Photo by Roger Wood

Cast:	Cowgirl
	Champion Roper
	Head Wranglerr
	Rancher's Daughter
	Kansas City Girls (3)
	Womenfolk (5)
	Cowhands (8)

Summary: With its world famous score by Aaron Copeland, Rodeo is Agnes de Mille's most beloved and most frequently presented ballet. Rodeo had its world premiere with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera House, October 16, 1942. Agnes de Mille danced the leading role and received 22 curtain calls. The ballet was the beginning of her success as a choreographer of worldwide reputation.

Photo by Peter Shields

Rodeo is the touching story of a tomboy in search of love. The cowgirl, who de Mille admitted was based on herself as a young woman, is a misfit among the men and women in her community. Agnes has said, "She acts like a boy, not to be a boy, but to be liked by the boys." Hers is a bitter lesson, but she learns it at the ballet's denouement when she puts on a dress and goes to the hoe-down. She finds her man, and she finds him through dancing. The ballet features bravura dancing for the men in a unique style derived from horseback riding and cattle roping. A work by turns robust and tender, full of optimism, Rodeo is a celebration of the pluck and spirit of the American character.

Original Cast: Agnes de Mille, Frederic Franklin, Casimir Kokitch, Milada Mladova, Eleanora Marra, Dorothy Etheridge, Ruth Riekman