It's not just children who sometimes want a story at the ballet, many adults say the same when I recommend Balanchine's "abstract" ballets (most of which do have a story of sorts, just not always accessible or on the surface) so I understand the reasons for the short program of "stories." First up was the opening of Jerome Robbins Fanfare, from 1953, with music from Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (based on a theme from Purcell), an unusually didactic piece with multiple dancers costumed as strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion, all verbally introduced before brief and amusing short pieces; in the remainder of the ballet (which we did not see) the way they are integrated into the orchestra is illustrated.
This was followed by Balanchine's funny and moving The Steadfast Tin Soldier, with Erica Pereira and Daniel Ullbricht. The awkwardness of an evolving relationship is effectively evoked -- to the music of Bizet's Jeux d'Enfants -- until the doll is swept into the fire by the wind, only the heart that the soldier had given her survives. This performance does not quite convey the humor that I remember from when I saw Patricia McBride and Baryshnikov dance it in the late 70's but it does have the poignancy of the original Hans Christian Andersen story.
The last two pieces are excerpts from Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with music by Mendelssohn, from 1962. First is the donkey pas de deux, where Puck causes Titania to fall in love with a donkey; this was both amusing and touching, danced by Sara Mearns and Preston Chamblee. The second excerpt is the scherzo, led by Anthony Huxley as Oberon and Claire Von Enck as a butterfly. This allegro piece builds and builds, helped beautifully by multiple pirouettes and energetic performances by all the kids from the school, as butterflies and fireflies. The complete ballet is one of my (now nine years old) daughter's favorites and I have written about it several times on this blog.
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