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cwb

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    student in philadelphia 1953?-1960
  • City**
    philadelphia
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    pa
  1. I was a young teenager growing up in Philadelphia. The mother of one of my best friends arranged for Madame to come into Philadelphia every saturday to teach us ballet. I think from possibly as early as 1953 through 1960, I loved it. I had studied with other teachers but none like Madame. I still remember the black dress and babushka she wore. She never got my name Cynthia or Cindy right and either called me Cynthie or Cindya. One thing I liked about our classes was that we never had recitals just pure ballet with a pianist. But in 1959 (I think) The Philadelphia Orchestra asked us to perform with them for one of their children's concerts. And we also performed on the local PBS station. That meant trips to NYC for fittings and rehearsals. There were several of us in the advanced class who were all close to the same size and we were joined by one of the adult ballerinas from NYC. Since my mother didn't drive and was habitually late, I was late for one of the rehearsals at the Academy of Music with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Madame yelled at me and I started to cry. This very kind gentleman came over and started telling me jokes to make me smile again. My mother explained later that man was Victor Borge who I adored from that moment on. That was my last year of ballet since I was 15 and terribly embarrassed when my 9th grade class all watched me on TV. There was a great deal of pressure on my mom and subsequently on me to continue since I was breaking up the group, but I refused so I look back now with regret. I still have my ballet dress that I wore for our performances. And my dad filmed the performance on TV which I might still have someplace. I will try to find it if anyone was in that group and would like to see it.
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