Ballet Imperial

Music Piano Concerto No.2 in G, Op.44 (1879-80) by Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky

Choreography by George Balanchine (1941)

This ballet on its tour through South America in 1941 was meant to showcase the American capability of upholding classical ballet traditions. This is Balanchine’s “contemporary tribute to Marius Petipa as First Ballet Master of the Imperial Ballet, St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres and the splendor of St. Petersburg itself at the time when it was the capital of the Russian Empire. It was in St. Petersburg under the tutelage of Petipa that Balanchine received his training as a ballet dancer.

In order to highlight the incredible design and rendition of the pale blue insets on the bodice, I pleated them together as a way to condense the visual concept to its essence. The encrusted top of the bodice is also arranged to give maximum effect to the ornamentation of this piece that is a costume evocation of imperial Russian aesthetic. Lastly the elastic shoulder straps are arranged to let the viewer remember that these costumes are not just visual splendor but they are also workhorses that stand up under the rigors of countless performances over many years.