58 replies to this topic

[fandeballet]

This may be a repeat of another similar topic, if so please close!

Anyway.....I think that partnerships like Ferri & Bocca and even Jaffe & Carreno creates excitement and even spurs the box office!
                 Veronica Part and Hallberg is a distinct possibility!   
                  How about Reyes and H. Cornejo?! Herrera and Gomes?!

What I am getting at is this: more consistent pairings lead to more consistent artistic growth and fireworks!! Also the box office will more than likely have better ticket sales.
                 Do other ballet companies have more established partnerships?  Or is it now the industry standard to have a mix of partnerships with interchangeable parts??????????

[DefJef]

What about romance both on and off stage.  Is this permitted .. or are dancers who couple up off stage asked to leave...  It would seem kind of weird, but it may be policy... Any stories?

[carbro]

I have never heard of an instance where pairing up offstage precipitated dismissal from a company -- except, of course, in the case of Paul Mejia, after he wed Suzanne Farrell.

Perhaps because  of the unusual demands of their career, and the odd hours they work (when others are out socializing), dancers often pair off together.  At any given time, it can be assumed, most companies of a certain size have in their midst an established couple or two.  Or more.

Off-stage couples sometimes bring something extra to their performances together, but just as often, they "shy up" -- perhaps not wanting to share their private feelings with the world -- and are not the best ballet partners for each other.

[Marga]

Just a few examples:

Mr. and Mrs. as well as ballet partners:

Maxim Beloserkovsky and Irina Dvorovenko (ABT)
Cyril Pierre and Lucia Lacarra (Munich Ballet)
Thomas Edur and Agnes Oaks (English National Ballet)
Tiit Helimets and Molly Smolen (Birmingham Royal Ballet for years; Helimets has been with San Francisco Ballet since last year and Smolen is freelancing)
Israel Rodriguez and Katia Garza (Orlando Ballet)
Andres Estevez and Zoica Tovar (Orlando Ballet)
Luis Serrano and Katia Garranza (Miami City Ballet)
José Martinez and Agnès Letestu (POB)
Johan Persson and Jaime Tapper (NBoC and Royal Ballet; Persson changed careers to photography, Tapper still dancing)

recently (in the last year or within the last decade) retired from the stage, but teaching and/or directing:
Viesturs Jansons and Kaie Körb (Estonian National Ballet)
John Gardner and Amanda McKerrow (ABT)
Konstantin Zaklinsky and Altynai Asylmuratova (Maryinsky Ballet)

and from a little longer ago:
Salvatore Aiello and Marina Eglevsky (Hamburg Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet; Aiello deceased, Eglevsky teaching)
Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride (NYCB; AD and AAD of Chautauqua Institute and North Carolina Dance Theater)
Bruce Marks and Toni Lander (ABT, Royal Danish Ballet, Ballet West; Lander deceased, Marks AD Orlando Ballet)
George Skibine and Marjorie Tallchief (Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas, POB; Skibine deceased)
Vladimir Vasiliev and Ekaterina Maximova (Bolshoi; Vasiliev was AD of Bolshoi, Maximova teaching/coaching)
Konstantin Sergeev and Natalia Dudinskaya (Maryinsky, both deceased)
Alexander Lapauri and Raisa Struchkova (Bolshoi, both deceased)

In what I've seen, I find that the offstage pairing enhances the onstage partnership quite a lot.

[drb]

Also ABT's Julie Kent and Victor Barbee (they have a two-year old son; he's now listed as Associate AD, but still dances--tonight played G. M in Manon).
Also, there are some very openly acknowledged partner-partnerships, such as Cojocaru/Kobborg (Royal) and Murphy/Stiefel (ABT).

[Amy'sMom]

Stella Abrerra and Sascha Radetsky....not married, but they have been a couple for several years now.

[Helene]

As long as the "openly acknowledged" couples have been identified as such in print...

