Union Jack (ballet)

This article is about Balanchine's 1976 ballet. For other uses (Union jack redirects to Union flag), see Union flag (disambiguation).

Union Jack is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine to traditional British tunes, hornpipe melodies and music-hall songs, ca. 1890–1914, adapted by Hershy Kay. The premiere took place on 13 May 1976, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, to honor British heritage in the United States its bicentennial with costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, original lighting by Ronald Bates and current lighting by Mark Stanley. At the finale the ensemble spells out "God Save the Queen" in semaphore code and the Union Jack unfurls. Principal dancer Jock Soto included an excerpt from Union Jack in his farewell performance in June 2005.

## Music

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The music includes Scottish military tattoos and folk-dance forms; a music-hall pas de deux for the costermonger Pearly King and Queen; hornpipes, sea songs, work chants and jigs.

### selections

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* "Keel Row"
* "Caledonian Hunt's Delight"

* "Regimental Drum Variations"
* "Amazing Grace"

* "A Hundred Pipers"
* "The Sunshine of Your Smile"
* the Scottish theme from Händel's Water Music

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#### Costermonger pas de deux

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* "Dance wi' My Daddy"

* "The Night the Floor Fell In"
* "Our Lodger's Such a Nice Young Man"

* "Following in Father's Footsteps"
* "A Tavern in the Town"

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#### finale

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* "Rule Britannia!"

## Original cast

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* Sara Leland
* Kay Mazzo
* Karin von Aroldingen
* Suzanne Farrell
* Patricia McBride
* Helgi Tomasson
* Jacques d'Amboise
* Peter Martins
* Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux
* Victor Castelli
* Bart Cook

## References

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* Playbill, New York City Ballet, Friday, 27 June 2008

## Articles

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* NY Times by Anna Kisselgoff, 13 May 1976
* Sunday NY Times by Clive Barnes, 23 May 1976
* NY Times by Gia Kourlas, 25 December 2005
* NY Times by Tobi Tobias, 12 February 2006

## Reviews

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* NY Times by Clive Barnes, 14 May 1976
* NY Times by Jennifer Dunning, 10 January 1980
* NY Times by Jack Anderson, 21 June 2005
* NY Times by Alastair Macaulay, 30 June 2008

## External links

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* Union Jack on the Balanchine Trust website

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Ballets by George Balanchine

* A la Françaix
* A Midsummer Night's Dream
* Agon
* Allegro Brillante
* Apollo
* Le baiser de la fée
* Le Bal
* Ballade
* Ballo della Regina
* Bayou
* Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
* Bourrée fantasque
* Brahms–Schoenberg Quartet
* Bugaku
* Chaconne
* Le chant du rossignol
* Circus Polka
* Clarinade
* Concertino
* Concerto Barocco
* Coppélia
* Cortège Hongrois
* Divertimento Brillante
* Divertimento from "Le Baiser De La Fée"
* Divertimento No. 15
* Don Quixote
* Donizetti Variations
* Duo Concertant
* Élégie
* L'enfant et les sortilèges
* Episodes
* Etude for Piano
* The Firebird
* The Four Temperaments
* Garland Dance
* Gounod Symphony
* Haieff Divertimento
* Harlequinade
* Hungarian Gypsy Airs
* Ivesiana
* Jeu de cartes
* Jewels
* Kammermusik No. 2
* Liebeslieder Walzer
* Meditation
* Metamorphoses
* Metastaseis and Pithoprakta
* Monumentum pro Gesualdo
* Movements for Piano and Orchestra
* Mozartiana
* Noah and the Flood
* The Nutcracker
* Orpheus
* Pas de Dix
* Pas de Trois (Glinka)
* Pas de Trois (Minkus)
* Pavane
* Prodigal Son
* Pulcinella
* Ragtime I
* Ragtime II
* Raymonda Variations
* Requiem Canticles
* Robert Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze
* Scherzo à la Russe
* Scotch Symphony
* Serenade
* The Seven Deadly Sins
* Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
* La Sonnambula
* Sonatine
* La source
* Square Dance
* Stars and Stripes
* The Steadfast Tin Soldier
* Stravinsky Violin Concerto
* Swan Lake
* Sylvia Pas de Deux
* Symphonie Concertante
* Symphony in C
* Symphony in Three Movements
* Tango
* Tarantella
* Theme and Variations
* Le Tombeau de Couperin
* Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux
* Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2
* Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3
* Tzigane
* Union Jack
* La Valse
* Valse-Fantaisie
* Variations
* Variations for Orchestra
* Variations Pour une Porte et un Soupir
* Vienna Waltzes
* Walpurgisnacht Ballet
* Western Symphony
* Who Cares?
* Zenobia

List of ballets by George Balanchine
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