Pennsylvania Ballet: Concerto Barocco, As It’s Going, Lambarena

Concerto Barocco is a classic ballet in three movements which was premiered by the American Ballet Caravan (now New York City Ballet) at Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro on June 27, 1941. In 1951, Balanchine eliminated the costumes and instead dressed the dancers in rehearsal clothing. (This was the beginning of what
would be customary Balanchine costuming for contemporary works.) Set to Bach’s Concerto in D minor for Two Violins, Concerto Barocco has no subject matter of its own, but is designed to illustrate the rhythms, intensities and emotional hues of the score. The two female principal dancers personify the violins in the score.

As It’s Going, a ballet in seven movements, set to the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, takes its title from an Anna
Akhmatova poem. Choreographed and staged by Matthew Neenan, this piece was characterized as
"engraving rich textures on Pennsylvania Ballet with his artistic dialogues" by Lewis Whittington in Dance Magazine.

Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena was inspired by a score of the same name that blends traditional African rhythms and melodies with extended passages from Johann Sebastian Bach. In response to this exciting and unusual piece of music, and seeking to make a "joyous celebration of dancing," Caniparoli choreographed an emotionfilled work in eight movements that boldly merges the vocabularies of classical ballet and African dance.