Bach Partita

Messac and LaFosse in performance. Photo by Martha Swope.

Gregory and Bujones in rehearsal.

Messac, LaFosse, Gregory, Bujones, Van Hamel and Tippet perform. Photo by Martha Swope.

Van Hamel and Messac perform. Photo by Monroe Warshaw.

Premiere

Date

9 December 1983

Company

American Ballet Theatre

Venue

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Location

Washington, DC

Production

Choreographer

Twyla Tharp

Composer

Johann Sebastian Bach (Partita No.2 in D minor for solo violin (BWV 1004), 1717)

Live Music by

Dennis Cleveland (violin)

Lighting Designer

Jennifer Tipton

Costume Designer

Santo Loquasto

Dancers

Principals
Cynthia Gregory, Martine Van Hamel, Magali Messac

Fernando Bujones, Clark Tippet, Robert LaFosse

Soloists
Susan Jaffe, Nancy Raffa, Elaine Kudo, Deirdre Carberry, Cynthia Harvey, Cheryl Yeager, Christine Spizzo

Victor Barbee, Craig Wright, Gil Boggs, Brian Adams, Peter Fonseca, Johan Renvall, John Gardner

Chorus
Melissa Allen, Elaine Austin, Gabrielle Brown, Elizabeth Carr, Nancy Collier, Suzanne Goldman, Alina Hernandez, Careen Hobart, Lucette Katerndahl, Valerie Madonia, Kathleen Moore, Lisa Rinehart, Amy Rose, Hilary Ryan, Anna Spelman, Carla Stallings

Number of Dancers

36

Dance Sections

I. Van Hamel, Tippet with Jaffe, Raffa, Kudo, Carberry, Barbee, Wright, Boggs, Adams

II. Gregory, Bujones with Jaffe, Raffa, Kudo, Carberry, Barbee, Wright, Boggs, Adams

III. Gregory, Van Hamel, Messac, Bujones, Tippet, La Fosse

IV. Messac, La Fosse with Harvey, Fonseca, Yeager, Renvall, Spizzo, Gardner

V. Entire Cast and Allen, Austin, Brown, Carr, Collier, Goldman, Hernandez, Hobart, Katerndahl, Madonia, Moore, Rinehart, Rose, Ryan, Spelman, Stallings

Runtime

00:26:45

Description

Bach Partita was choreographed for American Ballet Theatre at a time when the company’s ranks were replete with exceptional artists. This pure-dance ballet is one of Tharp’s largest, created for six principal dancers, fourteen soloists and sixteen corps ballerinas.

Bach’s “Partita No. 2 in D minor” is a pillar in the canon of works for solo violin. It displays not only his knowledge of the instrument, but also the scope of his imagination. In much the same way, the choreography demands technical facility and artistry from every dancer in the cast, principals to corps.