The New York public Library for the Performing Arts Celebrates Jerome Robbins Centennial with VOICE OF MY CITY: JEROME ROBBINS AND NEW YORK

August 29, 2018 - Legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins was deeply connected to New York City, drawing inspiration for shows and ballets such as Fancy Free and West Side Story from the people and places around him. This vibrant relationship between the artist and his metropolitan muse serves as the focus of Voice of My City: Jerome Robbins and New York, a new, free multimedia exhibition opening September 26, 2018 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Showcasing never-before-seen treasures from the world-renowned Jerome Robbins Dance Division, home to his collection and named in honor of his patronage, the exhibition celebrates Robbins' centennial and his undeniable mark on dance in New York and beyond. 

Voice of My City traces Robbins' life and dances alongside the history of New York, inspiring viewers to see the city as both a source of inspiration and a confidante in their daily lives.

Curated by Julia L. Foulkes, professor of history at the New School in New York and the author of books including To the City: Urban Photographs of the New Deal and A Place for Us: West Side Story and New York, Voice of My City traces Robbins' life from his very early childhood through the highlights of his career using materials almost exclusively from the Library's collections. The exhibition will include Robbins' sketches, rare photographs of his life and productions, personal ephemera, costumes and other artifacts. Mining the rich moving image materials in the Dance Division's holdings, Voice of My City also features rarely exhibited video of Robbins in rehearsals and experimenting with movements, performances of his works, and footage Robbins himself recorded of New Yorkers walking around the city--sources of inspiration for both his ballet and theater choreography. 

Voice of My City marks the first time all 24 of Robbins' unique diaries housed in the Dance Division's collection will be displayed together. In these accordion-style manuscripts, which span 1971 through 1983, Robbins scribbled notes, painted with watercolors, collected news clippings, and even pasted wildflowers, all in an effort to collect his thoughts and harness inspiration. 

"New York served as a laboratory for Robbins, where he observed people, buildings, traffic--how movement in space could carry meaning and beauty," explains Foulkes. "The city became the meeting ground between self and world, a way for Robbins to connect stylized ballet and everyday life in dances such as Fancy Free, West Side Story, and Glass Pieces."

Highlights of Voice of My City include:

• All 24 of Robbins' expansive and elaborate diaries, spanning 1971 - 1983
• Poems written by Robbins as a child
• Footage shot by Robbins documenting how New Yorkers walked and moved through the city
• Early script ideas for West Side Story
• Robbins' own hat from the premiere of Fancy Free
• Costumes from productions of West Side Story, Dances at a Gathering and others 
• Pictures from Robbins' personal collection of photographs
• Audio recording of Nancy Walker and Robbins (doing a falsetto voice) pretending to be audience members at On the Town on a voice-o-graph recording from Times Square
• Footage of the original performance of Fancy Free in 1944 with Robbins dancing one of the parts of the three sailors seen side-by-side with a recent performance of the same solo danced by Christopher d’Amboise
• Sketches Robbins made that visualize movement in particular dances

"The Dance Division has had many champions in its 75-year history," said Linda Murray, Curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at The New York Public Library, "but the generosity and devotion of Jerome Robbins to our mission and work sets him apart. We still feel the benefit of his philanthropy to this day and are honored that our division bears his name. I cannot think of a more fitting way for us to celebrate our greatest patron than with this exhibition; not only does it illuminate his life, but it also demonstrates with great clarity the importance and philosophy of a dance archive."

Jerome Robbins is world renowned for his work as a choreographer of ballets as well as his work as a choreographer and director in theater, movies and television. His Broadway shows include On the Town, West Side Story, The King and I, Gypsy, Peter Pan, and Fiddler on the Roof. His last Broadway production in 1989, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, won six Tony Awards including best musical and best director. Among the more than 60 ballets he created are Fancy Free, Afternoon of a Faun, Dances At a Gathering, Glass Pieces and Goldberg Variations which are in the repertories of New York City Ballet and other major dance companies throughout the world. His last ballets include A Suite of Dances created for Mikhail Baryshnikov (1994), 2 & 3 Part Inventions (1994), West Side Story Suite (1995) and Brandenburg (1996). In addition to two Academy Awards for the film West Side Story, Robbins has received four Tony Awards, five Donaldson Awards, an Emmy Award, the Screen Directors' Guild Award, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Robbins was a 1981 Kennedy Center Honors Recipient and was awarded the French Chevalier dans l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur. Robbins died in 1998.

