Yondering (1996)

The ballet was created on the students of the National Ballet School in Toronto by guest choreographer, John Neumeier, Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet. It was taught roughly at the same time to the students of the School of the Hamburg Ballet who actually performed it first. The ballet, running just over an hour, consists of seven “pieces” each danced to a different Stephen Foster song sung by Thomas Hampson (CD EMI C 754621.2).
“The word, ‘Yondering’ comes out of the American Frontier. This was a time during which the frontier was a discernible line, on one side of which there were towns, farms, schools, etc. and on the other side there was wilderness. . . . people set out to find whatever was ‘over yonder.’ . . . Eventually, this kind of travel became known simply as ‘yondering,’ . . . .”