28 replies to this topic

[Alina]

If my memory serves me correctly there was a project at the Dance Notation Bureau to record all of the Tudor repertory in Labanotation. I believe Ms. Hynninen was the notator for a good portion of that repertory.

[chiapuris]

The ballet community has lost a unique artist.
I last saw her, some years ago, teaching a class at New York Theatre Ballet school,
when my daughter was in the company.

[bingham]

Very sad news indeed.I wonder what will happen to planned revival of Judgement of Paris for ABT? She was going to stage the revival for the ABT openning night gala.

[bart]

From Anderson's obituary:

Quote

Ms. Wilson’s strong stage presence made her every role vivid, whether in classics or in modern ballets by Antony Tudor, George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins or Alvin Ailey. In 1979, Jennifer Dunning, writing in The New York Times, said that Ms. Wilson had “etched herself indelibly on the consciousness of the New York balletgoing public.â€�

Absolutely!  It's good that she lived to see (and participate in) a significant revival of interest in Tudor's works.

The interesting, rather strange relationship between Wilson and the choreographer is discussed in Donna Perlmutter's Shadowplay:  The Life of Antony Tudor.   I love Wilson's account of her debut in Pillar of Fire, as recounted to Perlmutter in an interview:

Quote

"Then came the performance, my debut, the revival of Pillar after a five-year absence.  Nora [Kaye] was out front.  Everybody had come.  I went through it without remembering a thing.  But suddenly it was over and I went walking in the basement.  At least for a half hour.  When I got to my dressing room there was Tudor -- and Hugh [Laing] -- waiting.  The door had been locked and I opened it, we all went in.  No one said a thing.  They both sat down and Tudor picked up a newspaper, which he started to read.  I was flustered and didn't want to ask him what he thought.  So I tried a silly question.  "Was my braid the right color?"  "I have no complaints," he answered.  "It was two years and many Pillars later that he came running backstage after a performance and kissed me.  "'That was your first Pillar,' he said.  "How strange he should pick this one," I thought  I had been very distracted throughout.  But that didn't stop me from spending the next twenty years trying to figure out what he saw."

[glebb]

I was 12 in 1970 and my mother flew with me to NYC to deliver me to Madame Guillerm's.  I was to attend the SAB summer program.
ABT had a summer season at NYST and my mother took me to the ballet each night that first week before she returned home to FL.
There was a Tudor evening in which Sallie Wilson danced Hagar.
Though I remember Ms. Wilson in "Pillar of Fire", my stronger memories are of her as a Flapper in a Ballet by Keith Lee.
I consider myself lucky to have seen her perform.

[rg]

fyi:

Times past : Chor: Keith Lee; mus: Cole Porter, orchestrated by William Bolcom (music originally written in 1923 for Jean Börlin's Within the quota); scen: after Gerald Murphy's original 1923 designs. First perf: New York, New York State Theater, July 1, 1970, American Ballet Theatre. //Revived: New York, YMHA, Nov 29, 1973; Keith Lee's Ballet of Contemporary Art; with additional music by Scott Joplin.

[vipa]

From the NY Times

"Although usually quiet in manner offstage, Ms. Wilson made news in 1976 with a public display of anger directed at Clive Barnes, then the chief dance critic at The Times. He had written about Ballet Theater’s “Fall River Legend,” in which Marcia Haydée of the Stuttgart Ballet appeared as a guest artist. Ms. Wilson thought that Mr. Barnes had insufficiently recognized her own interpretative achievements in the work. Several newspaper at the time reported that Ms. Wilson threw a glass of Scotch at him."

I thought it was Makarova not Marcia Haydee!  Have I been misremembering all of these years?

[Helene]

New York Theatre Ballet sent out a message to its email list with a great picture of Wilson coaching from 2007 ("Photo of Sallie Wilson and Elena Zahlmann rehearsing Antony Tudor's Jardin aux Lilas in November 2007") and the following:

"New York Theatre Ballet mourns with a heavy heart the loss of Sallie Wilson. We will keep you informed of our future efforts as we pay tribute to our mentor, colleague, collaborator, and friend."

[Mme. Hermine]

i saw her dance in les sylphides once and she gave of course a very powerful performance as lizzie borden. what an awful loss. RIP.

[zerbinetta]

vipa, on Apr 29 2008, 10:16 PM, said:

From the NY Times

"Although usually quiet in manner offstage, Ms. Wilson made news in 1976 with a public display of anger directed at Clive Barnes, then the chief dance critic at The Times. He had written about Ballet Theater’s “Fall River Legend,” in which Marcia Haydée of the Stuttgart Ballet appeared as a guest artist. Ms. Wilson thought that Mr. Barnes had insufficiently recognized her own interpretative achievements in the work. Several newspaper at the time reported that Ms. Wilson threw a glass of Scotch at him."

I thought it was Makarova not Marcia Haydee!  Have I been misremembering all of these years?

I remember it as Makarova also. Haydee's interpretation was very like Wilson's. Makarova's was not, but interesting nonetheless.

I also thought it was a glass of wine because I remember asking "white or red?"

[Mel Johnson]

Barnes doesn't like "Fall River Legend".  He wrote, "It's a great vehicle, but so is a subway car!"

[leonid]

pmeja, on May 1 2008, 05:01 AM, said:

i saw her dance in les sylphides once and she gave of course a very powerful performance as lizzie borden. what an awful loss. RIP.

I remember her Lizzie Borden and other roles and I will never forget them. An extraordinary dance actress and one of a very few in a classical ballet company that I would categorise as such. I treasure my memories of Sallie Wilson who I can still see in my mind's eye.

[rg]

just came across this undate, uncredited photo of Wilson as "Elizabeth, Queen of England," probably taken on the occasion of the premiere of the Balanchine/Graham EPISODES in 1959, costume by Karinska.

Attached Files

•  _1SWilsonMG.jpg   160.43K   26 downloads

[carbro]

New York Theatre Ballet sent me this notice:

New York Theatre Ballet and American Ballet Theatre to co-host
Memorial Tribute to Sallie Wilson at ABT Nov 6 @ 6 pm

New York, NY--  New York Theatre Ballet and American Ballet Theatre will co-host a  special memorial tribute for Sallie Wilson, NYTB's long-time ballet mistress and former ballerina for ABT, Thursday, November 6 from 6:00  to 8:00 pm  @ ABT, 890 Broadway (at 19th Street), New York City.
                                                                      
Miss Wilson, who died in April, enjoyed a performing career that spanned 31 years and five continents.  With American Ballet Theatre she was known as the foremost exponent of the ballets of Antony Tudor and Agnes de Mille, and she also danced the works of Fokine, Robbins, Balanchine, Tetley, Ross, Limon and Ailey, along with the Petipa classics in that repertoire.  She spent two seasons with New York City Ballet performing in the ballets of Balanchine and Robbins; and she danced the role of Queen Elizabeth in the historic “Episodes,” choreographed by Martha Graham.

Following her retirement from the stage, Miss Wilson taught ballet at NYTB’s training school, Ballet School NY. Earlier this year she staged widely-praised revivals of Tudor’s “Jardin aux Lilas,” “Little Improvisations” and “Judgment of Paris” for New York Theatre Ballet’s Signature 08 programs.

Please RSVP to Roseanne Forni (212) 477-3030 or go to memorial@abt.org

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