Ragtime (II) is a short plotless ballet George Balanchine made for New York City Ballet to Igor Stravinsky's Ragtime for Eleven Instruments (1918), the third piece of choreography he set to that score across his career. It premiered on July 15, 1966, at Philharmonic Hall, New York, entering the City Ballet repertory the following January at the New York State Theater, with Suzanne Farrell and Arthur Mitchell as the original cast.
What is danced
The article contains no description of steps, holds, or vocabulary — no synopsis, no critical account of the choreography itself. What it does establish is the cast: Suzanne Farrell and Arthur Mitchell, listed as the two original dancers, which points to this being a duet, but the source does not say so explicitly and gives no detail of what the two dancers actually did on stage. Anyone wanting the movement content of this piece will need a source beyond this article; a title and personnel list are not a description of dancing.
Context
The article situates Ragtime (II) within a small lineage of choreography made to the same Stravinsky score: an earlier NYCB version, Ragtime (I), made in 1960, and a still earlier one among Balanchine's own 'informal little things' from St. Petersburg in 1922. That makes this 1966 piece Balanchine's third pass at the same eleven-minute score over roughly four decades, evidence of a recurring, private choreographic conversation with a single piece of Stravinsky rather than a one-off commission.
Staging history
The ballet premiered outside NYCB's own house, at Philharmonic Hall, on July 15, 1966, before receiving its first City Ballet performance on January 17, 1967, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center — a gap of about six months between premiere and repertory performance that the article records but does not explain. No later revivals, cast changes, or company transfers are mentioned.
How to watch it
Given the source material, watch for what the title promises: the ragtime syncopation of Stravinsky's 1918 score for eleven instruments, and how a Balanchine duet of this period translates that period American rhythm into classical vocabulary. Beyond that, the article gives no guidance on staging, costume, or structure, so the viewing convention cannot be specified from this source alone.
Credits
- composer: Igor Stravinsky