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Graduation Ball
was conceived and choreographed by David Lichine in Australia during the
1939-1940 tour by the Original Ballet Russe. It was given its world
premiere in Sydney on 1 March 1940 at the Theatre Royal. The cast for that
inaugural performance was led by Lichine and Tatiana Riabouchinska with
Borislav Runanine as the Headmistress and Igor Schwezoff as the General.
Set in a
fashionable girls’ school in Vienna in 1840, the pupils of a ladies
finishing school invite the graduates of a nearby military academy to
their annual ball.
As the curtain
rises, the girls are completing their preparations, helped — and bothered
— by their Headmistress. The cadets arrive, led by their Headmaster
General, and after a formal exchange of greetings, the ball begins. At
first, the boys are too shy to ask the girls to dance. Finally, one of
them is encouraged onto the floor, and soon the waltzing is in full swing.
After the first
dance, a "divertissement," prepared by some of the students, is presented.
The sections include The Drummer Boy, The Sylphide pas de deux and Dance
Competition. At a break, a party game is begun in which each student puts
a note into a box, hoping it will be drawn by a favored partner.
Spirits are
high and a flirtation develops between the Romantic Girl and the Shy
Cadet. The Headmistress and General also have taken a liking to each other
and dance an old-fashioned mazurka together.
The ball closes
after a "grand gallop," during which the two grown-ups are discovered
embracing. The cadets take their leave and march off.
In the ensuing
silence, the Shy Cadet and his girl emerge from opposite sides of the
ballroom, but the desired kiss never takes place. The Headmistress and the
General, cheated out of their own private rendezvous by the presence of
the youngsters, grab them by the ears and drag them away.
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