NYCB Vol. 14 No. 11 - Sylvia Pas de Deux

“Balanchine’s Sylvia Pas de Deux was designed around Tallchief’s technical virtuosity. Although Nicholas Magallanes was her original partner, a year after the ballet premiered André Eglevsky debuted in the role and Tallchief found a partner whose bravura dancing matched her own. The two performed the ballet together all over the world and both remember it as one of their most beautiful and exciting vehicles. Eglevksy said, ‘It was such an elegant thing. The girl’s variation was exquisite. In the coda, Maria did a series of relevé turns en attitude en avant with arms closed at unbelievable speed—unbelievable—and clean, clean, clean!’” — Quoted from Repertory in Review by Nancy Reynolds

[…] Balanchine produced two new short pieces. One was a grand pas de deux to music from Delibes’s Sylvia, which had Tallchief not only displaying her virtuosity but dancing, in the languorous introduction, with a new supple delicacy.” —B.H. Haggin, in The Nation, 1950

Footage from Jacob's Pillow. Maria Tallchief in 1951. Music added later by Dianne Chilgren added in 1995