Boléro (Jaffe)
- Choreographer: Susan Jaffe
- Music: Maurice Ravel
- Costumes: Janet Groom Campbell
- World Premiere: Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre - February 12, 2021
- PBT Performance Date: * February 12-14, 2021. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA * May 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 2021. Open Air performances using PBT mobile stage at Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, PA; June 6-9, 2023 at Heinz Hall (Pittsburgh) with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Program Notes
Though usually performed just as an orchestral work, Boléro was originally composed as a ballet score. (Ravel was commissioned to create the work by Ida Rubinstein, a ballet company director and dancer in Paris.) Ms. Jaffe returns the music to its roots, with movement mirroring the passion and intensity of Ravel’s pulsing rhythm. Starting with a lone woman, the ballet builds along with the music, eventually enveloping a corps of 14 dancers in a liberation of community.