Wednesday 9 November 2016

A Ballet for Election Day


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I can think of no better ballet for US election day than George Balanchine's Stars and Stripes. 

Created for New York City Ballet this work was first performed in New York City on 17 Jan 1958.  The ballet consists of 5 campaigns to the following music by Philip Sousa:
  • First Campaign, 1st Regiment ('Corcoran Cadets')
  • Second Campaign, 2nd Regiment ('Rifle Regiment')
  • Third Campaign, 3rd Regiment ('Thunder and Gladiator')
  • Fourth Campaign ('Liberty Bell' and 'El Capitan')
  • Fifth Campaign, All Regiments ('Stars and Stripes')
    Variation I
    Variation II
    Coda: Allegro molto
    Finale: The Stars and Stripes Forever.
Balanchine also made a similar ballet for us called Union Jack.

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