Watermill
Watermill is a 1972 work made by Jerome Robbins during his time as balletmaster at New York City Ballet, set to a score of the same name by Teiji Ito, with costumes by Patricia Zipprodt, lighting by Jennifer Tipton, and décor credited to Robbins working with Davie Reppa. It premiered on February 3, 1972 at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, with a cast led by Edward Villella alongside Penny Dudleston, Tracy Bennett, Deni Lamont, Colleen Neary, Hermes Conde, Jean-Pierre Frohlich, Bart Cook, Victor Castelli and Robert Maiorano.
What is danced
The source article gives credits, a premiere date and a cast list, but it contains no synopsis, no scene breakdown and no description of steps, holds or technique, so nothing about the actual movement vocabulary can be verified from it directly. What can be said from the record as given is limited to authorship and personnel: a Robbins ballet for NYCB, scored by Ito, with a design team (Zipprodt, Tipton, Robbins/Reppa) credited separately from the choreography, which is itself a signal that the visual and sonic environment was treated as being on a par with the dancing rather than as backdrop to it — but the article does not say this in so many words.
Context
The article situates the work only by date and institution: NYCB, Lincoln Center, February 1972, with Robbins as balletmaster. It does not describe the surrounding repertory, aesthetic climate or critical reception, so no claim about what the piece did to ballet in 1972 can be drawn from the text itself.
Staging history
The article's own reference list points to a Playbill and a Repertory Week programme both dated 2008, implying a New York City Ballet revival or repertory run of the work that spring, but it gives no further detail on that staging, on cast changes, or on any other companies that may have performed it.
How to watch it
The article does not describe what happens on stage, so no guidance on watching the choreography can be drawn from it. A viewer relying only on this record would know who made the work, who scored and designed it, when and where it premiered, and who danced it first.
Credits
- composer: Teiji Ito