As a tribute to the composer, Balanchine decided to have his company, the New York City Ballet, hold the weeklong Stravinsky Festival.
[1][4] Despite its complex choreography, intricate music and large cast, Balanchine completed the ballet in a week due to the pressures of the festival.
[1] Gordon Boelzner, the company's pianist and associate conductor, recalled, "[Balanchine] just tossed off steps without hesitation."
[6] After she retired, Leland, known for her ability to remember choreography, went on to stage and coach ballets, including Symphony in Three Movements.
"[5] The New York Times critic Anna Kisselgoff noted, "Stravinsky's allusion to an Allied victory in World War II is not to be taken literally.
But the triumphant note is translated in the massed groupings on stage: Dancers frozen in semaphores and abstractions of warriors at the ready.