Nerina Ballerina

Merrill Ashley Part 8

2012-02-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

Today, dancers approach their career so much more as a job. People love to dance, but there was something about Balanchine's belief in ballet----some spirit that he could instill in you about ballet. Today, dancers find a way to do something new, to be technically strong, to enjoy themselves and be interesting onstage. But there is something missing. Very few people have that kind of spirit. Ballet to me is still something greater that I am. Sometimes I feel I am talking about a religion. But ballet is something that must be highly respected, treated with great care and not mistreated. Balanchine gave that feeling to all of us, and I feel it is getting lost.I don't think that Balanchine wanted to talk to us about such things in words. Perhaps he had some concrete thoughts and feelings about it, but I don't think he wanted to impose that on anyone. He wanted to give that general feeling: it's a noble pursuit, honorable and dignified. You yourself have to be that way. You have to treat the theater and all of the elements that make a ballet the same way. By doing that, you learn the greater meaning of some of these things. It will come through your own personal view.

Merrill Ashley Part 7

2012-02-06T17:46:00.000-08:00

After all, there are things that perhaps we don't do in a particular performance. Maybe we were injured. But we know what it should be, and we know what Balanchine asked for. No matter what version it is, they were his words, his wishes, at some point in time. Why just throw that away? There are so many little details that can cause the steps to take on a whole new flavor. That knowledge is still alive with people right now. It doesn't get across and it's not always welcomed. You hold back more and more. When people ask for help, I give it, and sometimes when I can't bear to hold my knowledge anymore I give it and usually individual dancers appreciate it.If you suddenly say it should be some other way or that they are not doing enough of something in a major rehearsal, that can create trouble.The same is true with foreign productions, like the Theme and Variations and Scotch Symphony at the Kirov. If you send in a different ballet mistress to check up on a production after it's been mounted, the dancers will hear a different say the same thing in a different way. Suddenly it may make sense or it may strike somebody freshly. We all tend to focus on certain things more than others. One ballet mistress will focus on musicality. Another will worry about technique, another about patterns and energies.The 1972 Russian tour was really tough, and the audiences for the most part didn't know what they were seeing. They just didn't know how to react. It wasn't at all what they envisioned Ballet to be, and they didn't get all the fireworks they are used to. In Tbilisi, where the Balanchines come from, the audience went wild. They loved anything and everything that we did. They wanted to celebrate for Balanchine and for his brother, too. But the reaction needn't have been delivered. It really worked, and the reaction wasn't false at all. I don't think Balanchine really like being in Soviet Russia. He was tolerating it.

Merrill Ashley and Peter Martins in the Pas de Deux from The Flower Festival at Genzano

2012-01-26T05:20:00.000-08:00

Check out the video I posted. Unfortunately there is not a lot of film of Merrill Ashley's dancing and this shows her amazing technique. All the tendu practice that she mentions in her book " Dancing for Balanchine" surely paid off.

Merrill Ashley Part 6

2012-01-26T05:12:00.000-08:00

Ballet has been handed down for so many years from person to person. Now we have video. It's wonderful to have records like that but some people take them as the gospel and just look at a video to pass it on to the next generation, thereby avoiding using the knowledge of dancers who actually worked with Mr B. The direct line of information is broken. I don't think that is good. Perhaps sometimes there isn't a dancer available who worked with Mr B for a particular ballet, so you do the best you can. But right now there are still a lot of persons around who worked with Mr B in all of his ballets. It does perplex me why they are not consultants. You can't call in everybody who did the role. If somebody new is going to dance Theme and Variations at New York City Ballet this season, then Kyra Nichols or I should teach the role. It shouldn't just be somebody who watched a video.....

2012-01-24T18:51:00.001-08:00

Merrill Ashley Part 5

2012-01-24T06:44:00.000-08:00

I feel that it's helpful to see Tallchief over and over again in whatever I can. This is true despite the fact that the Berceuse was done in a television studio and she had no room.But I kept feeling that there were certain things that I had been taught that just didn't seem right to me. After all, choreography can change because there's a very clear difference between certain generations. Each is right in his own way, but which should be done and which should be taught? Some companies have old Balanchine versions and they've had them for 10 or 15 years. A later dancer comes in and looks at the production and says " What is this?" There are technical things that can be bettered, but it's just an older version. It's hard to reconcile all of that and decide which approach to take. Often the people who do the choosing don't have the authority or knowledge to make an educated decision.....

Svetlana Zhakarova!

2012-01-16T13:25:00.000-08:00

Amazing everything!

Merrill Ashley Part 4

2012-01-13T04:44:00.001-08:00

When the company revived Gounod Symphony, I felt, " If only he were here." There are so many details I just want to see Mr B demonstrate. If only he could show me. I just know if he saw me dance the ballet he'd have the comment that would crystallize it in my mind, and then I'd know which way to go. I felt that very much with the pas de deux in Gounod. I also felt that very strongly in The Firebird. It was interesting that when An n Bell was putting together her Balanchine film she showed me a clip of Maria Tallcchief doing the Berceuse. Ann asked me for help because the films were without music and she was trying to set the clips to music. I saw the Berceuse footage and I said, " My God. Can I watch this several times please?"Watching Maria do it just crystallized everything, and I felt that everything was so simple---very powerful, but so simple. It gave me a certain confidence that my approach was valid and right, and I really learned from watching the clip.....

Merrill Ashley ---Part 3

2012-01-11T05:15:00.000-08:00

I never spoke to Balanchine about dancing the classics---The Sleeping Beauty for example---outside the company. I think he was always afraid that his ballerinas were going to go off and do Giselle and Swan Lake. My impression was that, if you started talking about it, then he felt you were turning your back on him, and I certainly wasn't going to turn my back on him. I kept hearing toward the end that he was interested in doing Sleeping Beauty himself but that he didn't have the right facilities. As far as Balanchine's own Swan Lake was concerned,he really confused me a lot when I first did it. He was very involved in my first performances. He kept saying " Don't act. No acting at all. Don't look at your partner. Don't do anything. Don't pay any attention to him. You stand there with him to the end of the ballet. In the old days people never got close. You must just stand there."I had trouble accepting that. I felt there was an emotion there, and I couldn't just stand there blankly and let the corps run around me. It just didn't make sense to me. My conclusion in retrospect is that he just didn't want it to go overboard. Especially with someone young, he wanted to minimize the acting. He wanted it to come through the movement. Too many dancers go for the facial expressions and elaborate arms, and he wanted it simple. Tchaikovsky's music just seems to pull emotion out of me, anyway.I find myself sometimes in performance thinking. " Now, have I overdone it?" Because I am certainly freer now than when I first did it. I'd like to give the complete Swan Lake a try. I'm very blessed with my Balanchine repertoire. There are very few of his ballets I feel I can do without.

