Renard
Choreography: George Balanchine
Music: Igor Stravinsky
Balanchine used mostly mime and demi character steps to visualize Stravinsky’s music “a burlesque in one act.” Stravinsky adapted the comic bawdy tale from popular Russian folk tale about a fox brought low by a ram and a cat after trying one too many times to lure a rooster into his fatal clutches.
The work was not a popular success, although New York Times critic John Martin considered it of “Greatest interest…a kind of milestone in modern ballet, treated handsomely.” The ballet was abandoned after a few performances despite its extraordinary costumes, sets and masks by Esteban Francés. During the 1950’s, Mr. Bolender staged the piece for a single outdoor performance in Boston and it was also in San Francisco Ballet repertory for a brief period.
World Premiere: January 13, 1947
Kansas City Ballet Premiere: February 15, 2001, Lyric Theatre