From Houston Ballet Magazine. This feature is about Houston Ballet's 2019 production Robbins: A Centennial Celebration.

1. FIRST
POSITION
FOR MANY, American dance and Jerome Robbins are
synonymous. The name instantly conjures images
of snapping fingers and gravity-defying leaps set
to the West Side Story overture from both the 1957
Broadway production and the 1961 film. From his
1944 ballet Fancy Free—which inspired Broadway’s
On the Town—to winning Tony Awards for direction
and choreography for 1964’s stage production
of Fiddler on the Roof and more, Robbins left his
signature on the fabric of American culture. This is
why Houston Ballet celebrates the legendary dancer
turned choreographer, director, and theater producer
with Robbins: A Centennial Celebration.
Houston Ballet honors the iconic
choreographer with a program
100 years in the making.
The Range
of Robbins
BY DAVID CLARKE
AmericanrepetiteurJean-PierreFrohlich
PhotobyLawrenceKnox
HOUSTON BALLET ✺ 11

2. THE COUNT
First Position
Robbins’s age when he
created his first ballet,
Fancy Free
25
the first year a Jerome
Robbins piece, In the Night,
entered Houston Ballet’s
repertoire
1986
Jerome Robbins ballets
currently in Houston
Ballet’s repertoire,
including the Houston
premiere of The Cage
7
ballets Jerome Robbins
created in his lifetime
54
“His ballets
teach us
something
about
ourselves.”
–JEAN-PIERRE FROHLICH
Principals Karina González
and Chun Wai Chan
rehearse for The Cage.
Photo by Lawrence Knox
This evening-length fête has been
overseen by American repetiteur Jean-
Pierre Frohlich. Frohlich has been
choreographed on by Robbins, served as a
ballet master assisting Robbins in staging
his ballets, is a committee member of the
Robbins Rights Trust, and oversees New
York City Ballet’s productions of Robbins’s
repertory. Because of his experiences with
Robbins, Frohlich is also entrusted with
keeping Robbins’s body of work alive.
“It’s always difficult preserving a legacy
while, at the same time,
moving it forward so that
it’s relevant to the new
generation of ballet-
goers,” says Frohlich. “I try
to reevaluate my stagings
so that I keep them fresh
and find a way to transmit
that to the dancers and
the audience.”
Robbins: A Centennial
Celebration showcases
the wide range of Robbins’s choreography
while highlighting what made him a
remarkable artist. “It’s accessible to the
general public,” Frohlich explains of
Robbins’s dance vocabulary. “When you
watch a Robbins piece, you understand
what’s going on.” At their core, these
dances are relatable to every member of
the audience regardless of the exposure
they have had to the art form. “He used
to say, ‘If I did not understand it, then the
audience will not understand it,’” says
Frohlich. “He was very conscious of that
when he choreographed.”
Houston Ballet’s program begins
with Fancy Free (1944), which Robbins
created as a young dancer with a then
up-and-coming Leonard Bernstein. Using
his eye for compelling movements to
masterfully tell stories, this romantic,
plot-driven ballet about a trio of
sailors on shore leave in New York City
minted Robbins’s star. In 1951, Robbins
experimented with form, presentation,
and a darker narrative for The Cage. Set
to Igor Stravinsky’s haunting Concerto
in D for String Orchestra, “Basle” (1946),
this ballet depicts the primal instincts of
female insect-like creatures as they prey
upon their male counterparts. Lastly,
set to music by Frédéric Chopin, The
Concert (or the Perils of Everybody) (1956)
is delightfully farcical. The lighthearted
piece features a group of concert-goers
getting swept away by the music and living
out their individualized,
sublime flights of
fancy to laughter-
inducing effect.
Those familiar with
Houston Ballet know
the company prides
itself on its ability to
be theatrically emotive
while also perfecting
technique—a perfect
fit for Robbins’s work.
“Setting these pieces on Houston Ballet
has been quite enjoyable,” says Frohlich.
“The pieces on the program are pure
theater, so it’s not just about the steps. It’s
also about the intent, and they have been
amazing in reproducing that.” Because of
the complementary dance philosophies,
audiences can expect to see reflections
of themselves on the stage—just as they
would at the theater or in one of Stanton
Welch’s own original works. “His ballets
teach us something about ourselves
while watching them,” explains Frohlich.
“Robbins would find things in everyday
life that were interesting, and he would
transmit that very often in his ballets.”
As you will encounter in Robbins: A
Centennial Celebration, there is simply
no denying the genius of Jerome Robbins.
“We should celebrate his work and pass
it on,” says Frohlich. “He was one of the
greatest minds in dance and theater,” a
true American treasure.✺
12 ✺ HOUSTON BALLET