Showcasing the tiniest of dancers, Circus Polka is a sprightly piece featuring a carousel of students from the School of American Ballet as they twinkle in lines and circles at the beck and call of a dapper ringmaster.

In 1942 Balanchine received a commission from Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus to choreograph a polka for elephants. Balanchine called Stravinsky and asked him to compose the piece. Stravinsky asked for whom the music was to be composed. “Elephants,” replied Balanchine. “How old?” asked Stravinsky. “Young.” "If they are very young, I will do it,” said the composer.

Apparently, he was concerned that older elephants might be startled by the unusual rhythms and harmonies of the music, officially titled Circus Polka for Wind Symphony. Using a 2/4 meter, the music sometimes comically lurches like an elephant out of step. The orchestration — with prominence given to the bass drum, cymbals, and heavy brass — evokes a circus environment. For the Stravinsky Festival in 1972, Jerome Robbins used the music for his Circus Polka, a showpiece for 48 students from the School of American Ballet, and cast himself as the Ringmaster. At the close of the piece, the children form the initials “I.S.,” in honor of the composer; since that time, the ballet has paid tribute to others in the same way.

This all-female ballet is a light-hearted and buoyant work that evokes the movements of Russian folk dances.

This brief work for two principal women and a female corps of 16 is reminiscent of Russian women’s folk ensembles.

Former NYCB Corps de Ballet Member and beloved City Ballet the Podcast host Silas Farley rejoins his colleagues to create a world premiere for the Company’s 2022 Stravinsky Festival, featuring a score by David K. Israel based on a series of compositional exchanges between Stravinsky and Balanchine.

The outer sections of Stravinsky Violin Concerto are carefully woven masterpieces of symmetry that peel away to reveal two of Balanchine’s most ingenious and unique pas de deux.

Stravinsky Violin Concerto was composed in 1931 and at its premiere, conducted by Igor Stravinsky with Samuel Dushkin as the violin soloist. It was first used by Balanchine for Balustrade with the Original Ballet Russe in 1941. When Balanchine returned to this score three decades later, he could no longer remember his original choreography. “What I did then was for then,” he said, “and I wanted to do this music for our Stravinsky Festival.” Stravinsky Violin Concerto premiered on the opening night of the 1972 Stravinsky Festival, which also included the premiere of Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements.