Diamonds on Pointe Shoes – Style

The great choreographer’s acquaintance with Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry took place in America, although all the heroes of this story were born on the other side of the Atlantic.

George Balanchine – or rather, Georgy Balanchivadze – was born in 1904 in St. Petersburg, into a Georgian-Russian family, graduated from the Imperial Ballet School in his hometown and was accepted into the corps de ballet of the State Opera and Ballet Theater. During a tour to Germany in 1924, he decided to stay in Europe, and soon in Paris he received a position as a choreographer in Diaghilev’s Russian Seasons troupe. From 1924 to 1929, Balanchine (on the advice of Diaghilev, he changed his name in a Western manner) staged nine ballets. The choreographer moved to the USA in 1933.

The jewelry house Van Cleef & Arples traces its history back to 1906, when a jewelry store opened on Place Vendôme under a sign that united the names of Van Cleef and Arples. In the 1920s and 30s, the brand experienced an unprecedented rise: during these years, the most iconic items in the Art Deco style were created and proprietary techniques were patented, which made the jewelry house famous. He managed to gain a foothold in America after successfully participating in the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. The American branch of Van Cleef & Arpels, which arose at the outbreak of World War II, ultimately kept the company alive. The first office opened in Rockefeller Center, and in 1942 a boutique appeared on 5th Avenue.

Initially, its own assortment was created for wealthy American clients, including ballerina brooches, the first of which date back to the very beginning of the 1940s. The sketches of the precious dancers were created by the Frenchman Maurice Duvalet, who emigrated overseas, and they were embodied by the Rübel brothers, jewelers who worked for Van Cleef & Arpels. The ballerina brooches they created have become coveted items for collectors.

In 1944, George Balanchine ordered one of these ballet brooches for his second wife, German ballerina Vera Zorina, née Eva Brigitte Hartwig. A platinum figurine of an arabesque dancer wearing a diamond tutu with sapphires is preserved in history under the name Zorina.

20 years later, in 1967, Balanchine, by then one of the founders of the New York City Ballet, would compose his most original production of Jewels, the first full-fledged ballet without a storyline. And here it could not be done without personal acquaintance. According to one version, the idea of ​​​​dancing jewelry was suggested to him by Claude Arpels, head of the Van Cleef & Arpels New York division – they met Balanchine while visiting violinist Nathan Milstein. According to another version, the choreographer was inspired by rubies and emeralds in the windows of a boutique on 5th Avenue, where Balanchine was invited by the same Claude Arpels. There is an opinion that the Jewels ballet is a stage embodiment of those same jewelry figures in pointe shoes and tutus, decorated with colored stones and diamonds.

One way or another, in April 1967, the brilliant premiere of “Jewels,” a ballet in three parts, took place at the City Theater in New York. The dedication to the emeralds to the music of Gabriel Fauré was staged in green, the act in honor of the rubies in red was staged to the music of Stravinsky, the white part of “Diamonds” was performed to the music of Tchaikovsky. “Of course, I have always loved precious stones,” Balanchine later wrote about his performance. – After all, I am an oriental person, I am Georgian. I love the colors of jewelry, the beauty of stones.”

Nina Spiridonova