Robbins' was a generous supporter of the Library's Dance Division, which was officially named in his honor in 1999. Robbins created dances for Library fundraisers, used the collections, and helped ensure the financial wellbeing of the Division by mandating that a portion of his royalties from Fiddler on the Roof go towards supporting its efforts in perpetuity. The Jerome Robbins Foundation continues to safeguard the wellbeing of the Division to this day. The Library is also home to the largest collection of Robbins materials, including his personal papers and materials. Robbins was named a Library Lion - The New York Public Library's highest honor - in 1999, and a Lion of the Performing Arts in 1986. 

"What better venue than the Dance Division, a place Jerry admired and valued, to have such an extraordinary exhibition celebrating this consummate New Yorker," said Allen Greenberg on behalf of the directors of the Jerome Robbins Foundation.

Branches throughout The New York Public Library system will also celebrate Robbins' centennial by featuring a selection of books and media curated by the Dance Division that further explore his career and relationship with New York. 

In conjunction with the exhibition, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts will also present a series of free public programs.

Voice of My City: Jerome Robbins and New York will be on display at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts from Wednesday, September 26, 2018 through Friday, March 30, 2019 in the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery, Shelby Cullom Davis Museum.

Voice of My City: Jerome Robbins and New York Public Programs 

**All programs listed below are free and take place at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza. Programs are first-come, first-served unless otherwise noted. When indicated, advance registration can be handled online or in person at the Library's Welcome Desk. Visit nypl.org/lpa for details.**

Saturday, October 6

Other Dances: Love of Chopin 

11 AM - Gallery Tour 

1 PM - Concert

3 PM - Screening of Robbins' Other Dances 

In 1831, Robert Schumann, writing as a music journalist, launched Frédéric Chopin’s international career with "Hats off, gentlemen! A genius." In 1863, Franz Liszt, mourning Chopin's death, penned a surprising biography of his rival, proclaiming him "Poet of a mournful soul." In the twentieth century, Chopin’s music haunted the imagination of choreographer Jerome Robbins, who returned again and again to the Romantic composer's mazurkas, waltzes, and nocturnes in ballet masterworks like Dances at a Gathering. Internationally acclaimed pianist Evelyn Chen performs and curates the first in a series of afternoon concerts, inspired by Robbins' love of music. A recital of chamber masterworks by Schumann, Liszt, and Chopin, is prelude to a screening of performance and rehearsal footage of Robbins' Other Dances, an intimate set of Chopin ballet duets, first presented at a 1976 Library benefit performance. 

Thursday, October 11 @ 6 PM

Jerome Robbins’ Birthday Dance Party 

Advance registration required

Snap, sail, bust, strut, and celebrate the 100th birthday of Jerome Robbins. Learn to dance Robbins’ signature moves during this interactive workshop led by Robert LaFosse and Barbara Hoon. Examine Robbins' own choreographic notes and rehearsal footage, before taking your turn dancing in Robbins' magnificent footsteps.

Saturday, October 13

Voice of My City: Jerome Robbins and New York Family Day 

Enjoy events designed to introduce children to Robbins' life, the joy of dancing, and the Library for the Performing Arts.

12:30 PM - Jerome Robbins' Birthday Dance Party, Family Edition 

Advance registration required

Join other New Yorkers to learn several dance moves thata re quintessentially Robbins. Families with children four and older are encouraged to attend. 

3 PM - Dancing in the Gallery

Enjoy a dance performance by a local dance group that specializes in site-specific dance performance. Children and families are encouraged to attend.

Saturday, October 27

A Suite of Dances: Bach's Suites for Unaccompanied Cello

11 AM - Gallery Tour

1 PM - Concert

3 PM - Screening of Robbins' A Suite of Dances

Sonic soliloquies of dance, Johann Sebastian Bach's suites for cello conjure a universe of emotions with a single leaping, sweeping, reaching voice. In wedding chapels, at memorial monuments, on grand stages, and within the solitary studios of practicing musicians, the suites capture the personal and the universal. Sujin Lee, Julian Schwarz, and Julian Langford, three brilliant cellists of The New York Classical Players, perform Bach's first, fifth, and sixth suites, followed by a screening of performance and rehearsal footage of Jerome Robbins' Bach suite ballet A Suite of Dances, first performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov. 

Monday, November 5 @ 6 PM

Social Justice: The Musical!

