Utah’s Ballet West is headed to New York City next spring, to celebrate and demonstrate a classic ballet work on its 100th anniversary.
The Utah ballet troupe will take part in the “Works and Process” lecture series at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, on March 26 — to talk about and perform excerpts from “Les Noces (The Wedding),” the iconic 1923 work of Russian dancer-turned-choreographer Bronislava Nijinska.
Ballet West is scheduled to perform “The Wedding” as part of a program, April 14-22, at the Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City.
Nijinska, then a ballerina with the famed Ballets Russes (and sister of the acclaimed dancer Vaclav Nijinsky), was commissioned by that troupe’s legendary director, Sergei Diaghilev, to create the work using music he had previously commissioned from Igor Stravinsky. (The composer and the choreographer had collaborated previously on Stravinsky’s controversial 1913 work “The Rite of Spring.”) The production featured scenic and costume design by Natalia Goncharova.
“The Wedding” is split into four scenes, depicting parts of a peasant marriage: The blessing of the bride, the blessing of the groom, the bride leaving her parents’ home, and the wedding celebration itself.
“Nijinska’s work revolutionized the way that we look at dance and classical ballet now in the 21st century, and she is one of the most undersung creators in the history of ballet,” said Adam Sklute, Ballet West’s artistic director.
Ballet West will send six dancers, who will perform excerpts from the original ballet. Sklute said he will sit on a panel with Nijinska scholar Lynn Garafola. A musicologist will also talk about the groundbreaking aspects of the ballet.
The March event marks the second time Ballet West has been invited to the Guggenheim, which Sklute called “one of America’s great art museums.” The first visit was in 2019, and focused on the 1925 work “The Song of the Nightingale,” choreographed by George Balanchine for Ballet Russes, again using a Stravinsky score. The production has been criticized for its racist depiction of Chinese characters; when Ballet West performed the work in 2019, it omitted the more stereotypical gestures.
“The fact that we’ve been asked back twice really speaks to the level of art that we produce and how we are regarded in the world around us,” Sklute said. “I’m not sure everybody here locally recognizes that people really do look at Ballet West as one of America’s top tier dance companies.”
Sklute said Ballet West is proud to be “the most major of Utah’s cultural ambassadors to the world. … By doing this, we help to be able to continue to represent the very best of what has to offer the world of art.”
General ticketing for the Guggenheim event will open on Tuesday. More information can be found at https://www.guggenheim.org/event/works-process-ballet-west-les-noces-by-bronislava-nijinska
At home, Ballet West is now in its traditional run of “The Nutcracker” for the holiday season, with performances scheduled through Dec. 24.