Merrill Ashley Part 2

2012-01-10T05:43:00.000-08:00

When Balanchine would throw you on, there was usually a real need.He wasn't just trying to test you.Sometimes I think Balanchine just didn't want to sit down and do the casting. Sometimes the casting would be so late, and Balanchine would think, " Well it's time to give so and so a chance." Then, because the casting announcement had gone up late, there would be much less time for the dancer to prepare, and that didn't bother Balanchine. He felt, " Well lets see what they are made of." He kept the limited time in mind if a dancer made a mess of it: " Well, maybe they need more time,let's give them more performances," or " Let's wait." He would judge it individually.After a performance Balanchine would often not say a word. This wasn't necessarily deadly, but it wasn't necessarily good, either. After all, the individual performance was just a small piece in a big puzzle for the dancer. I think that Balanchine sometimes felt that, if he made a statement, too much weight would have been given to it. " You did a good job." " Oh I am great! Oh good, I don't have to work anymore," On the other hand, a little bit of praise could spur someone on. It's hard to judge. But eventually you began to get the feeling of what his impression of you was, of what kind of job you were doing. But it took a lot of piecing the puzzle together yourself. How did he look at you? How much attention did he pay you? How often were you cast? Who did he cast you with? How were the other dancers at your level? Sometimes Balanchine himself came to the wrong conclusions.

The film Pina

2012-01-09T07:26:00.001-08:00

Saw the Wim Wenders film about Pina Bausch yesterday and it was pretty great. Not much footage of her dancing unfortunately I am guessing because it was old footage and didn't work well in the 3D film. There must be much more on film of her dancing. The little snippets that were there though showed her incredible use of her arms and torso. It was an unconventional film and she was an unconventional woman with a rich imagination. Her work seems driven by so many ideas and emotions.I also really appreciated her sense of humor and love for nature. Her version of The rite of Spring was incredibly powerful. The highlight for me in terms of the choreography. All in all it was a beautiful film and WW did an amazing job with the dances set in nature and also in the middle of a busy city.

Merrill Ashley from I Remember Balanchine by Francis Mason Part 1

2012-01-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

Balanchine is still the determining factor in my professional life. I don't feel he is a figure of history. It's as if it were yesterday as far as I am concerned. His principles, everything he instilled in me, his patterns of work for the company, the way the company is run---those habits are still present and important.I still talk about him in the present tense. I catch myself, and I can't believe I am doing it years after his death. I'll see things and I'll think," Well, he'd be saying this you know." I think about him in class, no matter who is teaching it.As time goes on, the dancers at The New York City Ballet may understand less and less why things are done the Balanchine way. At the moment there are enough people who worked with Balanchine and who know why we approach things in a certain way---for example, now people just accept that you are not going to have weeks and weeks to learn a role. You are going to have a few days. It's going to be the last minute. Maybe it's not the way you get the best performance at first. But there is another kind of challenge here. It's very spontaneous, it's not going to be an over rehearsed, dull performance. Anyone coming in from outside who has'nt been through that initiation of being thrown on in the corps all the time is going to be shocked by the approach. I don't think that will change. We'll maintain it with the vast repertoire and the limited rehearsal time. We're not going to have casting months ahead so that you can rehearse months ahead. It will never happen. Part Two tomorrow.

The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

2012-01-05T09:47:00.001-08:00

Merrill Ashley---From I Remember Balanchine by Francis Mason

2012-01-05T09:36:00.000-08:00

Born in St Paul Minnesota, ion 1950: trained at The School of American Ballet; joined The New York City Ballet in 1966. She danced many roles in the Balanchine repertory, including Square Dance, Divertimento no 15, Sanguine in The 4 Temperaments, Symphony in C,Tchaikovsky Concerto No 2, and the Theme and Variations from Tchaikovsky Suite No 3. Balanchine created roles for her in Cortege Hongrois, Coppelia, Ballo della Regina, and Ballade. She published Dancing for Balanchine in 1984. Ashley also distingiushed herself in Peter Martin's Barber Violin Concerto for the American Music Festival at New York City Ballet.In her own words soon to come....

Lucia Davidova Part 5 The End

2011-12-30T05:26:00.000-08:00

George had a little streak of cruelty, conscious or unconscious. I ascribe it to his being Caucasian. He had men who were useful to him, like Volodine, who was in the Corps de Ballet and shared an apartment with him. He did everything for George in the household, because G didn't want to go shopping and wash his underwear or clean the bathroom. But when G married Zorina, he said to Volodine, " You have to find your own apartment now." Volodine was upset. He was Balanchine's cook and valet and friend, always fetching and carrying things for him. He even went out on the George Washington Bridge and considered throwing himself off it. So after George moved away with Zorina, I gave Volodine a little bedroom on fifth floor and almost saved his life.When the Bolshoi Ballet came here the first time, George gave a small supper for them and invited me.. The then head of their company said to George," Why do you make ballet like baking a pie and cutting it in small pieces? Here you give an evening and it is always subdivided into three or four ballets. One day you will come back and do what we do. Give one big evening." " No, George said. " I think one day you will come and do as i do." And now the Russians give one evening of several ballets. If George were alive I think he would be ambivalent about the Russians doing his things. On the one hand he would have said-publicly--" I don't want them to; they don't dance well enough."On the other, he would tell himself, " But in the end they are doing my things!" The End

Some exciting up and coming dancers at The National Ballet of Canada

2011-12-28T08:32:00.000-08:00

I am guessing that due to some pregnancies and injuries,some new dancers in the company are getting some plum roles. I have recently seen Chelsey Meiss and Brendan Saye dance Romeo & Juliet. The former is a Second Soloist and the latter in the Corps de Ballet! They were really magnificent and are obviously the the principals of the future. Dylan Tedaldi has also been spot lighted and I love his presence on stage. Recently, in The Nutcracker Alexandra MacDonald has been dancing the role of the Snow Queen and what struck me most about her were her beautiful arms. Then of course Elena Lobsanova as Juliet and The Sugar Plum Fairy and after having won The Erik Bruhn prize she is on her way. One more dancer I saw recently was Rui Huang ( also in the corps) dancing the Bee in The Nutcracker. Amazing, perfect technique and ballon. Light as a feather and very musical. I also enjoyed Selene Guerrero-Trujillo's Bee very much.

