List of Harkness Ballets

• Robin McCain

Here are the dance pieces that we are aware of in January of 2018

untitled – music by Janacek
untitled – Based on “Hair”
A Dash of Deodato
A Season in Hell
After Eden
Amok
Ariadne
Bachianas Brasileiras
Ballabile
Ballade
Ballet I
Ballet II
Bartok Concerto
Belfana
Bergamasca
Bird of Yearning
Bolero
Cain
Canto Indio
Capers
Caprices
Cavalcade
Celebration
Ceremonials
Second choric dance ; Invocation and dance
Cindy
Concerto no. 1 for orchestra
Coppelia Pas de Deux
Coppelia Suite
Crosswalk
Cumulo-Nimbus
Daphnis et Chloe
Daughters of the Garden
Divertimento
Don Quixote Pas de deux
Double Concerto
Dreams of Glory
Eaters of Darkness aka Die im Schatten leben
Eins, Zwei, Drei
Elegie
Elements
English Dances
Fantasy variations on a theme of youth
Feast of Ashes (Fiesta de Cenizas)
Firebird
Flower Festival in Genzano
Fly by Night
Fugitive Visions aka Visones Fugitivas
Games
Gemini
Golden Age
Golden Pagoda aka Pagoda Dorada
Grand Pas Espagnol
Green Mansions (sketches)
Hearts, Meadows and Flags
Highland Fair
Idylle
Incantation a la Lune
In Silence And Alone
Interludes
Isotopes
I Told Jesus
Jota
Koshare
L’absence (Absence)
La bayadère
La Favorita
La Mentoso
La Source
Landscape for Lovers
Le Corsaire
Legend of the Elements
Le Quattro Stagioni (Vespres Siciliennes)
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
L’Esprit de la Rose
Les Rendez-vous
Letter to Japan
Light Fantastic
Macumba
Madrigalesco
Maracatu
Marionette
Masquerade
Melancholie
Moments aka Ogenblikken
Monument to a Dead Boy
Napoli
Night Song
Nite Out (Satan’s Games)
Nocturne
Nocturne
Nocturne a deux
Nutcracker Excerpts
N.Y. Export, Op. Jazz
Paquita
Pas D’Action
Pas Des Fiancees
Patterns
Peintre et Son Modele
Percussion for Six – Men
Percussion for Six – Women
Pineapple Poll
Prodigal Son (Excerpt Act I)
Raymonda variations
Rendezvous
Requiem for Jimmy Dean – a work in progress
Rimbaud (A Season in Hell)
Ritmo Jondo
Rodin; Mis en Vie
Romeo and Juliet – Pas de Deux
Room 8A
Roundabout
Saint-Saens Concerto
Sarabande
Scherzo Capriccioso
Schubert Variations
Sebastian
Self Portrait
Shadows
Shindig
Sinfonia India
Souvenirs
Spanish Dances (el vito)
Spartacus
Spring Waters
Srpsko Kolo
Stages and Reflections
Street Games
Suite Ecossaise
Summer Views
Sylvia Pas de Deux
Sylvia Variations
Tango
Tartara
Tchaikovsky
The Abyss (El Abismo)
The Brood
The Dybbuk
The Gratz Waltzes
The Legend of Befana
The Lottery
The Perfect Fool
The Romantic Age
The Scarf
The Seasons
The Wanderer
Three Easy Tangos
Three Preludes
Time Out Of Mind
Tourbillon
Two choric dances : op. 17B
Variaciones concertantes : para orquesta de camara
Variations for Four Plus Four
Vaudeville
Venta Quemada
Vivaldi Concerti
Voices From Close By
Web
Winds Blowing
Women’s Chamber
Xangô
Yemanja
Youth
Zapateado
Zealous Variations

Some of the entries are the names of scores that may have been used in ballets – match composers
Many other pieces were created as training for the school or the Youth company and were never publicly performed
And some were considered but never incorporated into a piece

12 thoughts on “List of Harkness Ballets”

  1. You may know most of these:
    Percussion for 6 Women, Vicente Nebrada, 1971
    Time Out of Mind, Brian MacDonald, 1971

    “The Lottery?” (to Rite of Spring), Brian MacDonald 1971 (uses the Shirley Jackson story of “The Lottery” as a village performs a grisly annual ritual

    Mother Courage and her Children, (2 modern choreographers David . . .?), c.1972, from the Bertolt Brecht play

    Schubert Variations . . . ?

    Firebird, Brian MacDonald

    Souvenirs, Todd Bolender

    Bachianas Brasilerias . . .? (to music by the same name)

    Three Preludes, Ben Stevenson

    Bartok Concerto? (to music by the same name)

    Eaters of Darkness . . . ?

    (male duet with Darrell Barnett and the late _____ (latino) who was shot in a drug deal), beautifully choreographed by Vicente to Samuel Barber’s ???? (his most famous piece you’ve heard for sure)

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  4. Gemini seems to be the work for 2 men I was referring you to . . . with Samuel Barber’s Adagio . . . yet your list has Mahler. I’m not sure. What a great list! Ali can definitely fill in many blanks there because he was with the company early on until the end. I saw a couple of typos . . . Benjamin Harkarvy, not Harkovy . . . what a job you’ve done!
    Remembering dancing so many of these. O . . . . Eaters of Darkness is not there. See it on Vimeo . . . Linda DiBona’s site.

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  5. Dear Ms. McCain, I will assume you have information on my ballet, ABYSS, which premiered in Cannes in 1965, with Erick Bruhn and Lone Isakson. If I am right and you do, is there any way I might see it for my own records? Most sincerely, Stuart Hodes

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    1. Hi Stuart,
      This is Robin Welch and I’m so glad I saw your comment about The Abyss. It was one of my all-time favorite ballets ever. A true work of dramatic art created by a wonderful person. I think of you often and glad you are still well . I don’t know if you remember but you gave Bob Vickrey and I permission for him to stage it and for me to dance it when we had The Connecticut Ballet. It was an amazing experience to dance!

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  6. I composed ( and recorded) the music for both of the “Percussion for Six ” ballets as works commissioned by the Harkness company. The first of the two, for the male dancers, was begun as an experiment. Vicente and I worked in the studio for five or six weeks with the dancers and a bunch of percussion instruments, developing the dance and the music, step by step and measure by measure. Once we had enough put together to suggest the style and sound of a completed work, we presented a rough demonstration for Mrs. Harkness, who then gave the go-ahead to complete the piece.

    The score for the ballet, “Bachianas Brasileiras”, was taken from a popular set of pieces (of the same name) composed by the famous Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, based on themes by J.S.Bach.

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    1. Welcome, Lee! So happy to have us all experience what is no coincidence, but a synchronicity . . . I find these occur when I am “in the flow” . . . I would assume you are, as are Robin and Leslie, et.al! Who knows! Thank you for reaching out. We want to hear your stories! If you have any photos, I’ll make a post out of it with your writing. Just send me a jpeg or 2, and a PDF of your text . . . if you are so inclined. What are you doing in early June? Possibly in NYC?

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