Dance historians often note that George Balanchine adored women. Sure: so did Henry VIII. The Russian-American choreographer too was much married, and his creative leaps were often spurred by a new muse. Adoration didn’t make him a good husband to his five wives or a kind director to the dancers he harried – but it did hone his choreography. His work takes ballerinas and makes them shine.
This appealing triple bill in the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels festival is bookended by ballerina-tastic ballets, filling the stage with tutu and tulle. Serenade (1934), set to floating Tchaikovsky, was Balanchine’s first American work. Initially tailored for mixed-ability students, it remains richly enticing.