Lucia Davidova Part 4

2011-12-28T08:15:00.000-08:00

I loved George, I worshiped his work. I always wanted to do things for the good of his ballet company. I knew he should take Baryshnikov, but George didn't want another star in his company. At that time he was ill in the hospital. I tried to push Baryshnikov little by little, but it wasn't a go. Finally I went to see G in the hospital. I said, "Now you must promise me: take Baryshnikov. He is Russian, he understands the way you want. He will never go against your orders or directions, but you must take him. Just promise me." I practically made him do that. Soon after, he called Baryshnikov and said, " Do you want to come tomorrow? and start rehearsing?" It was very unexpected.George held Fokine in great respect. When G was very young Fokine was an innovator. That's why he respected him so and, unlike many people, G didn't change his mind afterward. George said, He has his place"Someone said to me, I think quite rightly, " It wasn't just Lincoln helping George, George helped Lincoln." Lincoln used to call up and say, " This or this is a disaster and it's all going to tumble."George used to cool him off and say,"Now wait, just wait." Yet, in spite of their wonderful association, they were never close to each other. Let's say they didn't speak the same language. Once or twice when Lincoln was inviting G for dinner, he'd say," come along, it will be easier for me." They needed each other, but they never felt on the same ground, somehow.I had a great friend who owned a tremendous estate in the Connecticut. G was married to Tanny at that time and he was dying to have a little place in the country. I arranged that my friend would sell G a beautiful piece of land on top of a hill, at a ridiculously low price. He could take 20 years to pay. It was exactly across the road from Lincoln. More Soon!

Lucia Davidova Part 3

2011-12-26T08:42:00.000-08:00

He liked elusiveness in a woman. About one of the wives he said" I don't need a housewife. I need a nymph who floats into the bedroom and floats out. This one always washes her leotard, she is a housewife and doesn't know that I don't need that in a woman." He always wanted romantic elusiveness. In his ballets the man always seeks and the woman flees. That is the typical picture of his life.He really can't catch her and in a way, the minute he does, she is less important. Ivesiana is an example of this in his work. He is down on the ground in " The Unanswered Question" and can't touch the girl. That is the beautiful part and descriptive of the man,Suzanne Farrell was always elusive and not interested. He said " I introduce her to Stravinsky and Tchelitchew and other people, yet I'm fully aware that she'd rather chat with her girlfriends from the ballet school about nothing" She was quite bored and told him so and he was very upset about that. I think Suzanne, through her association with George, developed as a human being. When he originally met her she was not really a companion for her, culturally.When Stravinsky came to live in America, George had an apartment on East 57th Street. To my knowledge, there was no particular woman in his life then. He had been quite strapped financially, but he was going to give a dinner for Stravinsky. George said to me "When Stravinsky comes,it will be easier for me if you are here." Socially Balanchine was quite gauche, and of course in this case he was worshipful. Besides having cooked all day and bought the most expensive things, he found 2 bottles of wine he couldn't possibly afford. When Stravinsky appeared George said " Now, we have lovely wine." " What for?" Stravinsky replied " I always bring my own because nobody at the moment can offer me what I drink." George was crestfallen; he had practically spent a months salary on those 2 bottles.Twenty years later George said to me" You know, Lucia, I'm going ahead and doing the choreography for Agon and maybe it's entirely different from what Stravinsky would like. Here I have conceived of something and I am going ahead with it and I don't even know if I am on the right path or not. Would you do me a favor? Bring him to a rehearsal so I can know his reaction." So I asked " Mr Stravinsky, George begs me to bring you to rehearsal." " Oh, I don't like to go," he told me." Please" I implored, " You know how much it matters to him." at that time the Stravinskys live in The Ambassador Hotel. I had a nice car of my own. He said, " Well all right. If you'll lunch with me and drive over yourself to the rehearsal, and take me back, then I'll come." Stravinsky watched the rehearsal and said, " That's fine, that's fine. I like it very much." He suggested that when the 4 men begin the ballet they should turn their backs to the audience, but beyond that it was " just fine". George was in 7th heaven.Part 4 tomorrow

Lucia Davidova 2nd Installment

2011-12-24T07:01:00.000-08:00

He really took Maria Tallchief, I believe, because he was upset about the previous one. I said " Now, truthfully, if she wasn't an American Indian, if she wasn't a virgin, not a Russian or an American girl, would you have been interested?" He was interested in trying a female of the species he had never had before, including one of our black entertainers who was famous in Paris. He did that purely to see, " I wonder how a Negro woman is?"

From I Remember Balanchine by Francis Mason---Lucia Davidova ( a close fiend of Balanchine's for many years. LD translated the selected letters of Vera and Igor Stravinsky

2011-12-23T07:09:00.000-08:00

Outside the dance world, I was Balanchine's best platonic woman friend. George treated women as females, not as great friends, and certainly not as intellectual companions.I told him I would teach him friendship. I knew that every woman he had an affair with was discarded sooner or later. They discarded him or more often he left them. I told him "If we have any kind of relationship, I'll be one of the discarded ones. But this way I might be your friend for life," which I was. I said " You are so great, You could teach us everything in art, but I might be able to teach how to be a bigger and better human being.I met him almost the moment he arrived in New york, when he was brought to my house by a mutual friend. we didn't take to each other at once, but he felt very at home with me. He didn't speak English too well and it was nice for him to have a Russian person close to him. Little by little it turned into a real friendship. I became close to him in times of real stress, for instance when he became desperate about Diana Adams. He was really in love with her, but his wife was an invalid and he didn't know what to do about it.. He tried for three years or so. Then finally he said to his wife, as he told me " Tanny, if I go on with my marriage, I think I'll stop creating. I know the stimulus. In order to continue working I have to follow my love" But when Diana left him, he was disconsolate. He said " Somebody just put their hand on my head and is holding me under the water, and I don't know when I'll come up" When balanchine came to America, Geva (his first wife) was already here, and he thought that he might catch up with her again. Then she marrried my ex-husband---Balanchine was absolutely outraged. How could she prefer someone else? She out willed him, in her way. She was the first one in the New world, and he followed.During the thirties, I had my own house, but I lived only on 2 floors and rented the other 3. One time during those years, George didn't have a place, because he'd lost his last apartment. I invited him to come and take a floor above me and just pay what he could. " I'm going to Europe" I told him, " and would be delighted if you'd stay". When I returned, he said "You don't mind, I'm not only here but Zorina moved in too" It was a great surprise to me, because to have him was one thing, but to have a menage was another. Zorina had a big, open car and a big dog: she was a star and she was putting on a little bit. Of course I couldn't expel him, but he knew it wasn't a good thing to do. He soon moved out and found somewhere else.When their marriage broke up, it was shattering to him. I wouldn't plan an evening without saying to myself" I have to first check if George is alone" Then, one time later, I think it was after Diana, he begged me to go to Paris with him. We lived in a third rate hotel around the Etoile, because that's all he could afford. I tried to remind him that after every break up he would say" I can't see how I could have been in love with a woman who has the heart of a hausfrau"--or things like that. Each time when a new loss came,I'd say " You remember how you couldn't get over that last hausfrau? "Well, you will get over it once more. And then each time there was a new one. For his creativity he needed a real emotional, sexual attachment. And the periods of depression afterward were not bad for his creativity because, when a man suffers, even that is useful for his work.MORE TOMORROW>>>>>

