Dances at a Gathering

Dances at a Gathering is the first ballet Robbins created for the New York City Ballet (NYCB) in years, after he worked on Broadway theatre. He first planned to make a pas de deux for Patricia McBride and Edward Villella, but it was eventually expanded to five couples. The ballet starts with a solo performed by Brown Boy, originally Villella, and in the middle of the ballet, a woman who had not appeared in the ballet before dances a solo. In one section featuring three men and three women, the women are tossed from partner to partner. The most well-known part of the ballet is a pas de deux between Pink Girl (originally McBride) and Mauve Boy. No more than six dancers are on stage at the same time until the finale. ==Other companies and revivals==

The Royal Ballet in London premiered Dances at a Gathering in 1970, staged by Robbins himself. When he taught the role originated by Villella to Rudolf Nureyev, who was regarded as one of the best ballet dancer in his generation, Robbins attempted to make Nureyev unrecognizable to the audience. Robbins also staged the ballet for the Paris Opera Ballet, and the company debuted it in 1991. == Casts ==

• World premiere: Allegra Kent, Sara Leland, Kay Mazzo, Patricia McBride, Violette Verdy, Anthony Blum, John Clifford, Robert Maiorano, John Prinz, Edward Villella • Royal Ballet premiere (1970): Laura Connor, Ann Jenner, Monica Mason, Lynn Seymour, Antoinette Sibley, Michael Coleman, Anthony Dowell, Jonathan Kelly, Rudolf Nureyev, David Wall • Paris Opera Ballet premiere (1991): Monique Loudières, Marie-Claude Pietragalla, Isabelle Guérin, Claude de Vulpian, Véronique Doisneau, Manuel Legris, Kader Belarbi, Jean-Yves Lormeau, Patrick Dupond, Wilfred Romoli • San Francisco Ballet premiere (2002): Sherri LeBlanc, Tina LeBlanc, Joanna Berman, Lucía Lacarra, Yuan Yuan Tan, Stephen Legate, Gonzalo Garcia, Damian Smith, Vadim Solomakha, Roman Rykine ==Music==

All the music used in Dances at a Gathering is composed by Frédéric Chopin, including: == References ==