Balanchine's two productions ofthe seven deadly sins,1933 and 1958

Abstract

It is a commonplace that the range and complexity of George Balanchine's choreographic career find scant precedence in the history of Western theatre dance. Although much has been-and is being-written about the man and his work beyond the continuing tradition of perceptive stylistic analysis exemplified by Lincoln Kirstein and Edwin Denby, the contours of Balanchine's achievement remain largely uncharted. Scholars have yet to fully assess his oeuvre, whether in terms of period-Russia, Europe, American before and after the founding of New York City Ballet -or in terms of genre-narrative, non-narrative, mixed media. The challenge here is not to devise the classifications, but to analyze the complex relations of period and genre. These are matters that no one scholar can resolve alone: Did Balanchine turn to differing genres with the same concerns, or did he choose the genre according to its particular potential for expression? Did he pursue a straight line of choreographic development from Russia to Western Europe to America? If not, what influences determined the discontinuities and changes along the way? Perhaps the best way to begin the inquiry is modestly, by comparing works in the same genre from different periods, or works in different genres from the same period. This essay attempts the former, looking at a work Balanchine choreographed twice, in two very different periods-The Seven Deadly Sins in its ? 1986 by Susan Manning