Triptych

What is danced

The source article does not describe the choreography, structure, or movement vocabulary of the piece beyond naming the score and listing the four original principals. What can be inferred with certainty from the record is only the scale of the cast — two women, two men, presumably built as paired or interlocking duets across the ballet's title-implied three sections — and that it was made on NYCB dancers at the height of their technical powers (Whelan and Soto were among the company's most prominent principals of that era). Beyond that, no specific steps, holds, partnering configurations, or stylistic markers are given in the source, so nothing further can responsibly be reported here.

Context

The ballet belongs to New York City Ballet's Diamond Project, a recurring initiative that commissioned new, largely plotless works set to varied scores; the article situates the premiere explicitly within that programme. Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is a canonical modernist concert score, and its use here places the piece among the many Diamond Project ballets built on non-traditional, non-narrative orchestral music rather than commissioned or pre-existing ballet scores.

Staging history

The article records only the single premiere date, company, and venue; it gives no information on revivals, restagings by other companies, or whether the ballet remained in NYCB's repertory beyond its debut season.

How to watch it

Attend to how the two principal couples are set against and with each other, since the cast is built from two clearly paired dancers each; this structure, plus the three-part implication of the title, suggests a piece organized in contrasting sections rather than a single continuous narrative arc. Beyond that structural cue, the source gives no guidance on step vocabulary or technique to watch for.

Credits

• composer: Béla Bartók

Questions