For instance, as the first evening of class had 17 girls and no boys, the piece's first tableau does also. At a later class session, a girl fell to the floor and cried. Balanchine incorporated that dramatic event in the adagio section, and so on. Despite the work's random aspects and Balanchine's stated indifference to plot, Serenade exerts tremendous dramatic strength. Balanchine's choreography is so smartly interwoven into the expressive qualities and structure of Tchaikovsky's music that each of the movements radiates expressive purpose.
Some juxtapositions are humorous, and others sublime.
The adagio began with an especially beautiful gesture in which five women in tight formation slowly knelt, forming a sea of chiffon upon the floor.