A Garden

Music

Richard Strauss
(Tanzsuite aus Klavierstücken von François Couperin, AV107, 1923)

Choreography

Mark Morris

Staging

Joanna Berman

Costume Design

Mark Morris

Lighting Design

Michael Chybowski

Duration

24 minutes

Premiere

February 23, 2001
San Francisco Ballet

PNB Premiere

November 6, 2008

The 2008 Pacific Northwest Ballet premiere of Mark Morris’ A Garden was generously underwritten in part by Elizabeth Borchelt and William J. & Sandra B. Dunn.

In A Garden, famed American dancemaker Mark Morris creates a sunny, courtly atmosphere for twelve dancers. Just as Richard Strauss reinterpreted the French baroque dances of François Couperin for modern-day orchestra in the score Morris has chosen for A Garden, so Morris suggests baroque dance itself, with its fast, filigree footwork—or “petit allegro”—and low-held arms, interpreted by today’s classically trained dancers with the technique, wit, and musicality that Morris brings to all his work.

Reviewing a 2001 performance by San Francisco Ballet, for whom A Garden was choreographed, Debra Craine of London’s Times wrote, “A Garden uses the language of classical ballet but cuts it loose from its tight precepts every time it threatens to become formulaic…It’s also fun to watch the dancers’ sophisticated classical training erupt naturally through choreography which expresses itself in such (deceptively) simple pleasures. Like all Morris’s best dances, A Garden builds a sense of companionship on stage and Morris’s dialogue with his music is immediate and sympathetic.”

Notes by Doug Fullington.

Artist Biographies

Mark Morris

Mark Morris (he/him) is widely regarded as “the most successful and influential choreographer alive, and indisputably the most musical” (New York Times). Born on August 29, 1956, in Seattle, Washington, he trained with Verla Flowers and Perry Brunson before launching his professional career performing with the companies of Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean, Eliot Feld, and the Koleda Balkan Dance Ensemble.

Morris founded the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) in 1980, for which he has created more than 150 works. From 1988 to 1991, he served as Director of Dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium’s national opera house, and in 1990 co-founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. He has also created twenty-two works for ballet companies worldwide and directed productions for major opera houses, including The Metropolitan Opera and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Celebrated for his deep musicality, Morris began conducting MMDG performances in 2006 and served as Music Director for the Ojai Music Festival in 2013. A MacArthur Foundation Fellow since 1991, he holds eleven honorary doctorates and has received the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement, among numerous other honors.

In 2001, Morris opened the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, New York — a home for his company, local artists, community outreach programs, and a school serving students of all ages and abilities. His memoir, Out Loud, co-written with Wesley Stace, was published by Penguin Press in 2019.