NYCB Vol. 16 No. 8 - Western Symphony

Gloria Govrin and Frank Ohman. Photo by Martha Swope, 1965.

From --Balanchine's Dancing Cowboy by Frank Ohman "[Balanchine] fostered my 'conversion' from rebel to devoted student, from a rough-around-the-edges adolescent to a serious dancer and better person by giving me a major role in one of his ballets. The role that gave me a big chance and launched my solo and principal roles at the New York City Ballet was the lead in Western Symphony's fourth movement. Sure enough, before we had moved into the New York State Theater just before Christmas, my name was listed to learn Western Symphony.

Frank Ohman. Photo by Martha Swope, 1965.

"This was a chance I hadn't earned but a sign of Balanchine's own faith. I wasn't going to let him down. Gloria Govrin taught me the part that Jacques d'Amboise had created. Jacques took me onstage and coached me too. And the significance of getting my first big break in a ballet that personally meant so much to me, given my Western roots, didn't escape me.

"And so during the 1963-64 winter season, I performed my first lead and loved it. To add to this vote of confidence, just two hours before the performance, I was asked to do the first movement lead in Ivesiana too. Thrown into it at 6:00 p.m., I worked in an ultra-concentrated fashion and danced it two hours later. I overhead some dancers question Mr. Balanchine about why I had two leads that same evening, and joy and warmth spread throughout my soul when I heard his confident response: 'Frank can do it.' His emphasis was on his second word.

Gloria Govrin and Frank Ohman. Photos by Martha Swope, 1965.

"So here I was, doing the leads in Ivesiana and Western Symphony. My role in Western was quite an athletic one and one in which I could really allow all my passion and energy to pour forth. I understood the wide open spaces and that this ballet had to be danced that way. Mr. Balanchine always had a real sense of the West, the West that I knew. It was common to see him in a Western shirt and tie. We had talked about my childhood in that part of the country too. So his rare combination of understanding and interest in me as a person, of giving me a chance when I hardly deserved one, of sharing his philosophies about life, and of even selecting a ballet that was personally such a fine match for me, were profound gifts.

"The next day I was exuberant. Mr. Balanchine never corrected the way I performed; he let me dance the way I wanted. And I danced Western with great enthusiasm befitting the part. Mr. B complimented me after I did Western, and in class, spent some time encouraging the dancers to project more, as I suppose I had done the night before. I bumped into the great Erik Bruhn this same day, and he asked me, "Frank, did you do something special last night?" Apparently he had heard about my last minute casting in Ivesiana and my doing the lead in Western, both firsts for me. To have this great dancer, someone I admired for years, recognize me for what I had done the previous evening, and to converse as a peer, a fellow dancer, was supremely complimentary. What a joyous moment, one I cherish still.

--Balanchine's Dancing Cowboy by Frank Ohman

Start at 16:42 to see Frank and Gloria dance!

(L-R) Nicholas Magallanes, Suki Schorer, Gloria Govrin, Frank Ohman. Photo by Erio Piccagliani at Teatro Alla Scala, 1965.