Maîtres Américains – Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse

About this event

This program celebrates two pillars of American choreographic tradition and the New York City Ballet. The first half features George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, a cornerstone of neoclassical style. Stripped of narrative, elaborate sets, and heavy costumes, it is danced in practice attire under refined lighting, highlighting clean lines and the expressive distortion of classical vocabulary. The dancers embody the four humors (melancholic, sanguine, phlegmatic, and choleric) to let us “see the music and hear the dance.” The second half presents Peter Martins’ Fearful Symmetries. Following in Balanchine’s footsteps, Martins makes John Adams’ formidable and complex minimalist score visible. In gradations of red, the ballet unfolds a pulsating succession of ensembles, pas de deux, and solos, alternating lightning-fast passages that showcase the dancers’ technical virtuosity with brief respites that reveal the beauty of the figures.