Apollo Dancing

Associate Professor of Classics and Philosophy Grace Ledbetter discusses (4:15) her current work, an examination of how George Ballenchine's ballet Apollo, with a score by Igor Stravinsky, provided a new foundation for ballet in the 20th century by transforming the Greek myth of Apollo and merging ballet with Greco-Roman classicism. This discussion is drawn from her larger study of the role classical antiquity has played in the development of classical ballet. Ledbetter specializes in ancient philosophy and Greek poetry and regularly teaches courses at all levels on Greek and Latin languages, Plato, Homer, Greek tragedy, and Greek religion. In an earlier lecture, Muses of the 20th Century: Greek Myth in Opera, Ballet, and Modern Dance, Ledbetter spoke about Greek mythology and why it figures so centrally into some of the most pivotally modern works in the performing arts. Here, she is introduced by Professor of Classics Rosaria Munson.