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Cynthia Gregory


GeorgeB fan

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I just recently purchase American Ballet Theatre in San Francisco on DVD. I brought it for sole reason to finally have on tape Antony Tudor's classic Jardin aux Lilas! While the performance was marvelous and certainly worth having on tape, the real big surprise for me was watching Cynthia Gregory perform the Black Swan Pas de deux with Fernando Bujones! OH MY GOD!!! THIS WOMEN IS AMAZING!!! Not that I haven't seen her on tape before - I also have ABT at the Met with her dancing a fantastic Paquita - but not even that performance perpare me for her performance as Odile!

First from a purely technical view point she is unbelievable. What are her legs made of? Because it's not of flesh and bones, more like steel and iron! The calm control she has, the ease in which she uses her technique, the way she just suspend herself slowly on point was fabulous! She really does give you the illusion that what she is doing is effortless!!

Then there is her theatrical presence and how she uses her technique to add to the excitement at watching her on stage! Her Odile was pure evil seductress. She was haughty, cold, confidence in her power at seducing Siegfried - Bujones was wonderful, but boy did Gregory overpowered him - but was intelligent enough to add touches of Odette in her phrasing to make Siegfried believe he is dancing with his white swan.

I finally understand that quote I've read somewhere in where Rudolf Nureyev once called her America's Prima Ballerina Assoluta. Because that is exactly how she danced. She is very much the star, the diva, the queen bee!! She is very much in charge, grand and larger then life! Norma Desmond once said famously, "I am big, it's the pictures that gotten small!". While after watching Gregory it can be said that Cynthia Gregory was big it's the ballets that has gotten small!

So tell me people what was she like performing live? I need to hear stories!! This is the sad thing about coming to ballet so late; you miss so many great performances by great artists like Gregory. The only pleasure you get is seeing them on tape, but of course that pleasure is nothing compare to have been able to see them live!!! Give me your memories!! PLEASE :thumbsup::beg:

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I really do love to hear praises sung of Cynthia Gregory. I have always considered her to be one of the greatest American dancers to ever grace the stage. She is also a very sweet person. I met her when she came back and guested with SFB (this, after she had left the company for ABT). Lew Christensen saw her tremendous promise; she was a star at SFB at a very young age. I believe she performed her first Odette/Odile with ABT in her hometown of San Francisco. Someone told me (a reliable source) that he saw her sitting in the hallway backstage several hours before the performance looking at a comic book, like she didn't have a care in the world. I've always loved this story. I wasn't there, so I cannot say if it is a true story, but I really like to believe it is! :thumbsup:

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I echo George B Fan and hope posters will share their memories and thoughts.

Unfortunately I was not a big fan of ABT (the classics, anyway) in my youth, and I tended to see ABT performances only from seats that were FAR from the stage. So I don't always have detailed memories of what I saw. I seem to recall Gregory as being outstanding in Tudor and other non-classical roles and can't for the life of me remember Swan Lake or things like that.

Am I confusing things when I think of Lilac Garden, Fall River Legend, Moor's Pavane, and similar repertoire? There was indeed a time when Gregory was the most highly praised American ballerina. But --such is memory -- I need help in recalling exactly why.

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Ms. Gregory was one of the most natural dancers I have ever seen. By this, I mean that ballet technique just seemed like it came easier to her than to many. This, coupled with her dedication, made for an absolutely great dancer with amazing technical finesse. She had a phenominal sense of balance and turning ability; gorgeous port de bras (arm movements); divine musicality and phrasing of movement; impeccable line; a beautiful physique and statuesque bearing. I saw her dance MOSTLY the classics: Odette/Odile, Swanhilda, Giselle...Paquita, Sylvia pas de deux...She danced first movement principal Symphony in C with SFB when she came back to guest (I was 4th Movement principal). She was wonderful in first movement. As you can see, I was and am a huge fan of hers :( , and I was so thrilled to be on the same stage with her in our hometown of San Francisco. Sometimes I have read that people found her style a bit cold and aloof, but I just didn't see her that way. Everyone has their own, valid opinions, likes, and dislikes. I know this forum is more focused on ballet lovers and patrons who support the art on the other side of the footlights; I participated during much of my life on the stage side. But I also attended many performances of touring companies, too. I learn a lot reading this forum. Thanks, all... :)

