New Jersey Ballet: A Night on the Town

A Night On the Town will feature Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free, which was the inspiration for the full-length musical On the Town. Fancy Free was Robbins’ first collaboration with composer Leonard Bernstein. Choreographed in 1944, Robbins and Bernstein aspired to bring a modern American sensibility to ballet with the concept of sailors on shore leave in New York City.

The program will also feature George Balanchine’s Rubies. Set to Igor Stravinsky’s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, Rubies sends dancers racing across the stage to reflect Stravinsky’s jazz-inflected piano with movements that incorporate sassy style and sharp attack. Rubies premiered at New York City Ballet in 1967, where New Jersey Ballet’s long-time Artistic Advisor, Edward Villella was part of the original cast.

Additional repertory to be announced soon.

Photo by Leigh Ann Esty