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Diana Adams


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the scanned photo attached here shows Adams as the Sugar Plum Fairy in Balanchine's/NYCB/THE NUTCRACKER.

the date on the back indicates it was intended to run in a newspaper during August, 1955.

the retouching and use of opaque paint to silhouette and highlight the photo indicate the 'design' addition of what would seem to be the arm of a male dancer, possibly Sugar Plum's cavalier.

this documents an era when the stage designs were those of Horace Armistead, which are unknown to me, first hand, and when the pas de deux was not yet rearranged to have the ballerina's 'celesta solo' occur earlier in the act and apart from the pas de deux.

the headpiece looks esp. pretty and seemingly different from the one worn by LeClercq when she danced Sugar Plum around this time, in this same tutu.

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Thanks for the fascinating photo, rg.

I was wondering: am I alone in thinking that Diana Adams was a dancer who is not treated well by the camera? I see so few really "living" photographs of her. In this, she's like Marie-Jeanne. The effect tends all too often to be stiff and heavy.

I never saw Marie-Jeanne dance, but I did see Adams -- remembering her first performances of Agon and her Swan Lake Act II surprisingly well. She was quite vivid and alive on stage. Only a few of her photos -- always action photos, not posed -- come even close to suggesting what she was like.

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Thank you for the photo, rg.

I was wondering: am I alone in thinking that Diana Adams was a dancer who is not treated well by the camera? I see so few really "living" photographs of her. In this, she's like Marie-Jeanne. The effect tends all too often to be stiff and heavy.

The posed photos of Adams I've seen are much better than this one as a rule, but it's possible maybe she didn't like posing that much. She seems to have been a shy person in many ways and not everyone is good at this sort of thing. In Balanchine's Ballerinas she's the only one who doesn't have a fancy 'glamour' shot.

There is a ravishing Lynes photograph of Adams standing in profile, with one long lovely leg exposed in front. She had a gorgeous figure.

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the difference and/or distance between photogenic and stage-genic often bears noting.

pavlova for ex. was uncanny w/ her instincts for the camera.

not all dancers are.

posing, as noted above, and performing are two different activities.

some are good at one, over the other; some, at both; and o'course, some, at neither.

in this photo's case, the eagerness of newspaper's hands for layout/design/retouching have further muddied the waters of the moment meant to be caught in this photo.

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I checked a few books and found that Robert Garis describes her as having a "lovely, natural style." He ranks her just below Tallchief and Le Clercq in his personal pantheon of the 1950s. She certainly seems lighter in body and spirit in, for instance, the Swope rehearsal photos for Agon. Perhaps it's the quality of "movement" -- rather than stand-still pose -- which Swope's camera captured.

The Farrell comparison is a small but recurring theme in Garis's book. I was surprised to be reminded that Adams originally danced the Farrell role in Liesbeslieder Walzer:

he too was the most exuberant, joyous, young and free of the four women ... And Adams was as lovely, and danced as beautifully as one could ever want.
This lightness of movement -- in the sense of legerete, not lack of weight or impact -- was also evident in very different kind of role, Odette. She was stunning in that in the late 50s, when I first saw her. It's interesting that Adams was one of Hayden's replacements as Titania, as was Farrell.
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the retouching and use of opaque paint to silhouette and highlight the photo indicate the 'design' addition of what would seem to be the arm of a male dancer, possibly Sugar Plum's cavalier.

Yes, that's the "ribbon-candy" tutu from the first production. But if that's a partner's arm, then that's one TALL partner!

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Bart, Hayden actually replaced Adams in Midsummer, before the premiere, not the other way around.
Oops! Thanks, Dale, for reminding us of that.

Now THERE's a lesson in not believing everything you read. Garis clearly writes (Following Balanchine, p. 140):

"Hayden was soon replaced by Adams and Farrell ...
It's true that Garis considered Villella and his Supreme Goddess Verdy (in the Act III divertissement) to be the true stars of this ballet, so I guess his mind wandered when he wrote this.

It's interesting, in the light of rg's statuesque photograph, the way that Adams and Farrell are associated as to the impression they made and in the roles in which they excelled. Arthur Mitchell referred to her as having a "nervous" quality in her movement. Others mention her risk-taking. These qualities were so clear in Agon pdd, which happens also also to be the one early role of Farrell that I remember best.

Sadly, many younger ballet lovers probably "see" Adams -- if they see her at all -- lying on her sofa teaching Suzanne Farrell her role in Movements for Piano and Orchestra.

