sense of three-dimensionality in the music.

The movement is refined and confident, clear but not easy. The choreography shifts with the changes in formation and recombination of the dancers. These adjustments happen in much the same way that Mozart shifts the emphasis in the sonata through the coordination of the two pianos.

From the original program: “This work made possible in part by grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.”