Jewels by choreographer George Balanchine returns to the National Opera & Ballet after 10 years. In this production, the choreographer pays homage to women, jewellery and the French, American and Russian ballet styles. George Balanchine (1904–1983) first envisaged his jewel ballet while walking past the windows of Van Cleef & Arpels on Fifth Avenue. The shop had one window decorated with diamonds, one with emeralds and one with rubies. The three types of gemstones then served as the basis for three choreographies, first performed in 1967, that depict the ‘three worlds’ of Balanchine. In commemoration of the inspiration of the work, jewellery house Van Cleef & Arpels is the sponsor of this masterpiece and of the National Ballet.
The programme opens with Emeralds, a reminder of the France of grace, prosperity, fashion and perfumes. Rubies then shows the influence that the dynamic American life had on Balanchine, who was born in St. Petersburg. Diamonds refers to the splendour and magnificence of the Russian tsarist court and the associated Mariinsky Theatre, where Balanchine began his career. For the Dutch premiere of the triptych in 2006, Toer van Schayk designed a new, sober set in which the exuberant ‘jewel costumes’, based on the original design by Barbara Karinska, are given plenty of space to shine. In this production, soloist pairs Anna Ol & Timothy van Poucke and Qian Liu & Semyon Velichko will dance in Emeralds. Maia Makhateli and Young Gyu Choi will be seen in Rubies, as will soloist Elisabeth Tonev. In Diamonds, Olga Smirnova and Jacopo Tissi will take centre stage.
12 February – 9 March 2025
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