The recent Chroma / Tryst / Symphony in C Insight Evening at the Royal Ballet brought together quite a triumvirate of artists – Balanchine ballerina Patricia Neary, choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and composer James MacMillan – and I wrote a blog post about the evening for the Royal Opera House:
There is a very specific thrill to an Insight Evening – the emotion to see dancers up close, to learn how they rehearse, to see them take risks a few feet from you. Extra treats, however, were in store on 14 May to introduce the last triple bill of The Royal Ballet’s season, comprised of Chroma, Tryst and Symphony in C. One of the great Balanchine ballerinas of her time, Patricia Neary, was there to introduce the Balanchine masterpiece Symphony in C, and her presence in the studio seemed to energize dancers and audience alike. Tryst was then rehearsed by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon himself, later joined by Scottish composer James MacMillan for a discussion of the work’s score. An embarrassment of riches, and the rare opportunity to see ballets being passed on by a muse and a choreographer in the same evening.
Patricia Neary launched the evening with a delightful bit of history. Symphony in C was originally choreographed for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1947 as Le Palais de Cristal – instead of the white tutus and plain backdrop we know today, Balanchine had the four movements dressed in different colours. The ballet then entered the repertoire of the New York City Ballet the following year under the name Symphony in C, after the Bizet symphony it is set to, and Balanchine’s dancers always thought the two ballets were identical. When Patricia Neary was called to the Paris Opera Ballet to rehearse Le Palais de Cristal in the 1990s, however, she quickly realised they weren’t – Balanchine had apparently forgotten a good deal of the choreography he had created the year before, and he started from scratch when it came to New York, creating what Patricia Neary deems the better version of one of his most famous “tutu” ballets. (…)
