Andantino is a pas de deux Jerome Robbins made for New York City Ballet's 1981 Tchaikovsky Festival, set to the second movement of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. It premiered under the title Pas de Deux and was renamed later that year. It sits in the catalogue as a rare instance of Robbins working directly with Tchaikovsky's music, something he later admitted he had resisted doing.
What it contains
- Neoclassical Ballet · The whole work, a single continuous pas de deux — A pas de deux that abandons the classical entrée-variation-coda form entirely, built instead as continuous, skating-like partnering with sustained lifts and embraces rather than discrete display steps. Source: "It does not follow the structure of a classical pas de deux, and has neither solos nor the coda."
What is danced
The ballet is built as a single duet with no solos and no coda, departing deliberately from the standard three-part structure (entrée, variations, coda) of a classical pas de deux. Contemporary critics likened its partnering to figure skating, suggesting sustained, gliding lifts and continuous physical contact between the two dancers rather than the more presentational, formal display typical of a grand pas de deux. Anna Kisselgoff noted 'more than a hint of a romantic relationship and embraces,' pointing to intimate, close partnering as the emotional and physical core of the piece rather than virtuosic display steps.
Context
The work was made for NYCB's 1981 Tchaikovsky Festival, an event conceived by George Balanchine to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the composer's death, for which multiple company choreographers were commissioned to set new ballets to Tchaikovsky scores. Robbins, by his own account, was reluctant to choreograph to Tchaikovsky and only agreed at Balanchine's instigation, ultimately producing three ballets for the festival, of which Andantino was his first use of the composer's music. The piece was created on Darci Kistler, a fifteen-year-old just brought into the company by Balanchine, and Ib Andersen, a recently arrived principal from the Royal Danish Ballet, pairing a very young American-trained dancer with a Bournonville-trained one.
Staging history
Andantino appeared on the opening night of the Tchaikovsky Festival, a placement that caused friction between Robbins and Balanchine over the running order (Balanchine apologized the next day). It was later revived by NYCB for the Jerome Robbins Celebration marking the 90th anniversary of his birth and 10th of his death, and again in 2018 by NYCB members at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival for Robbins' centenary.
How to watch it
Watch for the absence of the expected pas de deux architecture: there is no separation into entrée, solo variations, and coda, so the duet reads as one continuous unbroken exchange. Attend to the quality of the lifts and holds, which critics described in terms borrowed from figure skating — gliding, sustained, and closely coupled rather than punctuated by discrete steps — and to the embraces that carry the piece's romantic undertone.
Credits
- composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky