About the work
Circus Polka: For a Young Elephant is a short instrumental piece that Igor Stravinsky wrote in January/February 1942 at George Balanchine's phone request, for a ballet production by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The choreography was premiered on 9 April 1942 at Madison Square Garden in New York, danced by fifty elephants and fifty showgirls under the musical direction of Merle Evans, with the elephant Modoc appearing as 'premiere ballerina'.
Plot
There is no real narrative: the piece accompanies a choreographed circus act in which elephants and dancers perform together to the polka's rhythm. In 1944 Stravinsky also produced a purely orchestral concert version with no stage connection.
Cultural significance
In 1972 Jerome Robbins created a second, all-human choreography for the New York City Ballet's Stravinsky Festival, danced by 48 students of the School of American Ballet who form the initials 'I. S.' at the close in the composer's honour – a tradition continued in later school workshop performances. The 1944 orchestral version has since become standard repertory for many orchestras, including children's concerts.