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Am I confusing things when I think of Lilac Garden, Fall River Legend, Moor's Pavane, and similar repertoire?  There was indeed a time when Gregory was the most highly praised American ballerina.  But --such is memory -- I need help in recalling exactly why.

I'm not sure about these ballets, but she was lauded in the role of Hagar in Pillar of Fire, and her performance in it was televised.

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Everyone has their own perspective. I too enjoyed Gregory--but in my memory, her reputation was very much as a ballerina with a steely technique. She always got raves for the quality of her bravura dancing--though a cigarette smoking "grand pas classique" (literally: she had a cigarette in her mouth for the performance) was criticized as over the top. I didn't see that, but definitely remember her as an extremely accomplished ballerina who was always impressive in these types of roles.

So, as I recall, she was never known as a dance actress--not to say she couldn't be a dance actress but that was not the basis for her reputation. Later in her career she did take on some famous dramatic roles including Lizzie Borden in De Mille's Fall River Legend. I saw the latter in Chicago and found it an impressive performance, but I was, in fact, somewhat surprised at the time, as I wouldn't have expected her to be effective in a role like that. She was tallish for a ballerina--and a real physical presence--and she made those qualities part of who Lizzie was.

I mention that she was tallish, actually taller than many of the leading ballerinas of her day, and she seemed to have trouble finding the right partner. She discussed this often in interviews, and ABT brought in a number of tall and impressive men to dance with her, including Michel Denard of the Paris Opera for a brief guest stint and for a longer term stay John Meehan. They also paired her with Godunov after his defection. In interviews Gregory expressed great excitement about the latter -- and, in my opinion, the interview was informed by the assumption that just as the Baryshnikov partnership had (seemingly) brought Gelsey Kirkland to the super-stardom and acclaim rarely accorded home grown Americans (like Gregory) so this would do the same for her...However that may have been the journalist's way of shaping the interview.

In any case, the irony is that neither Meehan nor Godunov really worked all that well with Gregory as a pairing. I saw her twice with Godunov and they didn't mesh stylistically or temperamentally. Others may have liked them better together than I did, but they did not end up dancing together all that often. (I never saw her with Meehan, but they did not pursue a partnership, so I am assuming it didn't work as well as had been hoped. Ironically I did see Meehan partner Kirkland in a ravishing account of Three Preludes which is a purely lyrical showpiece with a lot of tricky partnering.)

Actually, Gregory often ended up dancing with Bujones, though they never quite achieved the "partnership" status accorded to pairings like Sibley/Dowell or, for that matter, Kirkland/Baryshnikov. (I never saw them together, but reviews gave the impression that they were outdoing each in other razzle dazzle in ways that were quite entertaining if not always to the reviewer's taste.)

I saw her dance the classics, but don't have too many vivid memories. I do recall that I found her much more impressive in Swan Lake which I saw her do early-ish in her career--when she still had "the wittiest nose in ballet since Tanaquil Leclerq's" (that's Arlene Croce) than in Giselle, which I saw her dance years later and which she danced in a very waif-like manner. Since she was not remotely waif-like, this was not, in my opinion, a good choice for her, although she was skillful enough to make Act I "work"--In the performance I saw, Act II fell decidedly flat, as if the romantic style were entirely foreign to her. The Swan Lake, on the other hand, seemed to really fill the stage--it was one of my first full-length Swan Lakes (and may have been one of Gregory's), but I don't think I'm wrong that she was a better Odette/Odile than Giselle. I think the role suited her innately more "grand" presence better than Giselle.