Elena Lobsanova!

2011-12-23T05:34:00.000-08:00

I watched last night as Elena Lobsanova did her second Sugar Plum Fairy with McGee Maddox as her partner ( very solid and sensitive partnering from him). And even though it was slightly tentative at times and the big spin at the end of the Pas de Deux was over rotated leaving her a little stunned it seems, her dancing can be pretty well summed up as glorious. Having seen it danced by Sonia Rodriguez and Greta Hodgkinson many times I can now understand how difficult it is technically. The latter 2 ballerinas ( who each do it to perfection)have it in their muscle memory whereas Elena is just starting her Sugar Plum Journey. She is just such a lovely ballerina to watch and very exciting for The National Ballet of Canada to have her as one of the new upcoming stars along with Jillian Vanstone and Chelsey Meiss.

Happy Holidays to All

2011-12-21T09:19:00.001-08:00

I am not a reviewer

2011-12-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

BUT I would like to write a little about what I see in the world of dance. For instance The Nutcracker ( Choreography by James Kudelka)as danced by The National Ballet of Canada last night ( Dec 14) The role of the Sugar Plum Fairy was danced by the incredible Sonia Rodriguez and the role of Peter was danced by Piotr Stanczyk. It is such a shame that these performances don't get recorded in some form or other because they are so fleeting and there is very little on film it seems of these fantastic dancers. Also in my humble opinion, these dancers should get more attention for their incredibly hard work. Take Sonia Rodriguez---Her fluidity combined with perfect technique and softness yet steeliness when needed is truly awe inspiring. The beautiful Pas De Deux was done to perfection and her pirouettes (so many of them) solo and partnered were truly dazzling. Piotr S is also an amazing dancer with great athleticism and he is very expressive. He is just a great performer and very magnetic. The rest of the production is a total treat and all the dancing fantastic. Tina Pereira's Bee with it's very complicated steps was a joy to watch....

2011-12-13T11:36:00.001-08:00

More Nadia

2011-12-05T19:14:00.001-08:00

And----the name is mine

Photo of Nadia Nerina

2011-12-05T18:52:00.001-08:00

This was my fave...

Amazing coincidence

2011-12-05T18:38:00.001-08:00

So I have been thinking about getting a new name for my ballerina collection . I came up with some cute ones (in my humble opinion) like Cocoballerina Olympiaballerina Sisiballerina Balletbelles and Romyballerina. Unfortunately when I Googled them they were all taken.So then I kept thinking what would be catchy and special and I remembered a ballerina who was born in South Africa ( I lived there for 10 years) but who was a star with The Royal Ballet. Her name was Nadia Nerina and I used to pour over photos of her thinking she was definitely my favourite ballerina. The fact that I had never seen her dance did not matter at all. So the next thought was---why not choose Nerinaballerina. Nice rhyming job as well. Off to the computer I trot and Google her and to my amazement her obituary is in a London newspaper dated 6 Dec 2011( This the same day of my thinking about using her name). I guess it was meant to be so I better go and buy myself that domain name tout suite!And here is my latest Ballerina Illustration. ( This will be available as a poster on Etsy soon)

The last of Allegra Kent's account from I Remember Balanchine

2011-11-24T09:55:00.001-08:00

Balanchine never said a word to me about my role in Bugaku. When I teach my role to the other dancers, nobody asks me to " explain", so I haven't even tried. I try to be faithful to the original choreography. Why not? Bugaku was revived at New York City Ballet, and I don't think it's changed all that much. I like the way Heather Watts does it. It's different. But the steps are pretty much the same.I was out having a baby when Balanchine selected perfumes for each of his ballerinas, so he never selected one for me. Actually, my favourite perfume is now obsolete---Grey Iris. It was made by Fath of Fath.Balanchine once explained the end of La Sonnambula by saying, "Very simple". Poet gets better. Marries Sonnambulist. They move to Scarsdale. Have nice house and five children. She cooks those awful, heavy quiches" I thought it was funny because, through default, I live in Scarsdale. I moved there for the school system for my children. I laughed when I saw the word " Scarsdale" END

Allegra Kent Continued---

2011-11-23T07:24:00.001-08:00

Actually, one of the first ballets I saw that I loved was La Sonnambula in California about 1946. I saw Danilova. The roles in Sonnambula and Swan Lake are similar, but I don't know if I made that connection at the beginning. And then, just before the Russian tour in 1962, I did La Sonnambula. It was before the Cuban missile crisis. On the Russian tour in 1962 the audiences loved La Sonnambula. The Russians while we were there gave us a special performance. It was a little bit of everything---gypsy songs, juggling, a drunken skit. Mr B thought we should do something for them, so he decided that Jacques D'Amboise and I should perform something for them after we had done a matinee and an evening, so he sent us to this club. He said it was a writer's club, but it turned out to be an accordion's players' club. Jacques and I walked in, and there were 500 accordion players. They had a very small stage. Jacques and I did the pas de deux from Midsummer Nights' Dream. We took very tiny steps.Episodes was another piece Balanchine made for me, but that time I had my feet on the ground. And I had Nicky Magallanes, who was a terrific, wonderful partner. Mr B just showed me what he wanted me to do. Paul Taylor was in one section of it. Mr B thought that one day he might do a dance for the two of us, but it never happened. He thought we might have suited each other very well---a wormy sort of movement. I loved Episodes. It's very precise, interesting, and it explores the idea of the man manipulating the woman in our part in the ballet. I had the girls in the corps to hold on to. I loved the pas de deux in that ballet. It is very lyrical.When Balanchine made Midsummer Night's Dream, I was cast as Violette Verdy's understudy. But it turned out to be a kind of movement that was very much for me. That was Balanchine's way of doing me a favor, giving me the understudy role so that I could work in the back of the room. That was more comfortable at times. When I saw the movement, I saw that it was my kind.The rest tomorrow.....