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During one of the big photo displays shown at New York State Theater (yup, stlll NYST to me) is one of Adams and Nora Kaye in, if I remember correctly, La Gloire. Kaye is in slippers and a sort of Robin Hood getup, whereas Adams is in a soft short tutu or dress and on pointe. Both are in arabesque. Kaye's is textbook 90 degrees and there's a very electric intensity to it. Her head is very rigid and dramatic. Adams' arabesque is so big and generous and full. Her head is thrown back slightly. Both arabesques, like the women performing them, are glorious in their own way. And so fitting to their dancers' styles.

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the originators of Balanchine's second act Midsummer Night's Dream "divertissement" pas de deux were Violette Verdy and Conrad Ludlow. I don't know how soon Kent went into the mix, she certainly danced in the the film (led by Farrell and Villella) w/ d'Amboise as her partner.

i rem. trying to divine if Adams ever did do Titania afterall. E.Gorey recalls someone's saying she did, once, in Washington, D.C. but when another person asked Farrell if she had any recollection of this, she said she doubted it happened, because if it had, she would have made a decided point of seeing the perf. and she has no recall of seeing her "guarDIAN Angel" in the role.

CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE notes a '64 tour to Wash. D.C.'s Carte Barron Amphitheatre, where I think MND was given, but as noted there seems to be no data around to confirm Adams's performing Titania there.

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Very shortly after the premiere of MSND, Adams left performing to take over the School of American Ballet. Now that you mention it, I do recall seeing photos of Ludlow and Verdy in the original cast, he wearing a costume meant to suggest a well-muscled cuirass, but which must have been the very devil to partner in! I never saw the ballet at City Center. In fact, I have my program (a large red affair) marked "Inaugural Performances/April 1964" from my first viewing of Midsummer right in front of me as I write.

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off topic somewhat but a look a the orig. cast of NUTCRACKER w/ Tallchief and Magallanes w/ MT in her version of the ribbon-candy-edged tutu w/ her own tiara. the uncaptioned/uncredited photo is undated but assume it's 1954-ish.

post-848-1216428205_thumb.jpg

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Thanks, Dale, for the wonderful description -- and evocation -- of that photo-poster. I wish I had been around to see Kaye. I wonder what the Robin Hood getup could have been for? The one where she plays an acress playing Hamlet?

And Mel, I'm sorry for the transposition from "II" to the nono-existent "III". Been watching too many 3-act Petipa videos on my time off this summer, I suppose. I would have sworn I got this from Garis, but then I noticed that I had written the Roman numerals incorrectly in the margin of his book.

[Verdy}She was really Haggins’ Supreme Goddess, not Garis’, although the latter admired and respected her a great deal and got to know her well.
Or possibly a goddess for both? Verdy seems to fill Garis's book. He obviously adores her and often uses her as an examplar as well as a contrast when discussing other kinds of dancing he did not entirely approve of. In religion it's not unknown for the follower to become even more of a proslytiser than his teacher was, I think. So possibly the same applies in this case? :)
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During one of the big photo displays shown at New York State Theater (yup, stlll NYST to me) is one of Adams and Nora Kaye in, if I remember correctly, La Gloire. Kaye is in slippers and a sort of Robin Hood getup, whereas Adams is in a soft short tutu or dress and on pointe. Both are in arabesque. Kaye's is textbook 90 degrees and there's a very electric intensity to it. Her head is very rigid and dramatic. Adams' arabesque is so big and generous and full. Her head is thrown back slightly. Both arabesques, like the women performing them, are glorious in their own way. And so fitting to their dancers' styles.

Your description of Adams has captured the Adams I admired during her BT days...generous and full. The famous lilac fairy variation with the sissones has never been performed better; I can still see those long legs swinging up in extensions----the same quality that made her Myrtha so exciting. Her big movements were wonderful to see.

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another hopeless? candidate for release on home video [see below, the NYPL dance coll. cat. entry] both Kaye and Adams are featured - I rem. clearly Arlene Croce's reaction to having seen the kinescope of this condensed and much reduced tv studio filiming: 'well, i suppose GISELLE in a broom closet is still GISELLE.' the 'decor' credit must be a TV designer, the costumes are, if mem. serves, still Eugene Berman's:

Giselle: 1950. 59 min. sd. b&w.

A condensed version, telecast by NBC-TV. Commentator: Ben Grauer.

