1st Year - Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins 

(1918 – 1998)

One of Broadway and Hollywood's greatest choreographers, Jerome Robbins helped change the face of modern dance with his breath-taking ballets and spectacular musical stage productions.

Robbins made ballets in a wide variety of styles: classical, comic, dramatic, abstract, intimate, spectacular, modern, and traditional. With a broad and restlessly searching intellect, he continually explored new influences and ideas.

He brought an authentic American style to a European art form, and helped to elevate dance in musical theatre from pure entertainment unconnected to the story into a vehicle for defining character and advancing the story. His Broadway dances always expressed dramatic content and evoked rich, fully imagined worlds—whether the court of Siam or the gritty, gang-run streets of New York. Robbins had a particular gift for choreography that allowed men to look modern, masculine, even tough, without sacrificing lyricism; and also a gift for choreography that made the best use of non-dancers. He always pushed his performers toward a style that looked easy and natural, yet completely engaged.

A central theme that runs through Jerome Robbins’s work is the nature of communities: gangs, villages, tribes, intimate groups of friends, loose urban societies. Among performers he had a fearsome reputation as a taskmaster, and his feelings about his own identity—particularly his religious and family background and his sexual orientation—were complicated, conflicted, and insecure. In his choreography, however, he created moving portraits of friendship, kinship, courtesy, and resilient communal bonds.

Why not check out some of the below title's to see the work that he has been involved in. This includes productions he danced in which would have had an influence on the work he choreographically created.

Answer the below 2 Questions in 400 words:

1.        What are three qualities that make Jerome Robbins choreography unique?
2.        How do you think these qualities are reflected in your Billie Eilish Routine?

Date	Title	Information
1939	Keep off the grass	A musical revue choreographed by George Balanchine for Broadway and danced by Jerome Robbins
1944	Fancy Free	A ballet about three sailors on shore leave in New York during WWII. Characters based on himself and two friends from Ballet Theatre
1944	On the Town	A musical inspired by ‘Fancy Free’ with music by Leonard Bernstein
1945	Billions Dollar Baby	Set in the 1920s, it follows the adventures of an ambitious young woman, in her quest for wealth during the Prohibition era
1947	High Button Shoes	Act 2 staged like a slapstick silent film; running in and out of doors
1951	Small house of Uncle Thomas – The King and I	A traditional Siamese dance performed in the musical ‘The King and I’ to narration about slavery
1953	Afternoon of a Faun	Set in a ballet studio (a three wall set) lounging on the floor. A ballerina enters and dances facing the audience as though looking into the mirrored wall of the studio.
1954	Pajama Game	Deals with labour troubles in a pyjama factory. Co-directed by Jerome Robbins and choreographed by Bob Fosse
1954	Peter Pan	Musical adaption of J. M. Barrie’s play about the boy who never grew up
1956	The Concert	Jerome Robbins holds a mirror up to audiences everywhere in this exuberant comic ballet, set to Chopin’s well-loved piano music
1957	West Side Story (Broadway)	A musical conceived, directed and choreographed by Robbins. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
1958	NY Export: Opus Jazz (Broadway, later made into a film) choreographed for his own company Ballets U.S.A	‘The ballet in sneakers’ The story of disaffected urban youth through movement that blended ballet, jazz and ballroom dancing with Latin, African and American rhythms to create a powerfully expressive and contemporary style.
1959	Gypsy	Loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist.  It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life
1961	West Side Story (Film)	Film adaption of the Broadway hit. Bringing the Jets and the Sharks to the big screen
1964	Fiddler on the Roof	The first musical theatre run in history to surpass 3,000 performances The story centres on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his family and Jewish religious traditions while outside influences encroach upon their lives
1964	Funny Girl	The semi-biographical plot is based on the life and career of Broadway, film star and Comedienne Fanny Brice (making Barbara Streisand a superstar)
1970s – 1980s	Robbins became Ballet Master of the New York City Ballet (1972)	Robbins worked almost exclusively in Classical Ballet throughout the decade. He also choreographed and staged productions for the Joffrey Ballet
1989	Jerome Robbins Broadway	A Broadway recreation of the most successful production numbers of Jerome Robbins from his 50 year career
1998	Les Noces	A ballet made to Stravinsky’s eponymous music for NY City Ballet. The last of Robbins’ work before his death

Other references you could look to are:

Jerome Robbins Foundation

Britannica Biography

Royal Opera House - Jerome Robbins

New York City Ballet - Jerome Robbins

The blog of 400 words to answer the two questions mentioned earlier is due by Friday 6th March at 8.30am. 

Please send your published blog link to the email address here.