Allegra Kent Continued--From the Francis Mason book published in 1991

2011-11-22T05:02:00.001-08:00

The Ives music for " The Unanswered Question" is wonderful. But what I loved in Ivesiana was the way Tanaquil LeClerc shook Todd Bolender's hand at the end of " In the Inn" To me that was the highlight: her handshake. I thought that was a great moment. I thought Balanchine was psychological master. The moment is interesting. It's against the music. " In the Inn" is mostly jazzy movement, and then at the end these two come across to each other and shake hands firmly and walk off in opposite directions. No one could do the handshake the way Tanny and Todd did. It was great.I had been dancing Jerome Robbins's Afternoon of a Faun for some time. I learned Faun after one of our tours. Eddie Villella joined a little later. He had been to military school. I wish I had gone to military school---the discipline, I just long for that. While Eddie was in military school, I was in New York City Ballet just playing around.I began doing Swan Lake on our Australian tour, when Balanchine was not with us. I did it about 10 times. I just sort of fell into it. And when we got to New York, we had a season almost immediately. we hadn't seen Mr B for at least 4 or 5 months. He'd never seen me do the Swan Queen. I barely knew it. He mainly danced it for me and I watched and I tried to do it. He would act the role as well as dance it. He would give me acting clues. He'd show me exactly what he meant. If I got a little too wild, he'd try to tone me down: " Not so wild." He had a way of quickly cutting through everything and saying the one thing that would transform the performance. I was able to give it something.I wish The Seven Deadly Sins could be revived. They never could find another singer. In 1977, Mr Balanchine was going to do it for Karin Von Aroldingen and Bette Midler, but the musician's strike intervened. I think it would be a terrific success today. It was in English translation, and the words were quite clear. I think Heather Watts would be good in it.As one half of Anna-Anna in The Seven Deadly Sins, I was detached in a sense because I was not allowed to speak. I was detached from my own voice.I was attached to Lotte Lenya's Anna. That kind of remoteness in his women--in La Sonnambula, too, for example---is in a lot of Balanchine ballets. It has to do with his vision, the way he sees relationships and the way he sees women. It's an interesting vision. Some choreographers do not have an interesting vision of relationships in their choreography. Balanchine has great pas de deux.MORE SOON

Allegra Kent From I Remember Balanchine Continued

2011-11-19T07:40:00.001-08:00

My first appearance on stage was in Symphony in C. Vida Brown taught it to me. I didn't know how to put my makeup on. Basha--Barbara Walczak, Barbara Milberg, Irene Larsson, and Kay Sargent all kind of directed me. I was wearing Egyptian makeup, I got on somehow. Now, of course, they have workshop performances at The School of American Ballet. My first performance was really haphazard.The first role Balanchine worked with me on was " The Unanswered Question" in Ivesiana. before that, he had not rehearsed me in any other part of the repertory. Vida Brown or someone else would teach me. Whenever there was an opening or someone was needed, I'd learn the part, go in, and do it. Ivesiana was the first principal part I ever did. I just saw my name on the rehearsal sheet. I didn't know what the role was going to be. As it turned out, I was just held aloft the whole time. There were no counts to worry about. We just started with the music, and we ended, hopefully,with the music. It didn't take Balanchine long to make, actually.It was a lot of sustained movement,moving from side to side, falling back. The pianist would play, and we had landmarks in the score that we were supposed to reach, but there were no counts. It was nice to fall backwards standing on the men's shoulders. There was a whole group of them back there, and my sensation was fun once I knew they were going to be there. It was a nice way to do a principal part; I didn't have to worry about my shoes and tights, I didn't have to worry about my hairdo.Balanchine would demonstrate more than talk. To watch him do the swan Queen was good. He would do all the parts. Balanchine didn't talk to me about the meaning of a role, but he demonstrated what he wanted me to do. I realized how the remote the woman was in " The Unanswered Question". I hadn't seen that many Balanchine ballets. But I saw what Balanchine wanted, so I was able to do it. Sometimes I would hear Balanchine talking to a dancer about one one of his works, and I knew he was misleading the person. He was speaking literally but he wasn't really telling them what the dance was really about. More to come....

My Studio

2011-11-15T14:56:00.001-08:00

Photo Allegra Kent in Swan Lake

2011-11-14T05:35:00.001-08:00

Allegra Kent in her own words from" I remember Balanchine" by Francis Mason

2011-11-14T05:31:00.001-08:00

I had to get out of boarding school, so I came up with the idea of ballet. I had never seen a ballet in my life. I was good at folk dancing--I liked it, actually. Then I did see a ballet at the Ballet Russe---Sheherazade. I hated it. I had dreamed what I imagined ballet to be, and when I saw the reality there was no way it live up to that. But I kept on studying ballet. I didn't give up. I studied with Bronislava and Irina Njinska. I was really unschooled, but I learned one thing---a Njinska arabesque. It's a la seconde, and you just turn. In a sense it's not really an arabesque at all. Njinska always wore black pajamas and you just couldn't see the combinations in her classes.. Carmelita Maracci said her good friend Muriel Stewart was at the School of American Ballet, and she wrote a letter. She said I was demonic. Stuart auditioned me and put me in a class. This was about 1951. I studied with everyone at the school. Oboukhoff, Doubrovska, Stuart, and Vladimiroff.Doubrovska didn't like the way I walked. She said I walked with my feet wide apart. I'd go lumbering down the hall. She said I would have to put my feet together. Everyone said I walked like a mountain man. I was trying to walk like a mountain man---that was one of my goals. Doubrovska would say " Put your legs together when you walk" She was very observant about things like that. She didn't want me to overwork. I thinks she was maybe a little bit too worried about my well-being. She was afraid I'd overdo it. I don't think I could have overdone it at that time. Then I got into the company as an apprentice.I saw Eddie Villella in one of the classes. He was way up in the air. And then I never saw him again, after he landed. This was at the fifty ninth Street and Madison studio where there was a Schrafft's. Even at the Eighty-third street studios there was a Schrafft's,luckily. Everyone could go out for lunch. Schrafft's was very important.I loved dancing. I liked the big jumps and moving around. Luckily, Njinska had not been too meticulous because if she had been really meticulous I might have found that too boring. I think you have to give kids a certain amount of freedom. It can't all be constrained. There has to be a sort of balance.Now a small excerpt from Allegra Kent's Autobiography:In the middle of a typical afternoon class at the School of American Ballet, a thin, nicely dressed man opened the blue door of the studio and walked right past me, only inches away, to the front of the room, where he sat down on a long, low bench. I followed his entrance with my eyes. The day I was to be judged had finally arrived. Mr Balanchine would decide if I would receive a scholarship and move to an advanced class.It was the fall of 1951, and I was 14 years old with 3 years of ballet training behind me.