I also saw her in contemporary ballets in which I remember her as alway extremely impressive--sleek and strong. The pas de deux she danced with Denard--Unfinished Symphony--I very vaguely remembering as also having a lyrical/sensual quality, and I also thought that was one pairing that really worked. Unfortunately, he never became a regular at ABT--I don't know that they ever danced together again. Also, these were judgments formed when I was very young...I sort of trust myself but not 100%. I remember that "Unfinished Symphony" more vividly that some other Gregory "showpiece" performances I saw, and I like to believe there is reason for that other than youthful impressionability.

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She danced Firebird with Meehan (it's on tape somewhere) and I thought she had stunning timing -- the sequence after the Prince catches the Firebird and she's trying to escape, where everything is distilled into her wrists and hands (before the music swells and they start the adagio) was just right.

I wound up seeing her final performance with ABT accidentally (we'd booked tickets to see a Tharp piece, before the company announced that Gregory would be retiring with Swan Lake act II) and she was wonderful. Oddly enough, it was her arms again that left the biggest impression -- as she bourees off-stage left her arms transform from woman to swan -- a calculated theatrical effect but a very powerful one.

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Everyone has their own perspective. I too enjoyed Gregory--but in my memory, her reputation was very much as a ballerina with a steely technique.

I also saw her in contemporary ballets in which I remember her as alway extremely impressive--sleek and strong.  The pas de deux she danced with Denard--Unfinished Symphony--

I saw Gregory mostly early-ish. I think she also did Grand Pas Classique with Denard, but that's from memory so I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

I've said this before, I never liked more her , only less, the more I saw her. But again, that's opinion

But I have to agree with some of Gina's comments. She had a very striking sense of bearing, and a very pure sense of line. I sort of think of this as the look of "western" ballerinas before we saw a lot of Russian ballerinas on a regular basis and the whole alignment seemed to altered.

And no question, she had an amazing virtuoso technique. Yikes, those turns and balances.

Richard

Edited by richard53dog
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I saw Gregory mostly early-ish. I think she also did Grand Pas Classique with Denard, but that's from memory so I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

Here are Denard's roles at ABT as listed in his biography by Sylvia Chaban (I don't know which ones were danced with Cynthia Gregory): Paquita, The River, Gaieté Parisienne, Etudes in 1971, La Symphonie inachevée, Helen of Troy, Giselle in 1972, Coppelia, Variations for four, Swan Lake in 1973, Apollo, Lilac Garden, Napoli, Les Sylphides in 1974, La Sylphide, La Symphonie inachevée, Flower festival in Genzano in 1975.

"Grand pas classique" is not listed (but Chaban's list might be not complete). The ABT web site says the company premiere of Grand pas classique was performed in November 1972 by Cynthia Gregory and Ted Kivitt.

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Richard, I'm with you. I never liked the quality of her movement -- she lacked lyricism. I can't quite describe it -- clunky is way too strong, but it was not quite the smooth, organic quality I see in the dancers I like best. It bothered me most in the classics. I didn't mind her so much in pieces where she wore something besides the classical or romantic tutu. DeMille, Tudor, Tetley, -- in those, she was fine.

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I never liked the quality of her movement -- she lacked lyricism. 

When I was a "beginner", in the early 70s, Cynthia was The Star at ABT. Her Swan Lake was on a grander scale, with a very dramatic, glamorous, erotic Odile. And she did the 32's (not at all exceptional by today's standards, but special then, when many ballerinas stopped at 16 or 24...or none). She loved to show off her long balances (not always steady, but long and cheers-inducing). Of course, along came lyrical Natasha Makarova, with her "double-jointed" body and wings--wings that were real, and extended from the middle of her back to beyond her fingertips. And from then on Odette-with-a-Russian-Soul defined Swan Lake.

