Ballet Wish List: PRISM

Every time NYC Ballet announces a new season and I come home with the brochure, Wei asks the same question: "Are they doing PRISM?" Created by former NYC Ballet principal Helgi Tomasson for the 2000 Diamond Project, PRISM is the one ballet Wei & I want most desperately to see again. It has mythic status in our household. Set to the Beethoven Piano Concerto #1, Tomasson made a 'big' ballet with a high-flying male soloist role (danced with amazing trajectories by Benjamin Millepied) and a central pair (Maria Kowroski and Charles Askegard) whose adagio is echoed by corps couples. One of the big attractions of the piece was the long wine-red slitted skirt Maria wore; that's when we started calling her 'Legs Kowroski'. I believe Tomasson's company, the San Francisco Ballet, keeps PRISM in their active rep but is that any reason why we can't see Maria dancing in it here again?

Comments

[Bob]

I remember PRISM very well and I also remember that I liked it a lot. And of course, I especially remember Maria's long red-slitted skirt. That is definitely one of those ballets that are due for a return to the repertory.

One ballet that has been missing from the repertory for a long, long time and that I would love to see again is Robbins' GERSHWIN CONCERTO. I still have vivid memories of the original cast - Darci Kistler, Christopher d'Amboise, Maria Calegari, and Mel Tomlinson. And the musical score (Concerto in F) is one of Gershwin's greatest compositions. Maybe they will bring it back for the Spring Robbins Festival.

[philip]

Yes, I remember the Gershwin/Robbins and would like to see it again. The neglected Robbins piece I am most anxious to see revived is AN EVENING'S WALTZES.