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Afternoon of a Faun

Music

Claude Debussy
(Prelude a l’Après-midi d’un Faune, 1892-94)

Choreography

Jerome Robbins

Staging

Bart Cook
(2011, 2025)

Lighting Design

Jean Rosenthal

Lighting Design

Jean Rosenthal

Costume Design

Irene Sharaff

Duration

10 minutes

Cast

2 dancers

Premiere

May 14, 1953
New York City Ballet

PNB Premiere

May 11, 1978, performed by guest artists from New York City Ballet;
November 4, 2011, staged for Pacific Northwest Ballet

The 2011 addition of Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun to the Pacific Northwest Ballet repertory was made possible by H. David Kaplan.

Debussy’s music, Prelude a l′Après-midi d′un Faune, was composed between 1892 and 1894. It was inspired by a poem of Mallarme’s which was begun in 1876. The poem describes the reveries of a faun around a real or imagined encounter with nymphs. In 1912, Vaslav Nijinsky presented his famous ballet, drawing his ideas from many sources, including Greek sculpture and painting. This pas de deux, choreographed by Jerome Robbins, is a variation on these themes. It was first performed in 1953 by New York City Ballet and is dedicated to Tanaquil Le Clercq, for whom the ballet was choreographed.

Notes courtesy of the Robbins Rights Trust.

Artist Biographies

Bart Cook

Originally from Utah, Bart Cook began his dance education with Willem Christensen and at the School of American Ballet. Bart was invited to join New York City Ballet in 1971 by George Balanchine and became a principal in 1979. Dancing with the company until 1993, Bart originated and performed soloist roles in Jerome Robbins’ The Cage, Glass Pieces, I’m Old Fashioned, Dances at a Gathering, The Concert, and Opus 19. In 1981 he became assistant ballet master to Robbins, and following his retirement from the stage, he began working for The Balanchine Trust, staging Balanchine’s ballets.

He reached broad film audiences when he played the mysterious, magical Herr Drosselmeier in the film version of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, released in 1993. Bart has also appeared professionally on television in PBS’ Dance in America and Live from Lincoln Center as well as in the 2010 episode of PBS’s American Masters series on Jerome Robbins.

Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer whose works were a seminal force in the music of the 20th century. He developed a highly original system of harmony and musical structure that expressed the ideals of the Impressionist and Symbolist cultural movements. His major works include Clair de lune (from Suite bergamasque, 1890–1905), Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894), the opera Pelléas et Mélisande (1902), and La Mer (1905).

Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins (1918-1998) is world-renowned for his work as a choreographer of ballets as well as his work as a director and choreographer in theater, movies, and television. His Broadway shows include On the Town, Billion Dollar Baby, High Button Shoes, West Side Story, The King and I, Gypsy, Peter Pan, Miss Liberty, Call Me Madam, 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, The Concert, Dances At a Gathering, In the Night, In G Major, Other Dances, Glass Pieces and Ives, Songs, 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, Mr. Robbins received four Tony Awards, five Donaldson Awards, two Emmy Awards, the Screen Directors’ Guild Award, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Mr. Robbins was a 1981 Kennedy Center Honors Recipient and was awarded the French Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur.