About the work
George Balanchine's „Jewels" was premiered by the New York City Ballet in 1967 and is the first plotless full-length ballet in history. It consists of three parts — „Emeralds" (music: Gabriel Fauré), „Rubies" (music: Igor Stravinsky) and „Diamonds" (music: Tchaikovsky) — which Balanchine conceived as a musical portrait of three dance traditions.
Plot
Emeralds: Dreamlike, slow, Romantic. Inspired by French ballet, by Fauré and the Parisian Belle Époque. Women in long emerald tulle skirts, floating. A closing scene shows three men kneeling alone in a corner — Balanchine described this as „homage to the lost chivalric elegance". Rubies: Fast, jazzy, cheeky. Stravinsky's Capriccio for piano and orchestra drives the piece. An erotic, dance-ironic homage to New York and American show business. Red costumes, kicks, splits, Patricia McBride and Edward Villella shaped the premiere. Diamonds: Imperial, classical, representative. Inspired by nineteenth-century Russian ballet and Petipa. Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 (movements 3-5). A large corps de ballet, a central pas de deux, a polonaise to close. Suzanne Farrell shaped the Diamond ballerina.
Cultural significance
„Jewels" is one of the most significant works of the twentieth century and a defining piece of American ballet. The three parts are often given separately (Rubies especially often); a full performance is regarded as a major event. Balanchine's work marks the peak of his synthesis of French, Russian and American traditions. Stagings outside NYCB have been worldwide since the 1990s (Mariinsky, Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet).