The Brahms-Haydn Variations

American Ballet Theatre in performance. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor.

A brief excerpt featuring members of American Ballet Theatre.

Gomes and Herrera in performance. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor.

Dancers of American Ballet Theater perform. Photo by Gene Schiavone.

Tharp observes a rehearsal with Jaffe and Carreño.

Tuttle, Cornejo, Tharp, Kent, Corella at curtain call.

Premiere

Date

21 March 2000

Company

American Ballet Theatre

Venue

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Location

Washington, D.C.

Production

Choreographer

Twyla Tharp

Composer

Johannes Brahms (Variations on a Theme by Haydn for Orchestra, Op. 56a, 1873)

Live Music by

American Ballet Theatre Orchestra

Lighting Designer

Jennifer Tipton

Costume Designer

Santo Loquasto

Dancers

Principals
Sandra Brown, Irina Dvorovenko, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Ashley Tuttle

Maxim Belotserkovsky, Jose Manuel Carreño, Angel Corella, Herman Cornejo, Marcelo Gomes

Soloists
Oksana Konobeyeva, Ekaterina Shelkanova

Gennadi Saveliev, Carlos Molina

Ensemble
Stella Abrera, Carmen Corella, Erica Cornejo, Erica Fischbach, Cheryl Madeux, Eleena Melamed, Anne Milewski, Maria Riccetto

Giray Atalay, Michael Cusumano, Eric Otto, Alejandro Piris-Niño, Sascha Radetsky, Brian Reeder, Andrew Robertson, Sean Stewart

Number of Dancers

30

Runtime

00:19:25

Description

The Brahms-Haydn Variations is a culmination of Tharp’s work in large-cast classical ballets.

Johannes Brahms’ symphony opens with a theme composed by Joseph Haydn and follows it with eight variations and a finale, each with a distinct mood, tempo, meter and use of counterpoint. Tharp incorporated this form into the choreography, which transitions from full-company march to a gentle pas de deux until the finale synthesizes the preceding sections in a passacaglia.

The ballet is an achievement not only in the dance phrases, but also in the organization and management of the large cast. Tharp’s development of counterpoint in the movement throughout the ballet provides a structure through which dancing in the foreground, middle-ground and background is coordinated.