Symphony in C

Symphony in C is a plotless, purely abstract ballet with no story, characters, or mime - it exists to give visual form to Bizet's youthful symphony. Four movements are each led by a different principal couple, two demi-soloist couples, and a corps of six women, moving through patterns of increasing classical virtuosity: stately and formal in the first movement, lyrical and romantic in the adagio second, and bravura and fast-paced in the third and fourth. The ballet closes with a grand finale in which all four casts - some 48 dancers in total - return to the stage together in a unified display of academic technique.