Advance registration required

Two documentaries from the Library's Reserve Film and Video collection, Black Fiddler (1969) and Gee, Officer Krupke (1975), will frame a panel discussion on race, class, cultural appropriation and the use of Jerome Robbins' work to navigate social issues. 

Monday, November 19 @ 6 PM

Robbins the Dancer

Advance registration required

New York City Ballet principal dancer Adrian Danchig-Waring hosts the first evening in a series of Jerome Robbins’ ballet celebrations. Joined by NYCB colleagues and other special guests, Danchig-Waring will screen and discuss rare, historic footage from the Library's collection of Robbins' own dancing career, including Ballet Theater's "lost" production of Antony Tudor's Romeo and Juliet, a 1944 performance of the original cast of  Fancy Free, plus poignant footage of Robbins demonstrating and coaching in New York City Ballet rehearsal studios late in his life. 

Saturday, December 1 @ 2:30 PM

Songs at a Gathering: A Sing Along Show and Tell of Jerome Robbins' Broadway Hits 

On the Town, Gypsy, Peter Pan, Fiddler on the Roof, The Pajama Game, West Side Story… Jerome Robbins' beloved Broadway hits are too numerous to count! To commemorate the Robbins centennial, the Library presents a sing along variety show, examining Robbins' extraordinary Broadway career, from visionary director/choreographer to secret show-doctor. Join us for backstage stories from dancers, actors, and collaborators that worked with Robbins. Hear recitations and see projections of Robbins' extensive, deeply personal handwritten notes about characters, songs, and dances. Play games, win prizes, and lend your voice to a centennial celebration of Robbins' multifaceted theatrical brilliance.

Thursday, December 6 @ 6 PM

An Evening with Mikhail Baryshnikov

Advance registration required

On November 24, 1976, at a gala benefit for The Library for the Performing Arts, Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov premiered Jerome Robbins' Other Dances on the Metropolitan Opera stage. In 1994, Baryshnikov inspired Robbins to create one of his last great masterworks, A Suite of Dances, and in 2011, Baryshnikov added his archive to the Library's dance collections, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. For this special program, Baryshnikov returns to his Library home to reflect on his artistic life and his relationship with Jerome Robbins, in conversation with writer and historian Joan Acocella.

Monday, December 10 @ 6 PM

Robbins' New York Portraits 

Advance registration required

Join us for the second of three evenings that celebrate Jerome Robbins’ ballet masterworks. New York City Ballet principal dancer Adrian Danchig-Waring, along with the company’s resident choreographer Justin Peck and scholar Julia Foulkes, curator of Voice of My City, watch and casually discuss Glass Pieces and New York Export: Opus Jazz. Pausing, rewinding, and zooming in, they will marvel at and analyze, react to, and remember the choreographic genius of Jerome Robbins and his enduring fascination with New York City. 

Monday, January 14 @ 6 PM

Robbins' Judaica

Advance registration required

Throughout his life, Jerome Robbins struggled with alienation, faith, and his Jewish heritage. New York City Ballet principal dancer Adrian Danchig-Waring hosts a final evening celebration of Robbins' ballets, this time focused on Robbins' Jewish themed works Dybbuk and Les Noces. While screening performance footage from the Library’s collections, Danchig-Waring and other special guests will pause, re-watch, and discuss, dissecting the traditions, innovations, and individual flourishes embedded in some of Robbins’ most deeply personal creations.

A "Goldberg" Variations Mini-Festival

Inspired by Jerome Robbins' 1971 ballet tour de force and his life-long love of Bach, the Library presents a four-part exploration of the "Goldberg" Variations.

Saturday, December 29 @ 2:30 PM

Quodlibet Play Along! Goldberg Games, Rounds, and Grounds 

Tune up your instruments and join a Library jam session, inspired by Bach's "Goldberg" Variations. For this interactive event, community musicians (like you) gather at the Library for an informal chamber music play along. We will examine and play through Bach's long-lost 14 canons on a "Goldberg" ground, along with some of Bach's other clever music inventions and joyful games. 

Friday, January 4 @ 7 PM

Insomniacs' Sound Salon: Various "Goldberg" Variations

Advance registration required

Legend claims that Johann Sebastian Bach composed his "Aria with diverse variations" for the humble harpsichordist Johann Goldberg, who played them to soothe and enliven the sleepless nights of an insomniac patron. Bach's "Goldberg" Variations are more than a simple set of lullabies. They have in fact captured the imaginations and intellect of generations of musicians, scholars, and even philosophers. Join us for an in-depth examination of every brilliant symmetry, virtuoso challenge, and humanity affirming harmony found in Bach's "Goldberg" Variations. Guided by expert guests, we will compare a wide variety of historic "Goldberg" recordings and arrangements, including rarely heard archival audio from the Library's vast sound archives. 