As Cojocaru/Kobborg, Abrerra/Radetsky, and Murphy/Stiefel have been.

[fandeballet]

I also saw a video that J.M. Carreno danced with his wife, Lourdes, when they danced with the Ballet Nacional De Cuba.  Before and after thay were married, I believe.

[Estelle]

As far as I know, José Martinez and Agnès Letestu aren't a couple any longer (and they weren't married).

The list of POB couples include, as far as I know:
-Nicolas Le Riche and Clairemarie Osta (both étoiles),
-Lionel Delanoë (assistant ballet master, former premier danseur) and Delphine Moussin (étoile)
-Kader Belarbi (étoile) and Laure Muret (sujet), his first wife was Christa Charmolu (retired sujet)
-Gil Isoard and Miteki Kudo (both sujets)
-Richard Wilk and Fanny Fiat (both sujets)

and among former dancers:
-Jean Guizerix and Wilfride Piollet (étoiles)
-Charles Jude and Florence Clerc (étoiles, now divorced as far as I know)
-Hervé Dirmann (sujet) and Monique Loudières (étoile)
-Fabrice Bourgeois (sujet, then assistant ballet master) and Fanny Gaïda (étoile)
-Attilio Labis and Christiane Vlassi (both étoiles)
-Arnaud Dreyfus (quadrille or coryphée) and Françoise Legrée (étoile)
-Fabien Roques (sujet) and Amélie Lamoureux (coryphée, I think)

As far as I know, all of them have children.

[bart]

In print:  Ballet Florida's Lorena Jimenez and Tracy Mozingo were married in Madrid early this June.

Not in print as far as I know, so I won't mention names:  there are at least two other couples within the Miami City Ballet group of principals, in addition to the Carranza/Serrano marriage mentioned by Marga.

[Helene]

PNB married couples are Kaori Nakamura/Olivier Wevers, and Jodie Thomas/Casey Herd.  Ariana Lallone is married to Ballet Master and former NYCB dancer Otto Neubert.  Patricia Barker is married to former PNB Principal Dancer Michael Auer.  Former dancers and current faculty Alexandra Dickson and Timothy Lynch are married and have at least one child, and newly retired dancer and new Principal of the Eastside school Nicholas Ade and former dancer Paige Parks are married and just had their first child, a daughter, at the end of May.    And of course Peter Boal is married to former NYCB dancer Kelly Cass, and they have three children, including a young son who was in the School Performance last Saturday.

At OBT, Kester Cotton and Kathi Martuza are married.

[sparklesocks]

Very fun to read - I have nothing to add, so someone else, please feel free.

[canbelto]

There's also Darci Kistler and Peter Martins. And now, Darci Kistler dancing with her stepson, Nilas Martins.

[papeetepatrick]

canbelto, on Jun 21 2006, 12:36 PM, said:

There's also Darci Kistler and Peter Martins. And now, Darci Kistler dancing with her stepson, Nilas Martins.

Yes!  So Peter should be able to do a fabulous 'Phedre'--could be really full of tension with Darci and Nilas as his wife and son.  And he could dance Theseus himself.  Really, this could be much better than merely gossippy things, such as those loosely based on Balanchine and Farrell.  Because these are the real people, but they would all be only shadow figures of the hyperreal people:  they'd become Phedre, Hippolyte and Theseus onstage and although people might imagine something for offstage, just imagining them at work, in class ought to be exotic enough (since that's what they mostly do anyway and it's interesting).  Could be good with Boulez's 'Repons' instead of period music, except that you'd have to refit the whole auditorium, as was done in Carnegie Hall, and set up the computers to respond to the orchestra in the boxes, and anyway, the music is too complicated and the orchestra would have no time to do it.  There is probably some other Boulez or Xennakis that might work.

However, this kind of intense claustrophobic closeness is very Racinian.  It would be great and there's little time left!   This could be Peter Martins's greatest opportunity to really produce something unique!

[carbro]

Really unique!

I'd go.  Once.