May Repertory Program: Agon, Jardin Aux Lilas and Gaite Pariesienne May 9, 2010

The title of the ballet, 'Agon,' is the Greek word for contest, protagonist, as well as agony or struggle. The ballet is in three parts, performed without interruption. The first part consists of a pas de quatre for four boys, a double pas de quatre for eight girls and a triple pas de quatre for all twelve dancers. Then two girls and a boy dance a pas de trios. The boy dances a sarabande. The two girls dance a gaillard. A pas de trios is replaced by another and the second part of the ballet begins with three branles. Next comes the pas de deux with variations for the boy and the girl. The music for the first movement of the ballet is repeated and the piece ends as it began, with four boys dancing alone. 'Jardin aux Lilas' is a dramatic ballet in one act; a tragedy of manners. A haunting story about a marriage of convenience set in England in the late 19th Century. A moonlit garden filled with lilacs, but still dark and foreboding set the scene as Caroline, a young bride, bids farewell to her lover while her finance (whom she does not love) parts with his mistress. Leonide Massine's fabulous 'Gaite Parisienne' danced to a score by Jacques Offenbach rounds out the program. A story of romance and high spirits set in a turn-of-the-century cafe, this mini-ballet features the rousing and uninhibited Can-Can in a tale of the nightlife of old Paris.