George Balachine’s Mozartiana is a wonderful example of neoclassical ballet with an enchanting romantic feel. The beautifully musical choreography is set to P.I. Tchaikovsky’s Suite No.4, Mozartiana, and Op.61. Opening at the 1981 Tchaikovsky Festival, it was Balanchine’s third ballet set to the composer’s homage to Mozart and is one of the last ballets the choreographer created before his death in April 1983.

“The ballet’s formal black costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian combine with the music and choreography to form a sense of joyful reverence and spiritual wonder.”
–The George Balanchine Trust

Claudia Schreier’s Slipstream is an innovative, unusual, and captivating ballet commissioned in 2022 for the CHOREOGRAPHER PROGRAM. Claudia Schreier brings her distinctive choreographic voice to Boston audiences, fusing together neoclassical technique with a contemporary vocabulary. The movement in this ballet glides and leaps through the joining of dancers in and out of geometric shapes and lifts.

“The piece, which features 18 people, is about constant momentum and the assembling and breaking apart of shapes. Schreier was inspired by starlings, which have a unified identity within a group, but also find their own paths. It features partnering work and duets but is very much an ensemble work, she said.”
–Shira Laucharoen, WBUR

Vestris is a solo ballet originally created for Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1969 by the brilliant choreographer Leonid Yakobson and is only performed by the best male dancers in history. Vestris is about embodying the flamboyant flavor of Auguste Vestris, a renowned Parisian dancer in the 1700s. He was supposed to have said that there were only three great men in all of Europe: the King of Prussia, Voltaire, and himself. Boston Ballet is the only American company trusted to present this work today.

“Vestris is a technical and comedic tour de force reeling through a flurry of characters, from limping old man to imperious dandy to drunken buffoon, and Dunn’s brilliant turns, buoyant leaps, deep musicality, and fanciful comic flair brought each to life with masterful command.”
–Karen Campbell, The Boston Globe

“Introduced on opening night of the 1972 Stravinsky Festival, Symphony in Three Movements, a large ensemble work, is startling in its breadth of energy, complexity, originality, and contrasts. Balanchine responded to the jazz flavor in Igor Stravinsky’s score by using angular, turned-in movements and brisk, athletic walking sequences. ‘Choreographers combine movements, and the ones I arranged for this music follow no story line or narrative,’ Balanchine said. ‘They try to catch the music and do not, I hope, lean on it, using it instead for support and time frame.'”
–The George Balanchine Trust

“The imagery, patterning and structure of this piece make an extraordinary assortment.”
–Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times