Diana Adams on Agon: “I don't remember ever sitting around discussing dancing with him. Even with something like Agon, I tried not to analyze, because then I might give too much significance to a gesture, like when I put my hand on Arthur's wrist. I knew it wasn't meant to be a sentimental gesture. It had to do with part of a movement and I would spoil it if I started to think about it. In Agon the movements were so intricate that you really didn't think in terms of whose li

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, "T

Photo by Martha Swope, 1958. From Edward Villella's autobiography Prodigal Son: Dancing for Balanchine in a World of Pain and Magic "One day Balanchine stopped me and matter-of-factly told me that I was going to be the understudy for Todd Bolender in Agon. I thought this was terrible news. Agon was probably the single most complicated work in the history of classical dance up to then. I was still trying to adjust to the sounds of the music. It was the first time I had been ex

The following text comes from Edward Villella's autobiography, Prodigal Son: Dancing for Balanchine in a World of Pain and Magic. The major breakthrough in my career came in 1960. I was cast in Prodigal Son, and in typical New York City Ballet fashion no one ever talked to me about it officially. I wasn't even aware that Prodigal was being revived. I was standing around waiting for a rehearsal to finish when Diana Adams turned to me and said, "Oh, congratulations." I said, "A

Men (L-R): Nicolas Magallanes, Jonathan Watts, ? Women(L-R): ?, Diana Adams, Melissa Hayden, Jillana, ? On Balanchine’s Divertimento No....

In his autobiography I Was a Dancer , Jacques d’Amboise recounts how Balanchine’s Movements for Piano and Orchestra came to be: “Diana...

Monumentum Pro Gesualdo was choreographed by Balanchine in 1960 for Diana Adams and Conrad Ludlow. “Walking is the key movement,...

To end this week of Serenade exploration, conversation, and celebration, I wanted to leave you with some parting thoughts on the final...

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon and Titania are King and Queen of the fairies. Balanchine was very specific in his use of stage...

“Very welcome visitors have been the New York City Ballet, in many respects the Sadler’s Wells opposite number in America…if I have...

“Balanchine delighted in informing me of the proper manner of drinking tea, as there was a possibility the company would be hosted at a...

(25/50) Diana Adams in the 1958 CBS television taping of Nutcracker. 1-2. Diana Adams. Photos by Fred Fehl, 1958. Harry Ransom Center. 3....

(20/50) "In 1958, Balanchine removed the grand pas de deux, substituting for it a dance for the Sugar Plum Fairy supported not by a...

(13/50) “Diana Adams as the Sugar Plum Fairy is a vision of beauty, The act opens, in this version, with her variations from the grand...

On October 11, 1948, New York City Ballet gave its first official performance at the City Center Theater. The program was all Balanchine....

“Ballet began when Terpsichore touched Apollo’s finger, as on the Sistine ceiling God touches Adam’s, and inspired a pas de deux in which...

“Ever since I came to the United States I have liked watching parades and listening to Sousa’s marches. For many years in the back of my...

Heading into a week of Balanchine's Swan Lake! On Diana Adams: “Her Odette is every inch the enchanted princess, imbued with a tender...

Diana Adams on the original rehearsals for Agon: "Balanchine rehearsals whip you into a frenzy. Keeping up with him was so difficult. I...

These photos show Concerto Barocco at London's Covent Garden during NYCB's second tour to London in 1952. The company's first trip to...