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December 5th, 2008

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Wishing on a star

Aspiring young dancers audition for Suzanne Farrell in Prague

January 9th, 2008 issue

Photo by Paul Kolnik

Farrell travels the world imparting the kind of inspiration that ballet masters like George Balanchine once gave her. enlarge

COURTESY PHOTO

Czech students showed their form for Farrell in a studio at Anenský klášter.

By Lucie Rozmanková

Staff Writer

Dance students from Taneční konzervatoř hlavního města Prahy (The Ballet Academy of the City of Prague) and other ballet schools from around the country had the jitters and stars in their eyes in mid-December, when American ballet legend Suzanne Farrell came to Prague to audition young Czech dancers for an intensive three-week summer course she teaches at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

For the students, it was a unique opportunity to meet one of the seminal figures in 20th-century American dance. Farrell, a former prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet and Ballet du XXe siecle in Brussels, and a répétiteur of the George Balanchine Trust, was a great muse to some of the most important choreographers of her time: Balanchine, Maurice Béjart and Jerome Robbins. She is regarded as the most influential dancer in the life of Balanchine, who created the American style in ballet and is considered the father of the neoclassical abstract “ballet blanc.”

Farrell danced for Balanchine for many years, and he created ballets specifically for her. As a guardian of Balanchine’s legacy, she decided to pass her knowledge on to younger generations by establishing her own ballet troupe, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, which has become the resident ballet company at the Kennedy Center. Every summer, the center offers an exclusive program called “Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell” for 30 students between the ages of 14 and 18, carefully chosen from schools across the United States and abroad.

This year, for the first time, Farrell’s list of countries to visit for auditions included the Czech Republic. Here’s what she had to say in an exclusive interview with The Prague Post.

The Prague Post: What prompted you to create this program?

Suzanne Farrell: The former chairman of the Kennedy Center, James D. Wolfensohn, asked me if I would be interested in creating a ballet program. I love ballet and young people, so I immediately said yes, without thinking. The program started in a modest way on a local level in 1993. It immediately proved to be very successful, so it became national and, later on, international.

TPP: What is the attraction for the students?

SF: Young dancers gravitate to [being a] ballerina because she is somebody they can aspire to. Still, I am amazed that they want to study with me when I am retired, and their parents were just born when I was dancing.

TPP: What does the program consist of?

SF: We not only have [dance] classes, we take the students to different museums and I try to show them how to enhance their lives as dancers through other art forms. I try to open their eyes to see that there is more to dance than just learning the steps. Sometimes they have to use what they saw in the museum to create choreography. We also take them to the zoo, where they have the same project using animals instead of paintings.

Art helps you to see things differently. Many Balanchine ballets have poses taken from visual art. [Russian ballet impresario] Serghei Diaghilev took Balanchine to museums. Balanchine took me to museums.

TPP: Is the main aim of the program to share Balanchine’s legacy with young people?

SF: Balanchine was definitely the most influential person in my life; I was very fortunate that our orbits intersected. Naturally, I want to pass his legacy on to young people. But I also want to continue having it in my life, and teaching allows me to prolong that wonderful existence I had.

At the same time, while I am passing along Balanchine, it is also me. I remember when I once told him, “This is nice choreography.” He replied, “Oh yes, it is [French dancer and choreographer Marius] Petipa.” You naturally take from other great masters, but you leave part of yourself in it.

We are not trying to make everybody Balanchinian. We want to help [nurture] ballet in the places we go. I respect teachers who taught the dancers up to this point. In a way, the program is like a transfusion. That is why I hope there will be other programs where teachers are involved.

TPP: How do young ballet students respond to Balanchine? Do they know much about him?

SF: Oh yes, they very much know who he was. But I remember when I was a young girl and read ballet books; I was not interested in reading history. The [important] thing is that even though Mr. B is no longer on this earth, his ballets are alive.

TPP: Do you see differences between students from, for example, China and the Czech Republic?

SF: I think young people around the world are similar. The only difference is that, in America, we all speak the same language. But there is a common [global] language of dance and energy; the difference is in the training. There are different ways of moving and using your mind, different musical challenges, and not always a strict tempo. But when they understand and can do [what I teach them], it is such a sense of achievement!

Teaching is a very noble profession; it really is difficult. There are good and bad teachers all over the world. I feel a bit like Johnny Appleseed — I go and teach young people and they all grow.

TPP: How do you recall Balanchine as a teacher?

SF: Naturally, I pattern myself very much after his classes. He would tell something amusing, but not just a joke. There was always a dance reason to tell the story. Of course, he wanted to relax the atmosphere in the class, and there’s nothing wrong with having fun when you work. Most importantly, he gave me this fascination and desire to want to learn. We were not graded in his class; you did not have to be perfect. He just expected you to be better each day. He was a very kind and very patient teacher.

TPP: You wrote a great chapter in ballet history: You went to the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad in 1988 to teach the Scotch Symphony, a Balanchine ballet. It was the first time an American ballet was performed by a Soviet company. How did the audience respond to Balanchine in Russia? Did they understand abstract art, were they enthusiastic?

SF: Absolutely! I sat in the audience, and the reaction was very emotional. [The performance] was a very different way of moving, a different life, and it was palpable in the audience. It’s difficult to express, but you could feel it. I was very proud of the dancers. It was historical in that sense.

It was also very emotional for me, as St. Petersburg was Mr. B’s hometown. I was thinking, “You see, Mr. B, I am in your hometown.” But I believe he would not have become the genius he did had he not left Russia.

TPP: What do you hope that students will take from your course?

SF: My desire is to help them be the best dancers they can be. You cannot help somebody be like you — even I would not be me. You cannot be the same person you were a minute ago, and that is what makes performing exciting.

Lucie Rozmanková can be reached at lrozmankova@praguepost.com

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