Saturday, January 5

Goldberg Variations: Bach and Robbins 

11 AM - Gallery Tour 

1 PM - Concert

3 PM - Screening of Robbins' Goldberg Variations 

"Prepared for the soul’s delight of all music lovers…" That is how Johann Sebastian Bach inscribed the title page of his "Goldberg" Variations. This idea surely resonated in the spirit of Jerome Robbins, when he choreographed his own ballet masterwork set to Bach's "Goldberg." The New York Classical Players present Dmitry Sitkovetsky’s string trio transcription of Bach's "Goldberg" Variations, accompanied by a digital collage of Jerome Robbins' original paintings, sketches, and photographs from the Library's collections. 

Monday, January 7 @ 6 PM

NW for GV: Pam Tanowitz and Simone Dinnerstein on Bach, Robbins, Creation, and Collaboration

Advance registration required

In 2015, two courageous, contemporary artists, pianist Simone Dinnerstein and choreographer Pam Tanowitz, came together to tackle a monumental artistic project, a New Work for Goldberg Variations. Their new work became a moving dialogue between two women creators, a dialogue between music and movement, and a mysterious dialogue into the past. They were inspired by Bach, and they were also following in the legacy of Jerome Robbins. Tanowitz and Dinnerstein come to the Library to celebrate collaboration and inspiration. They will share insights about their creative process and compare performance footage of their NW for GV with Robbins' own Goldberg Variations.

Special Gallery Tours

**Tours are free and open to the public. Meet at the entrance to the Oenslager Gallery**

Wednesday, September 26 @ 11 AM with Jerome Robbins Dance Division Curator Linda Murray 

Saturday, September 29 @ 11 AM with Exhibition Curator Julia Foulkes 

Saturday, October 6 @ 11 AM with special guest Robert Greskovic 

Wednesday, October 10 @ 4 PM with special guest Grover Dale 

Thursday, October 11 @ 4 PM guest Deborah Jowitt

Friday, October 12 @ 4 PM with special guest Robert LaFosse 

Saturday, October 27 @ 11 AM with special guest Amanda Vaill 

Wednesday, October 31 @ 11 AM with Jerome Robbins Dance Division Curator Linda Murray 

Monday, November 26 @ 6 PM, 6:30 PM, & 7 PM special 30-minute highlights tour with Dance Education Coordinator Kathleen Leary

Wednesday, November 28 @ 11 AM with Dance Education Coordinator Kathleen Leary 

Wednesday, December 26 @ 11 AM with Dance Education Coordinator Kathleen Leary 

Wednesday, January 30 @ 11 AM with Jerome Robbins Dance Division Curator Linda Murray

Voice of My City is made possible by the generous support of Jody and John Arnhold; Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP; Mikhail Baryshnikov*; Edward Brill and Michele Levin; The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation; William J. Earle*; Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz; Michael Gabay; Pat and Alex Gabay; Perry and Marty Granoff; Allen Greenberg*; The Frederick Loewe Foundation, Inc.*; Morgan Stanley; Marie Nugent-Head; Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation; Chris Pennington*; Michèle and Steve Pesner; The Jerome Robbins Foundation, Inc.; Meryl S. Rosofsky and Stuart H. Coleman*; Robert A. Schulman*; Randi Schuster; Leo Shull Foundation for the Arts; Barbara J. Slifka*; Ellen Sorrin*; Michael and Susanna Steinberg*; The Geraldine Stutz Trust; William Morris Endeavor; and an anonymous donor. *in loving memory of Aidan Mooney

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the support of Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman. Additional support for exhibitions has been provided by Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg and the Miriam and Harold Steinberg Foundation.  

Press Contact:

Nora Lyons | noralyons@nypl.org

About The New York Public Library For The Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts houses one of the world’s most extensive combinations of circulating, reference, and rare archival collections in its field. These materials are available free of charge, along with a wide range of special programs, including exhibitions, seminars, and performances. An essential resource for everyone with an interest in the arts — whether professional or amateur — the Library is known particularly for its prodigious collections of non-book materials such as historic recordings, videotapes, autograph manuscripts, correspondence, sheet music, stage designs, press clippings, programs, posters and photographs. The Library is part of The New York Public Library system, which has 90 locations in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island, and is a lead provider of free education for all.