Richmond Ballet: Studio 1

Apollo by George Balanchine
A World Premiere by Jessica Lang

Created in 1928, Apollo is George Balanchine’s oldest surviving ballet. It was his first great success and marked the beginning of his lifelong partnership with Igor Stravinsky, who conceived of and composed the score as a ballet. In this quintessential example of Balanchine’s spare, neoclassical choreographic style, the young god Apollo is visited and instructed by three muses – Calliope, Muse of poetry; Polyhymnia, Muse of mime; and Terpsichore, Muse of dance and song. Paired with this Balanchine classic is an eagerly awaited world premiere. Audience favorite, Jessica Lang (To Familiar Spaces in Dream, A Maiden’s Hymn, La Belle Danse, Women and the Sea: A Tribute to Will Barnet) returns to create her fifth commissioned world premiere for Richmond Ballet. Known for her visually compelling and emotionally powerful ballets, Lang is a rising star in the dance world, with works in the repertories of American Ballet Theatre, Cincinnati Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Joffrey Ballet, amongst others.