question: A Midsummer Night's Dream is a two-act ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Felix Mendelssohn's composed music of which famous writers play?
answer: William Shakespeare
context: Title: Heather Watts
  Passage: Heather Watts (born September 27, 1953), was a principal ballerina with New York City Ballet.  A native of California, Ms. Watts was born as Linda Heather Watts in Long Beach on September 27, 1953.  As a little girl, she was a troublemaking child.  She had always wanted to be an actress.  An acting coach advised her taking ballet classes, seeing as she was incredibly dramatic (and clumsy).  She started dancing at the age of 10, came to New York at the age of 13 on a Ford Foundation summer scholarship to attend the School of American Ballet, the official school of the New York City Ballet.  She moved permanently to New York at age 15, again on a Ford Foundation scholarship to the School of American Ballet.  Watts joined the New York City Ballet in 1970 and was promoted to principal dancer by company founder George Balanchine in 1979.  George Balanchine took Watts into his companies "because he would not let such a talent disappear."  During Ms. Watts's tenure with the company, she had numerous principal roles created for her by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Peter Martins among others.  Mr. Balanchine gave Ms. Watts the principal roles in many of his existing masterpieces, including "Agon", Concerto Barocco, "Apollo", Symphony in C, "Theme and Variations" and "Serenade".  Ms. Watts performed around the world and starred in numerous "Dance in America" television programs, and she performed opposite frequent partner Mikhail Baryshnikov at the White House in a national televised performance of Balanchine's "Rubies" for President and Mrs. Carter.  Ms. Watts retired from the stage in a gala performance at Lincoln Center in 1995.
  Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream (ballet)
  Passage: A Midsummer Night's Dream is a two-act ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Felix Mendelssohn's music to Shakespeare's play of the same name.  In addition to the incidental music, Balanchine incorporated other Mendelssohn works into the ballet, including the Overtures to "Athalie", "Son and Stranger", and "The Fair Melusine", the "String Symphony No. 9 in C minor" and "The First Walpurgis Night".  "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Balanchine's first completely original full-length ballet, premiered at New York City Ballet on 17 January 1962, with Edward Villella in the role of Oberon, Melissa Hayden in the role of Titania, and Arthur Mitchell in the role of Puck.  The ballet employs a large children's corps de ballet.  Act I tells Shakespeare's familiar story of lovers and fairies while Act II presents a strictly classical dance wedding celebration.  The ballet dispenses with Shakespeare's play-within-a-play finale.  "A Midsummer Night's Dream" opened The New York City Ballet's first season at the New York State Theater in April, 1964.
  Title: John Clifford (choreographer)
  Passage: John Clifford, born June 12th is the founder / artistic director of the original Los Angeles Ballet (1974–1985), and the chamber sized touring ensemble, Ballet of Los Angeles (1988–1991) and the creator of “CASABLANCA, THE DANCE” produced by Warner Bros.  Theatre Ventures, Inc. (which premiered in Beijing, China at the historic "Great Hall of the People" in 2005) and his Los Angeles Dance Theater.  Before that time,Clifford was a principal dancer and choreographer with George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet, (1966–1974) and guest artist from 1974–1980, and was widely considered to be Balanchine’s protégé (Saturday Review).  He choreographed his first (of 8) ballets for the NYC Ballet under Balanchine at age 20 thus making him the 2nd youngest choreographer in history ever to be attached to a major company.  The first was Balanchine himself who was 20 yrs-old when he choreographed his first ballet for Serge Diaghilev's "Ballets Russes."  During his time with Balanchine, in his early 20's, he also was a guest choreographer with co's ranging from the San Francisco Ballet, to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, to the Deutsche Oper Ballet in Berlin.  Clifford's works were also featured in many TV shows and movies, such as "Flashdance," "The Man Who Loved Women," and TV series such as "Dynasty," "Glitter," and other shows produced by Blake Edwards and Aaron Spelling.
  Title: Swan Lake (Martins)
  Passage: Swan Lake is a two-act ballet made by New York City Ballet (NYCB) ballet master in chief Peter Martins (after Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, and George Balanchine) to Tschaikovsky's eponymous music (1875–56).  The premiere took place 27 October 1996, with the Royal Danish Ballet at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen; the NYCB premiere was 29 April 1999 at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center.  Peter Martins' wife, NYCB principal dancer Darci Kistler, chose to include the final act of "Swan Lake" in her farewell performance, Sunday, 27 June.
  Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn)
  Passage: At two separate times, Felix Mendelssohn composed music for William Shakespeare's play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  First in 1826, near the start of his career, he wrote a concert overture (Op. 21).  Later, in 1842, only a few years before his death, he wrote incidental music (Op. 61) for a production of the play, into which he incorporated the existing Overture.  The incidental music includes the world-famous "Wedding March".  The German title reads "Ein Sommernachtstraum".
  Title: University of Music and Theatre Leipzig
  Passage: The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (German: "Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig" ) is a public university in Leipzig (Saxony, Germany).  Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn as the "Conservatory of Music", it is the oldest university school of music in Germany.
  Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film)
  Passage: A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1935 American romance fantasy film of William Shakespeare's play, directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, and starring James Cagney, Mickey Rooney, Olivia de Havilland, Jean Muir, Joe E. Brown, Dick Powell, Ross Alexander Anita Louise, Victor Jory and Ian Hunter.  Produced by Henry Blanke and Hal Wallis for Warner Brothers, and adapted by Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall Jr. from Reinhardt's Hollywood Bowl production of the previous year, the film is about the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta.  These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors, who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the story is set.  The play, which is categorized as a comedy, is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.  Felix Mendelssohn's music was extensively used, as re-orchestrated by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.  The ballet sequences featuring the fairies were choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska.
  Title: Serenade (ballet)
  Passage: Serenade is a ballet by George Balanchine to Tschaikovsky's 1880 "Serenade for Strings in C", Op. 48.  Students of the School of American Ballet gave the first performance on Sunday, 10 June 1934 on the Felix M. Warburg estate in White Plains, N.Y., where "Mozartiana" had been danced the previous day.  This was the first ballet that Balanchine choreographed in America.  It was then presented by the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet on 6 December at the Avery Memorial Theatre of the Wadsworth Atheneum with sets by the painter William Littlefield.  Balanchine presented the ballet as his response to the generous sponsorships he received during his immigration to America.  The official premiere took place on 1 March 1935 with the American Ballet at the Adelphi Theatre, New York, conducted by Sandor Harmati.
  Title: Rosemary Dunleavy
  Passage: Rosemary Dunleavy (born New York City) studied ballet with Bella Malinka and Nina Popova at the High School of Performing Arts.  After graduation she attended the School of American Ballet and in 1961 joined New York City Ballet.  She performed in the premieres of George Balanchine's "A Midsummer NIght's Dream", "Harlequinade", "Don Quixote" and "Jewels".  In 1971 she retired from dancing and became Balanchine's full-time assistant balletmistress, and since 1983 she has been City Ballet's balletmistress.
  Title: Wedding March (Mendelssohn)
  Passage: Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" in C major, written in 1842, is one of the best known of the pieces from his suite of incidental music (Op. 61) to Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  It is one of the most frequently used wedding marches, generally being played on a church pipe organ.
citations: A Midsummer Night's Dream (ballet) A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn)