Giant Steps

This season, Giant Steps presents two of George Balanchine’s most famous works, Apollo and The Four Temperaments. And then Christopher Wheeldon takes up the baton with the ballet Corybantic Games.

Apollo is one of George Balanchine’s most famous works. Choreographed in 1928, it remains strikingly modern in its aesthetic despite nearing its centenary. The ballet follows Apollo, the Greek god of music and poetry, as he is visited by three of his muses: first Calliope, who represents poetry, then Polyhymnia, the muse of mime, and finally Terpsichore, the muse of dance. Inevitably, it is Terpsichore who captures his heart.

The Four Temperaments consists of four movements, each reflecting the ancient belief that human beings are made up of four temperaments: melancholic, sanguine, phlegmatic, and choleric – earth, air, water, and fire. It is the first in a series of Balanchine’s well-known black-and-white ballets, in which the classical vocabulary of steps merges with a more angular and athletic style.

Corybantic Games was created by Christopher Wheeldon in 2018 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the great American composer Leonard Bernstein. Inspired by Greek mythology, the ballet takes its name from the Corybantes—frenzied, warrior-like dancers who worshipped the ancient fertility goddess Cybele. Wheeldon’s ballet channels their wild energy into a dynamic and exhilarating work.

Recommended from 8 years old