Leo Tolstoy’s masterpiece Anna Karenina is a story of love and passion and all consuming desire by the beautiful but married Anna for the dashing Count Vronsky.
Of course this changes her life. It is quite a psychological drama done by glorious dancers in magnificent costumes with an original score preformed by live music.
It is set in 19th century Imperial Russia.
The Joffrey Ballet has a great history both in its beginning and in its time spent in Los Angeles.
The often told story of its very beginning is in 1956 visionary teacher Robert Joffrey and dancer Gerald Arpino began as a company of six dancers touring the United States in a borrowed station wagon pulling a u-haul trailer filled with costumes and recorded music.
The Joffrey Ballet was the first dance company to perform at the White House at Jacqueline Kennedy’s invitation, the first to appear on American television, the first classical company to use multi-media, the first to appear on the cover of TIME magazine, so many other firsts.
The Joffrey Ballet was chosen by the Music Center to be its first resident company in the 1983-84 season and brought many seasons of delight to Los Angeles. It also established a training company Joffrey 11 that accompanied the main company. It was loved for its talent and beauty and innovation and of course its amazing dancers.
The affinities of dance and literature are being met by The Joffrey Ballet and Leo Tolstoy in Anna Karenina at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion this weekend.
This is a must see. The incredible Joffrey dancers, magnificent costumes and a live orchestra with an original score.
Buy tickets at musiccenter.org or call the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Box Office (213) 972-0711. Four performances June 21 – 23, 2024.
PostScript:
A photograph of the first support group of the Friends of The Joffrey.
