in late 1941, the ringling brothers & barnum & bailey circus made balanchine the unusual proposal to do the choreography for a ballet involving the circus's famous elephant group in the spring of the following year in new york. balanchine immediately suggested bringing in stravinsky, much to the delight of the circus company. however, stravinsky was only contacted by phone on january 12, 1942. balanchine would later recount the conversation as follows: