Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents "Breaking Bread with Balanchine"on Sunday and Monday, April 8 and 9, 2018 at 7:30pm.
 
George Balanchine, the legendary choreographer, was also a great cook. Food scholar Meryl Rosofsky will present a brief "culinary biography" of Balanchine, exploring how his relationship to food illuminates the cultural, geographic, and political forces that shaped him as an artist.

Joining her for a panel discussion following her slide talk will be special guests who danced or dined with Balanchine, including famed former New York City Ballet (NYCB) principal dancer Edward Villella; Dr. Jeanne Fuchs, who tested Balanchine's recipes for The Ballet Cook Book by Tanaquil Le Clercq; and NYCB's longtime orthopedic consultant Dr. William Hamilton, who attended Balanchine's famous Russian Orthodox Easter celebrations. Throughout the evening, NYBC dancers Jared Angle, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Joseph Gordon, Ashley Laracey, and Miriam Miller will perform short excerpts from Balanchine's ballets Apollo, Prodigal Son, and the Emeralds section of Jewels.
 
Before the program on April 8th and before and after the program on April 9th, The Wright restaurant at the Guggenheim will offer a special Balanchine-inspired menu, including kulich and paskha, which Balanchine made each year for his Russian Orthodox Easter feasts. (The program is timed to coincide with Russian Orthodox Easter.) The menu, curated by Meryl Rosofsky, in collaboration with Chef Alejandro Cortez, will also include blini and caviar; Grand Aioli Provençal, which Balanchine learned to make in his days with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in the South of France; and kotletki, bite-sized Russian meatballs Balanchine used to prepare with his late-life muse and close friend, ballerina Karin von Aroldingen, with whom he cooked often. For reservations for this special dinner, call 212 427 5690 or visit OpenTable.
 
BALANCHINE is a trademark of the George Balanchine Trust.
 
TICKETS & VENUE
$45, $40 Guggenheim Members and Friends of Works & Process
Box Office (212) 423-3575 or worksandprocess.org
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue, New York
 
WORKS & PROCESS MENU PRIX FIXE 
Breaking Bread With Balanchine
Two Courses - $62, Three Courses - $72
 
Zakouskie (Starters)
Chilled Trio of Soups à la Jewels
English Pea Soup (Emeralds) & Ruby Beet Borscht (Rubies) & Vichyssoise (Diamonds)
Blini with Caviar
crème fraîche, caviar
ADD Vodka "hooker" cocktail$8
Salade Olivier
poached chicken, cucumber, potatoes, peas, hard-boiled eggs, olives, and capers dijon-mayonnaise dressing

Main
Grand Aioli Provençal
poached salmon, green beans, potatoes, spring onion, watermelon radish, saffron aioli 
Mushroom Kasha "Risotto"
porcini mushrooms, fava beans, mushroom broth 
Chicken Breast, Saratoga Green Sauce 
red cabbage puree, assorted spring peas 
Kotletki von Aroldingen
Russian meatballs with mushrooms-sour cream sauce, horseradish potatoes, eggplant tomatoes
 
Land of Sweets
Gogl-Mogl 
Balanchine's childhood custard, strawberries & mint 
Traditional Russian Easter Paskha and Kulich
Farmer's cheese cake, currants vanilla-almond cake, lemon icing 
Chocolate "Mousse King" Marzipan Tart
Arabian coffee gelato

Cocktails - A Few of Balanchine's Favorites - $14
Southampton Strawberry Spring Daiquiri
Dill Infused Vodka, with a splash of soda

Menu curated by Meryl Rosofsky, with Chef Alejandro Cortez

Presenter and Panelists:
(in order of appearance on the program)

Meryl Rosofsky (program curator, presenter, moderator) is a food scholar, writer, and teacher whose work intersects the worlds of food, medicine, and the arts. Dr. Rosofsky is an adjunct professor in Food Studies at NYU and a 2015 recipient of the Steinhardt Teaching Excellence Award. Her writing has appeared in Saveur, Gastronomica, and Savoring Gotham. Meryl is a physician by training, with an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. She holds a Masters degree in Food Studies from NYU and was a Kellett Fellow at Oxford University pursuing brain/behavior research. In Fall 2016, she was a Fellow at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU, where she launched her research on the cultural history of Tanaquil Le Clercq's The Ballet Cook Book and began to elaborate a "culinary biography" of George Balanchine.

Edward Villella (panelist) was a legendary dancer with New York City Ballet. A former championship boxer and graduate of the New York Maritime College, Mr. Villella "made virile masculinity synonymous with grace and beauty" (NYT). He originated roles in a number of George Balanchine's works, including A Midsummer Night's Dream (1962), Tarantella (1964), and the Rubies section of Jewels (1967), as well as Jerome Robbins' Dances at a Gathering (1969) and Watermill (1971). His interpretation of the title role in Balanchine's Prodigal Son was defining. Mr. Villella was founding artistic director of the Miami City Ballet (1985-2012).He is the winner of numerous awards, among them the Capezio Dance Award (1989), the Kennedy Center Honors (1997), and the National Medal of Arts (1997). His 1992 memoir, Prodigal Son: Dancing for Balanchine in a World of Pain and Magic (with Larry Kaplan), chronicles Villella's career amidst "a golden age of ballet, an amazing era in which George Balanchine single-handedly transformed the art."

Jeanne Thomas Fuchs, Ph.D. (panelist) is professor emerita at Hofstra University where she taught French and Comparative Literature for 34 years. She is a former dancer and a gifted cook, and was a close friend of legendary dance photographer Martha Swope, whom she met when both were students at the School of American Ballet (SAB). Fuchs assisted Tanaquil Le Clercq as she was creating The Ballet Cook Book, working with "Tanny" to test Mr. Balanchine's recipes (many of which remain in her repertoire to this day). She is the author of The Road to Epidauros (2011) and has published works on Molière, Marivaux, Norman Mailer, George Sand, Gene Kelly, and Fred Astaire, among others. She lives in Hollywood, Florida.

William Hamilton, M.D. (panelist) is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in foot and ankle injuries in dancers and athletes. In 1972, he became the doctor to New York City Ballet at the invitation of George Balanchine. Dr. Hamilton currently serves as the orthopedic consultant to New York City Ballet, the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at ABT. He has written numerous chapters and articles regarding injuries to dancers and has lectured around the world. Apropos of this panel, Dr. Hamilton joined Mr. Balanchine for his Russian Orthodox Easter celebrations, including midnight mass at Our Lady of the Sign and Easter feasts in Balanchine's home on the Upper West Side.

Dancers (NYCB):
Jared Anglewas born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, entered the School of American Ballet in 1996, joined the New York City Ballet in 1998, and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2005.  He hosts the intimate "New York City Ballet: On and Off Stage" lecture-demonstration program each summer in East Hampton. During the company's annual summer season in Saratoga Springs, Mr. Angle enjoys shopping at the local farmer's market and, on his nights off, cooking "family dinner" for his colleagues after their performance.
 
Adrian Danchig-Waring was born in San Francisco, California. He entered the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in the fall of 2001, and joined the New York City Ballet as an apprentice in 2002. He was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2013. Mr. Danchig-Waring is Artistic Advisor at the New York Choreographic Institute and in 2017 was a Research Fellow at the New York Public Library's Jerome Robbins Dance Division. He is an intuitive home cook and loves throwing spontaneous late night dinner parties.
 
Joseph Gordon was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and began his dance training at the age of five at The Phoenix Dance Academy. Mr. Gordon began studying at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in 2006. In 2011, Mr. Gordon became an apprentice with NYCB. He was promoted to soloist in 2017.
 
Ashley Laracey was born in Sarasota, Florida. She entered the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in the fall of 2001. In October 2002, Ms. Laracey became an apprentice with New York City Ballet, and in 2003 she joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet and was promoted to soloist in 2013. As part of NYCB's partnership with the Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State, Ms. Laracey teaches workshops for children and young adults with special needs.
 
Miriam Miller was born in Iowa City, Iowa. She attended summer courses at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in 2011 and 2012, enrolling as a full-time student in 2012. Ms. Miller became an apprentice with NYCB in January 2015. While still an apprentice with NYCB, Miller performed the role of Titania in George Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as featured roles in Balanchine's Harlequinade (Le Bonne Fée) and Peter Martins' Swan Lake (Princess). She joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2016.
 
Works & Process at the Guggenheim 
Described by The New York Times as "an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process," for over 33 years and in over 500 productions, New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers. Most performances take place in the Guggenheim's intimate Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 285-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. In 2017, Works & Process established a new residency and commissioning program, inviting artists to create new works, made in and for the iconic Guggenheim rotunda. worksandprocess.org.