Anthony Huxley in the Gigue, photo by Paul Kolnik
When we dancers learn roles, any part really, there are steps, musicality, patterns, formations, style, and often character to master. Last night, I had the opportunity to debut in the special role of the Gigue in George Balanchine’s Mozartiana, set to Tchaikovsky’s Orchestral Suite No. 4. A little bit of backstory: Balanchine choreographed this ballet in 1981, less than two years before he died. Many consider it to be his last masterpiece. Fascinatingly enough, Balanchine first choreographed a ballet to the Mozartiana music in 1933 for his short-lived company Les Ballets 1933, which seems to have only been performed for a few years following. (It had its American premiere in 1935, only a few months after Serenade.) This is especially fascinating to me, because that’s nearly fifty years! No tapes, no videos, no Vimeo. We know the Gigue originally had multiple dancers in it, but I’ve never seen any footage—if it exists—of any elements from this production. Was it completely different, or did certain things stick with him for most of his life? Balanchine was my age when he first choreographed to this music. He had really only just begun his choreographic career in America. Did he know what was in store for him? I can barely wonder what I’ll be doing in 50 years.
But back to the Gigue as we know it today: you run out to center stage, the conductor makes eye contact with you and beats one measure for nothing with her baton, two triplet beats of 6/8, and it begins simply enough with three poses on the one beat of each triplet. A second voice enters and you begin dancing to each beat. The third voice joins and the syncopation begins, one two one two one two one two three one, before you join back up to the swing of the triplets for a nice balancé step. Then before you know it, you’re flying around the stage in a vaudevillian, topsy-turvy step,
But back to the Gigue as we know it today: you run out to center stage, the conductor makes eye contact with you and beats one measure for nothing with her baton, two triplet beats of 6/8, and it begins simply enough with three poses on the one beat of each triplet. A second voice enters and you begin dancing to each beat. The third voice joins and the syncopation begins, one two one two one two one two three one, before you join back up to the swing of the triplets for a nice balancé step. Then before you know it, you’re flying around the stage in a vaudevillian, topsy-turvy step,
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