Brief Fling

Principals
Cheryl Yeager, Julio Bocca

Soloists
Claudia Alfieri, Isabella Padovani

Gil Boggs, Robert Wallace

Chorus
Shelley Washington

Jamie Bishton, Kevin O’Day, Keith Roberts

Ensemble
Cynthia Anderson, Sandra Brown, Veronica Lynn, Ashley Tuttle

Daniel Chait, Peter Morrison, John Selya, Roger Van Fleteren

I. Tattoo

Alfieri, Padovani, Boggs, Wallace, Washington, Bishton, O’Day, Roberts

II. Country Gardens

Yeager, Bocca

III. Trio

Washington, O’Day, Roberts

IV. Quartet

Alfieri, Padovani, Boggs, Wallace

V. Country Garden Variations

Yeager, Bocco with Anderson, Brown, Lynn, Tuttle, Chait, Morrison, Selya, Van Fleteren

VI. Suite

Padovani, Wallace, Anderson, Lynn, Chait, Morrison, Alfieri, Boggs, Brown, Tuttle, Selya, Van Fleteren, Washington, Bishton, O’Day, Roberts, Yeager, Bocca

VII. Double Quartet

Washington, Bishton, O’Day, Roberts, Alfieri, Padovani, Boggs, Wallace

VIII. Fugue

Company

IX. Gigue

Company

X. Epilogue

Yeager, Bocca and Company

Brief Fling is Mikhail Baryshnikov’s last commission from Tharp during his tenure as artistic director of American Ballet Theatre. The title references both the traditional Scottish dance and a short-lived romance. Isaac Mizrahi’s tartan costumes divide the dancers into clans of blue, red, green and off-white.

In the opening section, two soloist couples in red and a quartet in green punch out syncopated phrases to a military tattoo. The principal couple clad in blue performs an extended set of variations to an English folk song backed by the ensemble dancers dressed in off-white. The finale features each clan in succession, compounding into a furioso fugue.

The score by Michel Colombier intersperses Percy Grainger’s sunny interpretations of traditional melodies from the United Kingdom with an ominous electronic score.

From the original program: “Brief Fling is sponsored by Sydney and Frances Lewis, Stephen D. Weinroth, The JCT Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Diker and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Miss Tharp thanks Mr. Mizrahi and Mr. Colombier for their generosity.”