From I Remember Balanchine by Francis Mason--Allegra Kent

2011-11-11T14:04:00.001-08:00

AK was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1936. Allegra Kent trained with Njinska, Maracci, and at the School of American Ballet. She joined The New York City Ballet in 1953 and became a principal dancer at age nineteen. Balanchine made 7 roles for her and she danced a wide repertory of his ballets. She danced with the company until 1978. Now director of The Stanford, Connecticut Ballet School, she is associate director of the Ballet of Los Angeles.-------Soon to come Allegra in her own words.

The last of John Taras Account

2011-11-09T05:23:00.000-08:00

The wonderful thing about Balanchine ballets is that they survive cast changes. Sometimes there is even an improvement. I'm thinking of Peter Martins in certain roles that he inherited. We had never seen a danseur noble like that. Being a ballet master, one sees these ballets year after year in different productions, and if you are not there all the time, if you are not insistent on maintaining details, a lot of things disappear. Special characteristics of the work disappear. I used to dread it if I didn't go to a rehearsal that Mr Balanchine himself took. I knew that if I wasn't there he would change something, and so I would try and go as often as possible. He would suddenly see a step that we had been doing for a long time but that he would not like because the dancer wasn't doing it properly. And he would change the step. It wasn't because the step wasn't right. It simply was not being done well. So he would change the step.Eventually I became a ballet master and worked with European companies. I would make ballets for repertory needs or because the poor ballerina was sitting in the corner and didn't have a ballet. When I returned to the United Sates, Balanchine suggested that I stage Sonnambula. He didn't remember it. He came and watched my rehearsal and then asked me if I would like to stay. Of course I was delighted. Now I am ballet master at American Ballet Theatre, which asked me to join. If Mr Balanchine were still alive, I could not have left his company. I felt that my one usefulness was to help him when he was getting older and doing things he shouldn't have---things I could do for him. I could help him with his load of work. Now that he's gone, it's another world.

Young Karen Kain as the Swan Queen

2011-11-08T10:14:00.001-08:00

The Sleeping Beauty

2011-11-03T04:45:00.000-07:00

I have a new ballet image. This is my first illustration in Illustrator and I can't wait to become more adept. Tutorials on Yoy Tube have been very handy but there is still a lot to learn. Now working on an image of Kitri in Don Q.

John Taras Account continued

2011-11-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

I think the same thing is true for Ballet Imperial, that the characterization came-I'm totally convinced-entirely from Marie Jeanne's body and from her personality, and from the way he used her. She was terrific.I remember a variation she did in the ballet Divertimento from a Rossini score( Matinees Musicales, Soirees Musicale: overture to La Cenerentola), orchestrated by Benjamin Britten. we used the overture for Cinderella as the finale.. Marie-Jeanne did a variation, a Tyrolean dance, that brought the house down. It was the only time on that tour in South America that we ever had to repeat a dance. and she was the original Harlequin in La Sonnambula. She was extraordinary.balanchine would adjust his ballets for later casts. For example, Concerto Baroccohas lost some entrance steps because of Suzanne Farrell's bad knee. And the later dancers said: Oh, we don't have to do the jete because of Suzanne's knee. He just gave her developpes. There was a reason. And, also Balanchine got bored seeing things over and over again.

John Taras Continued

2011-10-31T15:24:00.000-07:00

Balanchine worked closely with Marie-Jeanne in choreographing both Concerto Barocco and Ballet Imperial. She was an extraordinary girl. She was very energetic,strong. Oddly enough, she was not tall. A great many people think of Balanchine ballerinas as being amazons or giantesses, but she was quite small. She had very long legs and very long feet, so when she was on pointe, which was quite often, she looked tall. She did not have much neck, but she had a strong upper body. I've never seen anyone who had her drive. If you had seen her in Ballet Imperial, and then saw the people who came after--and there were many great dancers who came after her---I feel you never seen Ballet Imperial unless you had seen Marie-Jeanne. It was done for her, that's what the ballet is about. When you change casts, the ballet is divine but it is not the same ballet. I find that happens so often with Mr Balanchine's work.I think that's also true of Barocco, which was also done for her. Barocco has become rather a tepid, bland classical work now. And it was a jazzy work when we first did it. Full of odd hips,odd turned in things that you don't see anymore. all the dances have syncopations that lies under the Bach music. And now it's rather romantic and lyrical......

Planet Ballerinas

2011-10-28T13:05:00.001-07:00

Baby Ballerina

2011-10-28T13:04:00.001-07:00

John Taras writes the following in the book " I Remember Balanchine" by Francis Mason

2011-10-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

I went to study with Fokine to learn how to make dances for plays I wanted to be in. That's how I got started in Ballet. Fokine classes dealt with his own ballets.I watched at first. I had never been trained. He didn't train.I never was told how to turn out. Barre was given by his son upstairs. And then we came down to the salon, and sometimes Fokine would play the piano and sometimes he would sing.Once he sang a phrase from Sheherazade. and all of this went into my head. I couldn't do it, but of course I loved every step. I was 16. I was like a sponge.At that time I was fortunate enough to have a friend who was a publicity agent for Broadway. So I got to see all of Mr B's musicals. I saw On your Toes (1936) Babes in arms ( 1937). I also managed to see the Stravinsky program at the Met ( 1937): Apollo, Baiser de la Fee and Card Party ( Jeu de Cartes) And I saw the Gluck Orpheus and Eurydice ( 1936) at the Met. Balanchine had dancers flying through the air in the hell scene, which was like a concentration camp. Bill Dollar came flying in as Amor, and he had enormous wings. Lew Christensen was wonderful as Orpheus.I began attending Balanchine's and Kirstein's school in 1940. And I managed to get into a Thousand Times Neigh, which they were doing at the Ford Pavilion at the 1939 World Fair. I went to Anatole Vilzak. I studied with Madame Njinska. I studied with a woman called Madame Anderson-Ivantzova. Balanchine was not around in 1940. Nicky Magallanes, Todd Bolender and I joined Catherine Littlefield's Philadelphia Ballet because she was doing a short tour. When we came back, we got the news that Lincoln and Nelson Rockefeller were organizing a tour to be sent to South America to develop inter-american cultural relations. That's when I first came into contact with Mr Balanchine. There I found Bill Dollar, Lew Christensen, Gisella Caccialanza and Marie_Jeanne. There was one ballet for the Latin American tour called Divertimento ( !1941) which Balanchine whipped up when we needed a closing ballet at the last minute. We hadn't had time to do it in the rehearsal period in New York. We rehearsed it when we finally got there. Balanchine had planned to rehearse it on the boat. It took two weeks to get to Rio at that time....... More soon

Suzanne Farrell rehearsing with of course GB

2011-10-25T14:18:00.001-07:00

This is exciting. Rare footage.

