Horace Armistead

This past year, while attending an extraordinary program at Paris's Opéra Garnier which featured the Paris Opera Ballet tackling, among other works, Pina Bausch's Rite of Spring, I wondered to myself, 'Why is New York still the house of Balanchine?' Sure, it could be argued other choreographers have made their mark on the company, from Robbins to Wheeldon to Peck, but the basic machinery of the pieces and their executions is consistently Balanchine in a way that Paris isn't Nureyev. Lincoln Center is nearly as synonymous with Balanchine as Bayreuth is with Wagner. Happily, this past Tuesday's four-part 'All Balanchine' program was an excellent justification for the company's conservation of the choreographer's composition and indelible flair.

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet performed a staging-in-process showing of the second movement of the rarely seen George Balanchine ballet, Gounod Symphony, on Sunday, September 11, 2016 at the NYU Skirball Center. Presented in collaboration with The Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University, the revived work will premiere in full at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.  October 21-23, 2016

David I. Mitchell died yesterday, October 3, in California at the age of 79 due to cancer. Mr. Mitchell designed more than 30 Broadway shows, was nominated for seven Tony awards and won two for ANNIE and BARNUM.