Still, the Gregory/Kivitt partnership had a long and popular run. Nureyev admired her, and the Bolshoi, it was said, offered her a contract, but she chose to take a year off to be a housewife in California instead (more details may be found in Gelsey Kirkland's autobiography). Lucia Chase often programmed Grand Pas Classique for her--it was a sure-fire ticket seller--and I saw the performance with the cigarette. Her recent GPC's had become more-and-more flippant, and I gather that this was her chosen way out of the role. In fact, Lucia never "let" her perform it again. An authentic big star, but greatest American ballerina? There was Suzanne Farrell across the court at Lincoln Center....

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I loved Makarova as Odette/Odile. But I have to say, her 32 fouettes were the worst fouettes of any ballerina I've seen in the role. She had a hard time turning on her own...But, she was so beautiful in every other aspect in this role, I didn't care! And, yes, there have been many great American ballerinas, of which Ms. Gregory is just one...P. S. And, back in the ancient times :excl: every ballerina I saw perform the role executed the required 32 fouettes, gee, sometimes even finishing with a triple...

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Here is an appreciation of Ms. Gregory from Dick Andros, a NYC ballet teacher from whom she took class:

"Can you imagine how nervous I was when she took my class the first time? What saved me was the thought I could only be me and if she didn't like it she could leave. I had to wait to see if she would return. Cynthia has taken my class many times since, and I am always in awe of her. She never changes the combination that is given, nor does she ever look down her nose at what is given or said. In my dictionary, Cynthia would be the definition of ballerina."

The full article:

http://michaelminn.net/andros/biographies/...ory_cynthia.htm

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I've seen Gregory on a few things on tape. I think she (like a lot of American ballerinas) have a strong vertical alignment. Russian-trained ballerinas seem to have a much more horizontal alignment. This makes them look very elevated in roles like Odette/Odile or Giselle. The issue today is that I think many American-trained ballerinas still have a very vertical alignment, but they're expected to be all arched back and curved arms and bent elevated legs. Exhibit A I think would be Gillian Murphy's recently televised Odette/Odile. She seems so naturally earth-bound (in a good way) but seemed to be reaching for the Russian look, with mixed results, I must say.

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I saw a lot of Cynthia Gregory with ABT circa 1968 -76, and I have always been a great admirer of hers. Her tenure overlapped with a few other formidable ballerinas, notably Fracci, van Hamel,Makarova & Kirkland. Gregory was a much more “in control” dancer than Makarova & Kirkland, who were my favorites. She was different, distinctly American (I know that Kirkland is also American but Gregory had a very “open” American quality, very straightforward technical strength plus that vertical alignment that canbelto mentioned). She was a tall, strong ballerina with wonderful timing, a beautiful, clean line and absolutely phenomenal balances.

I saw her in most of her roles at least once, and loved her Swan Lake. She was not a vulnerable Odette, but she was very dramatic & heartbreaking, and her Odile was stunning time after time. I don’t think she fared as well in Giselle or La Sylphide, she was too tall & too sturdy to be convincing in either of those roles. In the classical repertoire I also saw her in ABT’s Sleeping Beauty (act 3), Bayadere (Shades),Tales of Hoffman, Raymonda, and of course, Grand Pas Classique (but never with the cigarette). Of the classical & romantic roles, Swan Lake is the one that stands out in my memory. Her performance was almost the opposite of Makarova’s, but it was equally captivating.

After Swan Lake, I remember her best in modern & dramatic roles. Often I don’t remember a lot of details, just little snippets & impressions. I remember her smoldering with Bruhn in Miss Julie, I remember her Desdemona in the Moor’s Pavane. I saw her & Denard in Unfinished Symphony many times ( I loved her in this, and adored Denard), I remember her strength & sensuousness in the River, and how glorious she & van Hamel were in Tetley's Gemini (ok, I don’t remember the choreography but I remember the unitards).