From I Remember Balanchine---John Taras

2011-10-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

John Taras trained with Fokine and the School of American Ballet; danced with Catherine Littlefield's Philadelphia ballet in 1941 and joined the American Ballet Caravan tour of South America; danced with Ballet Theatre 191940-1945 and joined De Basil's Ballet Russe as dancer and regisseur in 1947. Choreographed ballets for Ballet Theatre, the Markova-Dolin company, and The Minotaur for Ballet Society and Design with Strings for the Metropolitan Ballet. He was ballet master of The New York City Ballet from 1960-1984, Ballet master of The Paris Opera Ballet from 1969-1970. Associate director of American Ballet Theatre from 1984-1990. John Taras has choreographed many ballets and staged Balanchine ballets for numerous ensembles. Tomorrow Taras in his own words........

Photos of George Balanchine

2011-10-17T07:22:00.001-07:00

Comment by Francis Mason about the impact of Lincoln Kirstein on ballet in America.

2011-10-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

Renowned for being at least 25 years ahead of everybody else, Lincoln Kirstein promised Balanchine in London in 1933 that before Kirstein was 40 Balanchine would have a ballet company of his own. In 1948, when The New York City Ballet came to be, Lincoln Kirstein was off by only a year. Lincoln Kirstein's invitation to Balanchine to come to America, his selfless, single minded, and tireless commitment to Balanchine and his work for fifty years is the most inspiring story of patronage and collaboration in the history of the arts in The United States. The artist's work survives: patronage is often forgotten. Kirstein's continuous patronage of the man who made possible the growth of classical dance in America, who made possible an unfolding talent Kirstein knew to be there, should never be forgotten. What Pope Julius II did for Michelangelo is nothing compared to Kirstein's commitment to Balanchine.PS This brings to my mind all that Walter Carsen has done for The National Ballet of Canada. Would like to find out more about that...I do know he has given that company enormous donations. His love for that company and his devotion is undisputed.

Last part of Lincoln Kirstein letter

2011-10-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

Conceived as an educational institution under the title of The American Ballet, or the school of classical dancing of America or something, it could travel, on small tours, at first, simply as a school and get a considerable return. We would have to do a little theatrical camouflage at first. A few leaps by Jasinsky or a few fouettes by the adorable Toumanova will lift a room full off their feet, cheering. I wish to God you were here: that you could know what I am writing is true, that I am not either over-enthusiastic or visionary. Please, please Chick, if you have any love for anything we both adore, rack your brains and try to make this all come true. If not as I outline, then some other way must be feasible. WE have both done harder things than to raise $6000.. Hartford is a perfect place for it, I think. You will adore Balanchine. He is no trouble, i.e. not personally difficult in any way. He could come over in October or even sooner. When you have thought of this, considered it, talked it over with Russell, Jere , Joe Marvell, even Winslow Ames and Francis Taylor--talk to Muriel Draper too. She knows a lot about such things. But please wire me ,give me some inkling as to how you will receive this letter. If not I can't sleep. I won't be able to hear from you for a week, but I won't sleep till I do. Just say proceed or impossible. If impossible I will try to think of something else, but as I see it, Hartford is perfect. It will involve no personal loss. The $6000 is just a guarantee, for poor Balanchine, who is responsible for Toumanova and Jasinsky: he has been tricked so often.We have the future in our hands. For Christ's sweet sake let us honor it.Yours Devotedly,Lincoln Kirstein

Letter by Lincoln Kirstein Continued

2011-10-13T05:40:00.000-07:00

The ballets I have discussed with Balanchine out of American life are these- Pocahontas: Classical ballet with decor from American primitives: music from 17th century suite de danses.Doomsday: Decor by john Benson after New England gravestones. Libretto on Salem themes by Katherine Anne Porter, The superb biographer of Cotton Mather. She is working on it now.Uncle Tom's Cabin: Ballet au grand serieux avec apotheose: by E E Cummings. He is doing it now on my suggestion. Music by Stephen Foster. Decor by whoever.Defeure of Richmond: Debacle danse on a libretto of John Peale Bishop. I've spoken a lot about this to him. Virgil Thomson is excited about the music. all about southern swords and roses.Flying Cloud: a ballet of the days of clipper ships: a dock in New Bedford orMoby Dick by Jere Abbot.Custer's last stand: After Currier and Ive, the circling Indians: corps de ballet shooting at the chief dancers in the center. Ponies: Rituals of scouts going out, Indian dances stylise.Then there are Balanchine's own ideas: a great erotic ballet which is to die. Njinsky undone ballett to an organ and Bach's prelude and fugues--abstract in the baroque manner, and so much else.I know Stokowski will cooperate musically. It is absolutely necessary to keep Balanchine to ourselves. Not let either Stokowski, the league of Composers, the Juilliard or the Curtis institute get ahold of him. He is an honest man, a serious artist and I'd stake my life on his talent. In 2 years, unhindered by petty intrigue, by rows between Thelitchew and Berard, between the Monte Carlo Ballet, Lifar and the Paris Opera, unworried about how he could live and call his soul his own which he has not done since Diaghilev died, he could achieve a miracle, and right under our eyes: I feel this chance is too serious to be denied. It will mean a life work to all of us, incredible power in a few years. we can command whom we want. we will be developing new talent. It will not be a losing proposition......The rest tomorrow

