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Musicology Colloquium Series presents: Some ‘Forms’ of Choreographic Musicality in George Balanchine’s Ballets by Kara Yoo Leaman
date & time
Thu, Mar 20, 2025
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
ticketing
Free, unticketed
In dance, “musicality” usually refers to a dancer’s ability to keep in time with the music or to control their movement phrasing and rubato. Choreographic musicality deals with a choreographer’s choices in setting steps to music. This lecture examines some facets of George Balanchine’s art of choreographic musicality as seen in excerpts from ballets set to the music of J.S. Bach (Concerto Barocco), G. Bizet (Symphony in C), W.A. Mozart (Divertimento No. 15), and P.I. Tchaikovsky (Serenade, Theme and Variations, and Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux). Using choreomusical notation, annotated video clips, and live demonstrations by a student dancer, I present close readings of the ways Balanchine set physical movements to patterns of musical pitch, rhythm, harmony, texture, and form. This presentation offers specific details to support long-held intuitions about the “musicality” of Balanchine’s ballets and offers a view of his unique choreomusical style.
One of the most prolific and influential choreographers of the twentieth century, Balanchine was also a musician, trained in piano, theory, and composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Viewed as exceptionally musical, Balanchine’s ballets continue to be performed widely, forty years after his death, influencing generations of contemporary choreographers
Kara Yoo Leaman
Kara Yoo Leaman is an independent music theorist, visiting scholar at Mannes School of Music, and a co-founder of the Dance and Movement Interest Group of the Society for Music Theory. Her research in music-dance relationships, which can be seen in Music Theory Spectrum, the Journal of Music Theory, and SMT-V: The Society for Music Theory Videocast Journal, has been awarded a 2022 Outstanding Publication Award by the Society for Music Theory, a 2023 NEH-Mellon Fellowship for Digital Publication, and the Theron Rockwell Field Prize by Yale University. Her NEH fellowship project produced a series of analytic videos, called Dancing Notes, that is being published on the website of The George Balanchine Foundation. Leaman was a fellow at The Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University (’23 and ’20) and an assistant professor of music theory at Oberlin Conservatory until 2022. She currently serves as a reviews editor for the journal Music Theory Online, and she holds degrees from Harvard University, CUNY Queens College, and Yale University.
Kara Yoo Leaman
Kara Yoo Leaman is an independent music theorist, visiting scholar at Mannes School of Music, and a co-founder of the Dance and Movement Interest Group of the Society for Music Theory. Her research in music-dance relationships, which can be seen in Music Theory Spectrum, the Journal of Music Theory, and SMT-V: The Society for Music Theory Videocast Journal, has been awarded a 2022 Outstanding Publication Award by the Society for Music Theory, a 2023 NEH-Mellon Fellowship for Digital Publication, and the Theron Rockwell Field Prize by Yale University. Her NEH fellowship project produced a series of analytic videos, called Dancing Notes, that is being published on the website of The George Balanchine Foundation. Leaman was a fellow at The Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University (’23 and ’20) and an assistant professor of music theory at Oberlin Conservatory until 2022. She currently serves as a reviews editor for the journal Music Theory Online, and she holds degrees from Harvard University, CUNY Queens College, and Yale University.