There is a wonderful, out of print video from 1973 called ABT - A Close-Up in Time. It has some great footage of Gregory. First she does a pas de deux from Swan Lake (Black Swan, I think) then she does the Lake movement from the River. This film also features Christine Sarry, Terry Orr & Marcos Parades in Rodeo, Sallie Wilson in Pillar and Eleanor D’Antuono & Ivan Nagy in Etudes (you can rent it from the Lincoln Center branch of the NYPL).

A year or 2 ago the gallery at Lincoln Center had a show of her ballet drawings that coincided with ABT’s Met season. I kept going back to look at one of her Swan Lake drawings(Odette with Swirls) but couldn’t quite decide whether or not to buy it. After a week or two it was gone and I figured that I had missed my chance. Turns out that my husband bought it for me as an anniversary gift!

GeorgeB fan, thanks for starting this thread & bringing back all those wonderful memories for me!

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I had the privilege of seeing Gregory in Swan Lake and she was amazing, one of those performances during which you can't believe what you're seeing. She appeared in Sleeping Beauty on TV eons ago and again, she was wonderful and it's my favorite Beauty. She and Bujones had a great partnership; not only were they attuned to each other but they spurred each other on in a "contest" mode: "anything you can do I can do better". Great fun to watch. I read (or heard her say) that American ballerinas (Gregory) were overlooked during Makarova's tenure; I think she had a point.

Giannina

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After Swan Lake, I remember her best in modern & dramatic roles. Often I don’t remember  a lot of details, just little snippets & impressions. I remember her smoldering with Bruhn in Miss Julie, I remember her Desdemona in the Moor’s Pavane. I saw her & Denard in Unfinished Symphony many times ( I loved her in this, and adored Denard), I remember her strength & sensuousness in the River, and how glorious she & van Hamel were in Tetley's Gemini (ok, I don’t remember the choreography  but I remember the unitards). 

Thanks, nysusan. Your memories are a great resource. I definitely remember the Desdemona -- and thinking her's was a stronger and more passionate characterization (a victim whose fate was made worse by the fact that she was not one of nature's victims) than you tend to see in the play. I remember Bruhn in Miss Julie, so maybe I saw Gregory, too. It's good to know that ABT dancers excelled in both classical and contemporary work then, as they do now.

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...A year or 2 ago the gallery at Lincoln Center had a show of her ballet drawings that coincided with ABT’s Met season. I kept going back to look at one of her Swan Lake drawings(Odette with Swirls) but couldn’t quite decide whether or not to buy it. After a week or two it was gone and I figured that I had missed my chance. Turns out that my husband bought it for me as an anniversary gift!... 

Thank YOU, NYSusan, for the memories! Regarding Ms. Gregory's show, I made the same mistake as you, but without the happy spousal denouement!

"Big Cyn" was my first American favourite, as my conversion from the Grateful Dead et al to ballet was beginning! Then I discovered vulnerablity, Natasha, Gelsey.... But there is something to say for the Larger-Than-Life stars like Gregory and Nureyev. By the way, I recall when sitting next to her at a performance at the Met, that she was (compared to "normals") a wisp of a woman, I doubt she was as large as, say, Michele W or Maria K. Rudy was pretty small too, surely many of ABT's current men are taller. But they both filled the Met's stage, making it seem as humanly hospitable as City Center's was for most other dancers. Who are today's Larger-Than-Lifers? Probably Sylvie Guillem, perhaps Carlos Acosta? La Sylve also seems to have some of this quality.

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Sadly, Google isn't much help in determining a current location or affiliation. However, over the past couple of years:

There's also a note on the University of Texas website, where ABT has held a summer intensive, that former ABT dancer Jolinda Menendez "is currently producing an art documentary series called 'A Perfect Balance' for PBS that will commence with a biography on ABT luminary Cynthia Gregory." A search for more info about the documentary is coming up blank, and I can't find anything on the PBS website about it.

http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/theatre/abt.html

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