NYCB Vol. 18 No. 5 - Agon, Arthur Mitchell
- Lauryn Johnson
- Apr 28
- 1 min read
Arthur Mitchell & Diana Adams. Photos by Martha Swope, 1957
Diana Adams remembers that Balanchine wanted to compose the pas de deux before setting any of the other dances; this implied to her that he felt it would give him the key or approach to the rest of the work. Says Mitchell of that famous part, "The pas de deux is like seeing live sculpture. Before your eyes, the dancers move from one fantastic pose to another, but you don't know how they got there. Balanchine said, "This is the longest it's ever taken me to choreograph anything [two weeks]. . . because everything has to be exactly right.' And that's one of the few, or the only, time I've ever seen him take things and throw them out. Usually, it just flows, but here he experimented, he took out, he changed. Diana's nervous in-tensity made the whole pas de deux work because it's not so much the difficulty of the steps or how flexible you are, it's the precariousness. The one thing Balanchine kept saying was, 'The girl is like a doll, you're manipulating her, you must lead her. It's one long, long, long, long breath.' And so I always explained to a new partner, 'The secret of this is the less you do the better off we're going to be."
--Repertory in Review: 40 Years of the New York City Ballet by Nancy Reynolds
It’s that! It wasn’t in the step or flexibility. It is this concept that has the ability to radiate throughout various aspects of ballet and within the dancer. That one statement alone lets you know where Arthur (any dancer for that matter) was as an artist. Understanding is a gem!!