Jillana in Serenade. Photo by Martha Swope, 1959 Jillana in I Remember Balanchine : “My fondest memories are of Serenade. I loved doing the Dark Angel. Even though there was no real story in it, I always had a story. I would make up different ones when I danced it, and I danced all the parts from top to bottom. I would make up stories about being in love with Nicky Magallanes and trying to get him away from whoever the other girl was, pulling and pushing. I made it into a lov

Wilhelmina Frankfurt & David Richardson. Photo by Martha Swope, 1976. NYPL In 1976 at the Maurice Ravel Festival, Balanchine premiered the ballet, “Le Tombeau de Couperin.”  Anna Kisselgoff declared, this ballet was, “was the masterpiece of the [Ravel] Festival, a ballet that deserves to endure with the best of the Balanchine repertory and one whose creative and intellectual underpinnings are first-rate. “In ‘Le Tombeau de Couperin,’ Mr. Balanchine has used the 18th-century c

Suzanne Farrell in her autobiography Holding on to the Air: "Prodigal Son tells the story of the fall and redemption of the biblical character, and its recent revival had provided Edward Villella with one of the greatest roles of his career. I asked Mr. B if I might dance the Siren who lures the Prodigal Son into the depths of greedy sensuality, a part originally designed for my beloved teacher Mme. Doubrovska . I was curious to explore a darker, more earthy role. Because at

Photo by Martha Swope, 1975. NYPL Interview by Michael Kantor for PBS, 2003 Jerry Orbach: I played Billy Flynn, the lawyer, and I gave him a certain kind of world-weary insouciance. He was very, very tough, very cold, calculating, but could be very charming. Michael Kantor: How was Chicago untraditional, would you say? You know, you were in a bunch, you saw so many traditional musicals. Wasn't there a sort of almost cynical view that Fosse brought to it? Jerry Orbach: Chicag

Robert La Fosse, Magali Messac, Cynthia Gregory, Fernando Bujones, Martine van Hamel, and Clark Tippet. Photo by Martha Swope, 1983. "Twyla Tharp's Bach Partita is a pure-dance, plotless work. Focused on formal concerns that deal with structure in music and dance, it also explores a host of movement possibilities. [...] This is the conceptual Tharp at her most sophisticated and at her most elegant. Those who climbed aboard the Tharp bandwagon when she went into an overtly po

Merrill Ashley in Donizetti Variations. Photo by Martha Swope, 1979. Said one dancer of Donizetti Variations, ‘It’s like an endless...

Elisha C. Keeler Square dance calling was in Elisha’s blood. His father, Thaddeus Keeler, farmer, carpenter and sawyer, was a well known...

Nicholas Magallanes and Patricia Wilde. Photo by Martha Swope, 1957. "Last night at the City Center the New York City Ballet presented its first new work, and the hitherto sluggish young season came to life with a bang. The work in question was George Balanchine's "Square Dance" and it is a gem. "The set is just a bare hall such as usually houses square dancing, and on a dais sits a band of fiddlers in shirt-sleeves. Below them is caller (a famous one he is, named Elisha C. K

Violette Verdy and Conrad Ludlow. Photo by Martha Swope, 1960s. "Though the New York City Ballet's season at the City Center closes...

The Music and the Mirror: Five Cassies Celebrate Five Decades of A Chorus Line Donna McKechnie, Charlotte d’Amboise, Robyn Hurder,...

Stephanie Saland. Photo by Paul Kolnik “In 1977, at the age of ninety, Karinska gave a magnificent farewell performance with her...

Robert Lyon. Photo by Costas, Arlene Croce: "In his latest work for New York City Ballet, Jerome Robbins uses a Glass score; he even uses...

[43/50] Counting down 50 NYCB Nutcrackers this year with stories from NYCB dancers past and present! My Christmas gift to you all is a...

[13/52] Counting down 52 NYCB Nutcrackers this year with stories from NYCB dancers past and present! Today we hear from Viki Bromberg...

Today NYCB’s 2024-5 season opens and we are all glad to be back at the theater! Returning to the stage for opening night is Jerome...

This year Saratoga Performing Arts Center is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Balanchine’s “Coppélia,” which debuted here in Saratoga...

Back in August, I discovered several photos of a very young Suzy Pilarre in the corps of Serenade: Photos by Fred Fehl, 1964 Harry Ransom...

Below is the program note that accompanied Serenade at its second performance in December, 1934 performance in Hartford, CT: “Without an...

Suzanne Farrell wrote: “I was cast as one of four tall fairies in Titania's retinue; Diana Adams was Titania. One day while we were...

“It was in 1977, the City Ballet's first performance after a long orchestra strike. The audience booed the musicians as they took their...