Harlequinade
Backdrop for Harlequinade
The Ballet Russe Collection
Ballet choreographed by Boris Romanov.
Music by Riccardo Drigo.
Decor by Rolf Gerard.
Premiere: Chicago, December 27, 1956, by the Ballet Russe de Monte
Carlo.
"Harlequinade was an adaptation of Drigo's Les
Millions d'Arlequin which, with choreography by Petipa, was
presented in St. Petersburg's Hermitage Theatre in 1900. Romanoff
had created an earlier Harlequinade for his Theatre
Romantique which toured Europe in the 1920s, and in 1965 George
Balanchine did his own Harlequinade for the New York City
Ballet. All versions tell the same basic story about the attempts
of Harlequin, aided by the Good Fairy, to win Columbine from
Pantalon."
Jack Anderson, The One and Only: The Ballet Russe de Monte
Carlo
This beautiful piece of scenery is in excellent condition, and
consists of three sets of legs and borders against the backdrop
pictured above. It was most recently featured in the Butler
Ballet's production of Napoli Pas de Six and Tarentella
staged for the 1998 Midwinter Dance Festival by Butler faculty
member and choreographer Rochelle Zide-Booth, who herself, as a
member of the Ballet Russe, had danced in Romanov's original
production.
Below are the pictures of the scenery, adding one set of legs
and borders at a time.
Backdrop with upstage legs and
border
With downstage legs and borders
With mid-stage legs and border