A Garden

Composer

Richard Strauss

Music

Tanzsuite for Orchestra -
after keyboard pieces by Francois Couperin

Lighting Design

Michael Chybowski

Premiere Date

February 23, 2001

Premiere Venue

War Memorial Opera House

Premiere Location

San Francisco, CA

Premiere Company

San Francisco Ballet

Number of Dancers

12

Details

A Garden has also been performed by Ballet British Columbia and Pacific Northwest Ballet.

“Fresh air from the modern dance world blows through this ballet…the most memorable things about A Garden are its loveliness and sincerity, its joyful musicality and its deep humanism.” -Anita Amirrezvani, Jose Mercury News, February 27, 2001

“The choreography, sweet and courtly yet offbeat often enough to surprise, married dance and gesture affectionately to the music… A Garden boasts a mysterious alchemy that transforms gentle steps and graceful music into an effably moving vision of communal warmth.” -Octavio Roca, San Francisco Chronicle

“A Garden uses the language of classical ballet but cuts it loose from its tight precepts every time it threatens to become formulaic.” -Debra Craine, The Times (UK)

“A Garden is a beautiful work, and shows that Morris is more fluent in the language of petit allegro than most so-called classical choreographers today.” -David Vaughan, Ballet Review

“A Garden…the spectacle of an American master working at the peak of his powers, the birth of a masterpiece.” -Octavio Roca, San Francisco Chronicle

“A Garden is a keeper, a ballet that audiences will be happy to see repeated year after year.” -Anita Amirrezvani, Mercury News

“This is dance at its most eloquent, a pastoral poem written in bodies and space.” -Judith Mackrell, The Guardian Unlimited

“Fresh air from the modern dance world blows through this ballet…the most memorable things about A Garden are its loveliness and sincerity, its joyful musicality and its deep humanism.” -Anita Amirrezvani, Jose Mercury News, February 27, 2001

“The choreography, sweet and courtly yet offbeat often enough to surprise, married dance and gesture affectionately to the music… A Garden boasts a mysterious alchemy that transforms gentle steps and graceful music into an effably moving vision of communal warmth…Morris’ choreography is both demanding and original, but technical details alone cannot explain the emotional resonance of A Garden, the way it touches the heart long after the final curtain.” -Octavio Roca, San Francisco Chronicle, February 26, 2001

“The choreography for A Garden is incredibly well-organized, the ensemble beautifully cut into shimmering splinters…A Garden uses the language of classical ballet but cuts it loose from its tight precepts every time it threatens to become formulaic…It’s also fun to watch the dancers’ sophisticated classical training erupt naturally through choreography which expresses itself in such (deceptively) simple pleasures. Like all Morris’s best dances, A Garden builds a sense of companionship on stage and Morris’s dialogue with his music is immediate and sympathetic.” -Debra Craine, The Times, August 15, 2001