Joffrey Ballet's fall performances present two world premiere works

Joffrey Ballet's fall performances present two world premiere works

The 2001/2002 season of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago's fall performances feature two United States premieres of Nijinsky's 1912 "Games" (Jeux), a still-untitled world premiere by San Francisco choreographer Julia Adam and the world premiere of Chicago's Paul Christiano's "Miracle, Interrupted," set to the music of Vivaldi.

This year marks Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino's 45th year since they organized the Joffrey Ballet and its 7th anniversary season in Chicago. In addition to its traditional Thursday through Saturday evening performances and Saturday and Sunday matinees, the Joffrey is also pleased to announce a new Friday matinee series.

The Sara Lee Foundation is the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago's 2001/2002 season presenting sponsor.

The Mijinsky Mystique, a feast of dance, music and art, will be held between Oct. 11-14.

Nijinsky - hailed in his time as "The dancing god" - choreographed just four works in his lifetime; of these, three will be performed by The Joffrey: "Games (Jeux (Jeux)," "The Afternoon of a Faun" (L'Apres-midi D'un Faune), and "The Rite of Spring" (Le Sacre du Printemps).

Nijjinsky's first foray into choreography was inspired by a Stephane Mallarne poem that had already provided fruitful inspiration for composer Claude Debussy, who composed the music for two of the program's three works.

Nijinsky's innovative and startlingly erotic "The Afternoon of A Faun" was premiered in Paris in 1912 by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, with his "Games" and "The Rite of Spring" following in Ballet Russes' 1913 season.

Ostensibly about a twilight game of tennis played by a young man and two young women, "Games" also explores timeless themes of yearning, jealousy and sexuality.

A revival of the Joffrey's internationally acclaimed 1987 reconstruction of "The Rite of Spring," with its bombastic subject matter and infamous score by Igor Stravinsky and sets and costumes by Nicholas Roerich, completes the program.

Millicent Hodson, choreographer and dance historian, and Kenneth Archer, scenic consultant and art historian, will set "Games" for the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and "The Rite of Spring," which they reconstructed on the Joffrey in 1987.

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