New York City Ballet Returns to SPAC
Opening Night Features Return of Galaxy Curtain
Wednesday, July 5 at 8 pm
SARATOGA SPRINGS – The Opening Night of the New York City Ballet at SPAC on Wednesday, July 5 will feature the reappearance of the “Galaxy Curtain,” a one-of-a-kind, metal curtain created by Japanese artist Yasuhide Kobashi and installed in the amphitheater in 1981. The start of the evening will feature the display and rise of the curtain as well as a greeting by SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol.
Ms. Sobol said, “In celebration of NYCB’s Opening Night on Wednesday, July 5, SPAC’s extraordinary Galaxy Curtain will once again grace our stage. Encountering this remarkable piece of SPAC’s history during an unplanned visit backstage was one of the most fascinating discoveries that I’ve made since arriving here. Not seen by the public for many years – it is a stunning piece of artwork. We are excited about giving our guests the opportunity to view this incredible creation as the prelude to NYCB’s magnificent season.”
The amphitheater side of the curtain, although seasoned by age, features an expanse of swirling silver and blue, studded with 1,200 plexiglass stars. When viewed from backstage with light shining through the orbs against a solid black background, the effect is of being among stars in the galaxy. Of the curtain, Kobashi said at the time, “the curtain itself is a performance. It will be different for every occasion.”
Kobashi was a Japanese-born artist (1931-2003) who was a force on the New York art scene in the 1960’s. A woodblock printing artist who expanded into other mediums including sculpture, stage design, stone cutting, painting and furniture design, his sculptures attracted the attention of Nelson Rockefeller, New York’s Governor at the time, who purchased one of the artworks for the Governor’s mansion in Albany and became his patron. Kobashi’s art is among the public collections of several museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and the Carnegie Museum of Art.
The backstage side of the curtain recently served as the backdrop for one of the videos in the NYCB x SPAC series, a collection of locally-shot dance videos created by videographers and NYCB dancers, Emily Kikta and Peter Walker. The eight videos feature NYCB dancers performing short pieces at iconic locations in Saratoga Springs and Troy, including the Gasholder Building, Yaddo, the Race Track, Congress Park, Saratoga Lake and the Saratoga Train Station. The videos can be viewed on SPAC’s website at spac.org and social media channels.