Letter Continued

2011-10-11T05:56:00.000-07:00

Now, Madame Njinsky, her name is very important, has given me the rights to Sacre Du Printemps, Jeux, Faun, Tyl Eulenspiegel and 4 unproduced ballets, the benefit of this untried system of training of dancers. She also volunteers to lecture with me, at these demonstrations where one could also see the dancing of Toumanova and Jasinsky. I intent to get engagements charging $ 100. a lecture from Harvard, Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Northampton, Bennington, New Haven,New London, Poughkeepsie, Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan, Philadelphia and 3 or 4 times in NY.This will prepare the way for the company, which will give performances not at the theatre, but always kept on an educational level, with museums.This takes us out of the competition class, obviates us from theatres--managers etc. In the meantime Balanchine Jasinsky, Toumanova must live. Toumanova can't go anywhere without her Ma. She is a nice woman, has starved for years and could keep house and cook for them which she has always done. It would be necessary to have $ 6000. to start it. That guarantees them with passage back and forth. I count this sum as dead loss. Though it won't be at all because by February you can have 4 performances of wholly new ballets in Hartford. Balanchine is willing to devote all his time to this for 5 years. He believes the future of ballet lies in America as do I. I see a great chance for you to do a hell of a lot here. The expense can be underwritten, say I glibly, but you must realize how much this means. So I have to be arrogant, By Phil Johnson, who is willing, myself, Jim Sobey, Jere (Abbott), the Lewisohns, the Cotters etc in NY who are willing and I am sure there are others. This school can be the basis of a national culture as intense as the great Russian Renaissance of Diaghilev. We must start small. But imagine it. We are exactly as if we were in 1910, offered a dancer only less good than an unformed Njinsky, an incipient Karsavina, a maitre de ballet as good as Fokine, who would also be delighted to cooperate. It will not be easy. It will be hard to get good young dancers willing to stand up or fall by the company. No first dancers. No stars. A perfect Eprit De Corps. More tomorrow

Photos of Lincoln Kirstein

2011-10-08T08:10:00.001-07:00

Photo of Roman Jasinski

2011-10-08T08:05:00.001-07:00

Letter by Lincoln Kirstein to A Everett Austin Jr continued

2011-10-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

To have a school of dancing, preferably in Hartford: it is distant from New York--plenty of chance to work in an easy atmosphere. Balanchine is socially adorable, but he hates the atmosphere both of society, as such ( Lifar loves it) and the professional Broadway Theatre. For the first he would take 4 white girls and four white boys, about 16 yrs old and 8 of the same, negros. They would be firmly taught in the classical idiom, not only from exercises but he would start company ballets at once so they could actually learn by doing. As time went on he would get younger children from 8 years on. he thinks the negro part of it would be amazingly supple, the combination of suppleness and sense of time superb. Imagine them masked, for example. They have so much abandon--and disciplined they would be nonpareil. He could start producing within 3 months. Now, if you could work it he could use your small theatre: ( in ) a department of the museum a school of dancing could be started--entirely from the professional point of view. But since NO tuition would be charged, the dancers will be picked for their perfect possibilities and they will have to sign contracts to prevent them from appearing anywhere else, except in the troupe for 5 years. this will obviate the danger of broadway or movies snatching them up after they have been trained---better than anybody else in the country. In the meantime Balanchine and Jasinsky and Toumanova will serve as demonstrators and models. Thus, you can already see in a girl not yet 15 and a boy of 20, finished dancers, artists of conviction. More tomorrow......

Photo of Tamara Toumanova

2011-10-07T12:18:00.001-07:00

Letter by Lincoln Kirstein continued

2011-10-07T10:48:00.000-07:00

The Monte Carlo Ballet wanted her on a 10 yrs contract. Balanchine refused to tie her up for so long: they dismissed her. Enclosed are her photos. Balanchine also has her partner Roman Jasinsky. He is a Pole from the Warsaw School. He is extremely beautiful, a superb body and by way of becoming a most remarkable dancer. He promises far more than Lifar who is absolutely spoiled and is artistically through, a terrible snob and cabotin. Jasinsky works all the time, is a fine mime, modest, a bit dumb, but marvellous in an expert's hand like Balanchine. I wish you could have seen him in the marvellous pas de deux in Mozartiana. Toumanova is a sombre little girl, a tragic face and a rather firm, heavy build, a dancer in whom the masculine strength and feminine art is superbly intertwined. Jasinsky is older, about 20: but less mature. But his pirouettes, his entrechats are fine and he will be a superb artist. These 3 have nothing to do now. I prepared the following and they are willing and eager to do it. More tomorrow......

Letter by Lincoln Kirstein continued

2011-10-06T05:26:00.000-07:00

For Diaghilev he composed The Cat, The Prodigal son, Apollon Musagete, Le Bal of Chirico, Barabau of Utrillo, Neptune of the Sitwells and many others.This year he did Tchelitchew's Errante, Berard's Mozartiana, Derain's competition and Berard's Cotillon. He is 28 years old, a product of the imperial schools. He has split from the Prince of Monaco as he wants to proceed, with new ideas and young dancers instead of going on with the decadence of the Diaghilev troupe, which I assure you, although it possesses many good, if frightfully overworked dancers, is completely worn out, inartistic, commercial. Now Balanchine has with him Tamara Toumanova, the daughter of a general Toumanov, and a Circassian princess. She is 14 years old. I enclose what the best ballet critic in England says about her. Her technique is phenomenal. Preobrajenska, her teacher and Pavlova's great rival says she is unbelievable, in 3 yrs, a real phenomenom. Balanchine adores her, has really created her: made her blossom out. Toumanova is so photogenique she has refused 2 movie contracts. She wants to dance above all. " Il faut dancer" To be continued......

In a letter by Lincoln Kirstein about George Balanchine

2011-10-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Chick, This will be the most important letter I will ever write to you as you will see. My pen burns my hand as I write: words will not flow into the ink fast enough. We have a real chance to have an American ballet within 3 years time. When I say ballet, I mean a trained company of young dancers-not Russians- but Americans with Russian stars to start with-a company superior to the dregs of the old Diaghilev company which will come to NY this winter and create an enormous success purely because though they aren't much they are better than anything New York has ever seen since Njinsky.Do you know George Balanchine? If not he is a Georgian called Georgei Balanchivaze. He is, personally, enchanting-dark, very slight, a superb dancer and the most ingenious technician in ballety I have ever seen.More tomorrow......

2011-10-04T13:51:00.001-07:00

The Ballet Cards are finished and are available on Etsy!

2011-09-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

I am finishing my Balanchine Series and will post Emeralds, Diamonds, Agon and Apollo soon. All these images will be available as greeting cards soon.