Van Cleep & Arpels; Ballet Precieux

Van Cleef & Arpels is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the ballet that was inspired by their Fifth Avenue window:

“Jewels” is the name of a ballet, choreographed by George Balanchine, that celebrates meralds, rubies and diamonds with the music of Fauré, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. It was first shown in New York in 1967, making this a 40th anniversary for both the production and for Van Cleef & Arpels, because Balanchine was originally inspired by the Fifth Avenue windows of the French jewelry house to create a ballet around the three stones.

Van Cleef & Arpels, after making a name for itself at the New York World Fair, sets up offices in Rockefeller Center and then opens a boutique on Fifth Avenue. This prestigious address – which remains unchanged to this day. Is it the tremendous energy of the New World, the hope of European peace and prosperity, or an entrepreneurial spirit that never left them? In any event, in 1940 Van Cleef & Arpels creates its first collection of jewelry – composed essentially of brooches – inspired by... dance.

Ballerinas, fairies and dragonflies and even lady dragonflies in a multitude of poses. Their arms and legs are made of white gold or polished platinum, their silhouettes – always in motion – are adorned at the waist with rubies or at the crown of the head with a sapphire tiara. Their torsos are composed entirely of grain-set diamonds, whereas their costumes, evocative of supple fabric, play upon various sizes and colors of precious gems: rose-cut or pear-shaped diamonds, bezeled emeralds or rubies,
multifaceted sapphires... Finally, a rose-cut diamond typically represents their face.

Ballerinas, fairies and dragonflies.

and.....Suddenly, dance appears, carried on thundering, bantering, unbridled
music, dazzling and seductive like an untamed animal, music that speaks of
all forms of greatness and of misery,fragility and courage...

Rubis
Gem of amorous intensity and desire, the ruby is the theme of Jewels'second act.
Its depth and brilliance are well-suited to the fiery charm, the brio,
and the “show off-ish” innuendos of this ballet created around Stravinsky's Capriccio
for piano and orchestra, dedicated to the unflagging vitality of American musicals.

Diamants
Last come diamonds: symbols of perfection and purity, of light and of life, this final act forms Jewels’conclusion. George Balanchine associates this precious gem with Russia – particularly St.Petersburg –, the Russian ballet school, and Tchaikovsky, ofwhom Balanchine himself claimed to“know things about him that no one else knows.”

I am IN LOVE.

Go HERE!

xxx
alice