The original “Filling Station” was created for Ballet Caravan, a short-lived touring company led by the impresario Lincoln Kirstein, as part of his long effort to establish ballet in the United States.
It was a mix of ballet bravura, vaudeville gags and comic-strip aesthetics.
(A 1954 television performance by dancers from New York City Ballet, which Kirstein founded with George Balanchine in 1948, can be found on YouTube.)
Kirstein described the gas station setting as an invitingly familiar one, a crossroads where different kinds of “recognizable social types” could meet.
“There was a lot of difference in the space, and I was working not to collapse us into the same hole,” Jones said.
Persons:
Lincoln Kirstein, Kirstein, George Balanchine, Lutz, Kinoy, he’s, ”, “, ” Jones, Maxfield Haynes, Mina Nishimura
Organizations:
Ballet, New York City Ballet, YouTube, Lincoln, Museum of Modern Art
Locations:
United States, New, Kinoy’s, Kirstein