Virtual pop-up library offers deeper dive into The State Ballet of Georgia programming
Fans of The State Ballet of Georgia can explore images, audio, video, and more from the University Libraries: This virtual pop-up library brings together materials selected by librarians with expertise in dance, maps, and music, and includes links to freely-accessible online sources and items that require a UMN username and password. To learn more, please visit our guides to research on dance, maps, and music. See the original program for the Apr 29 event at Northrop.
“See the music, hear the dance” is a quote associated with George Balanchine, who was known to personify music through dance and does so in his choreography for Concerto Barocco. Bach’s Double Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043 provides the soundtrack for this piece, and a performance by the Netherlands Bach Society is freely accessible on YouTube (check out this video’s description for historical background and interviews with the performers!). UMN affiliates can find recordings of BWV 1043 through our subscription to Medici.tv, including one from Bobby McFerrin’s Swinging Bach concert in Leipzig.
Balanchine created 465 works in his lifetime and Symphony in C is described by the New York City Ballet as one of his most expansive, despite the fact that it was created within just two weeks. In this clip, available from the University Libraries’ Dance in Video Collection, Maria Tallchief coaches the ballerina variation in the first movement. The original set design from 1945 was created by the Argentinian artist Leonor Fini, whose biography is included in the subscription reference Oxford Art Online. Bizet’s Symphony No. 1 underlies this choreography, and fans can hear a recording of this piece by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and learn more about its history by visiting The Bizet Catalog.
Dancer and choreographer Yuri Possokhov of the San Francisco Ballet was invited to choreograph Sagalobeli for The State Ballet of Georgia, a piece that features the aesthetic and melodies of Georgia and blends the sounds and dance of Armenia, Turkey, and Iran. The University Libraries offers streaming access to recordings of traditional Georgian folk music, and anyone can enjoy a performance of the characteristic folk song “Pshauri” by the Georgian group Kelaptari on YouTube.
We look forward to returning to Northrop to provide up-close access to research materials from the collections of the University Libraries as we share our future pop-up libraries with you on-site and online!
Georgia is a Eurasian country with the Black Sea to its west, the Caucasus Mountains to the north and east, and Armenia to its south. Georgia was part of the Russian Empire from 1801-1913 and can be seen at the southernmost edge of this 1827 map of Russia.
In 1941, Balanchine went on a South American tour with his first US ballet company, the American Ballet Caravan. They premiered Concerto Barocco in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the Theatro Municipal. You can spot the theater on this 1941 map of the City of Rio de Janeiro.
Georges Bizet composed Symphony in C at age 17 while he was a student at the Paris Conservatory (Conservatoire de Paris). The site of the original Conservatory is shown on this Atlas of Paris from 1821 next to the word Musique.