Skip to content
A black and white photo of two dancers, Desmond Richardson and Elizabeth Roxas, in mid-performance. Desmond Richardson is shirtless, leaning forward with one arm extended, while Elizabeth Roxas is lifted behind him, one leg extended upward. They both wear ballet shoes, and the background is a plain light color. The photo is labeled REPERTORY Desmond Richardson and Elizabeth Roxas in After Eden. Photo by Jack Mitchell.

Repertory

After Eden

COMPANIES

CHOREOGRAPHER

COMPANY PREMIERE

Nazerath Arts Center, Rochester, 1975

WORLD PREMIERE

Harkness Ballet, 1966

RESTAGING

Masazumi Chaya & Lawrence Rhodes

MUSIC

Lee Hoiby (“After Eden”)

DÉCOR

Irving Milton Duke

COSTUMES

Rouben Ter-Arutunian; Costumes overseen by Zinda Williams-Jones

LIGHTING

Chenault Spence/Shirley Prendergast

RUN TIME

18 Minutes

After Eden was originally choreographed by John Butler in 1966 for the Harkness Ballet. Returning to Butler’s frequent theme of Biblical narratives, the neoclassical pas de deux tells the story of the anguished couple Adam and Eve after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Depicting their conflicting yearning and resentment, its drama intensifies as they realize that they cannot live apart from each other.