Choreography: Anton Dolin after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. Music: Adolphe Adam. Decor: Trew Hocker. Cast: Nora Kaye (Giselle), Igor Youskevitch (Albrecht), Diana Adams (Myrtha), Dmitri Romanoff (Hilarion), Mary Burr (Giselle's Mother), Edward Caton (Duke), Norma Vance (Bathilda), Michael Lland (Wilfred) and artists of Ballet Theatre, including: Lillian Lanese, Virgina Barnes, Ruth Ann Koesun, Barbara Lloyd, Jenny Workman, Irma Grant, Isabel Mirrow, Liane Plane, Dorothy Scott, Charlyne Baker, Lila Popper, Jack Beaber, Kelly Brown, James Hicks, Vernon Lusby.

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another hopeless? candidate for release on home video [see below, the NYPL dance coll. cat. entry] both Kaye and Adams are featured - I rem. clearly Arlene Croce's reaction to having seen the kinescope of this condensed and much reduced tv studio filiming: 'well, i suppose GISELLE in a broom closet is still GISELLE.' the 'decor' credit must be a TV designer, the costumes are, if mem. serves, still Eugene Berman's:

Giselle: 1950. 59 min. sd. b&w.

A condensed version, telecast by NBC-TV. Commentator: Ben Grauer.

Choreography: Anton Dolin after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. Music: Adolphe Adam. Decor: Trew Hocker. Cast: Nora Kaye (Giselle), Igor Youskevitch (Albrecht), Diana Adams (Myrtha), Dmitri Romanoff (Hilarion), Mary Burr (Giselle's Mother), Edward Caton (Duke), Norma Vance (Bathilda), Michael Lland (Wilfred) and artists of Ballet Theatre, including: Lillian Lanese, Virgina Barnes, Ruth Ann Koesun, Barbara Lloyd, Jenny Workman, Irma Grant, Isabel Mirrow, Liane Plane, Dorothy Scott, Charlyne Baker, Lila Popper, Jack Beaber, Kelly Brown, James Hicks, Vernon Lusby.

I saw that telecast....I did not own a television set at the time, and I went with a friend to see it at his Uncle's home on Staten Island on a rather small screen TV; fortunately I had already seen it on the stage. T hey were the Berman sets. The word 'emploi' apparently wasn't in NoraKaye's vocabulary...she tried everything including Odette.

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thanks for the Berman confirmation - i suppose Trew Hocker is just a tv-union sort who helped arrange the stage sets for the tv studio or some such.

i know the telecast as b&w, but i keep forgetting, when the prod. was on stage, were the wili dresses black or dark green? or something else?

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The word 'emploi' apparently wasn't in NoraKaye's vocabulary...she tried everything including Odette.
I love it, atm711. :) Kaye, in memoirs of the period, certainly comes across as one of those gutsy show biz ladies who is willing to try almost anything.

Speaking of which, there was a thread while ago about a video of Pas de Quatre with Alonso, Hayden, Slavenska .... AND KAYE, in what I believe was the Grahn role. I sit back and enjoy the video every once in a while when I want to be reminded that drive and touch of lunacy can certainly keep a career interesting. (The date is 1960, shortly after Kaye left Ballet Theater.)

Here's the Link, for those who missed it earlier on:

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Hocker was one of Jo Mielziner's assistants and did a couple of Broadway shows. He was NBC's "house designer" for series and independent broadcasts like this one.

I seem to remember the Berman Wilis as having a silvery-grey Romantic tutu with an overskirt of darker grey that got nearly black on the wearer's lower left-hand side, thus accommodating the old description of a Wili always having one hem of her dress damp.

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thanks, Mel, that clears up my confusion about the hue(s) of Berman's Wilis.

in a related, off-topic direction: does anyone know if the wilis in Lucinda Ballard's costume scheme for GISELLE were dark green?

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I remember seeing a photo of Adams from her ABT days as the younger sister from Pillar Of Fire. She looks so vibrant, young and beautiful in the picture, like a pent up colt suddenly let loose in the fields. In her photos from NYCB she seems to have grown in to a more stately elegant dancer.

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Perky, I think the 1957 Agon rehearsal photos show the Adams that you describe. The body and the pony-tail certainly suggest it.

On the other hand, Adams is always described as having had a cool and classical stage style. In off-stage photos this seems to translate as thoughtful, somewhat reserved, introverted, focused. As for on-stage, she might not have been a natural for Kitri or Coppelia, but Balanchine did choose her for Calliope, Choleric, the Siren, and the Allegro lead in Western Symphony. Her stage presence and "look" had range. I bet she'd have been great in Tsigane.

:off topic: It always amazes me how female ballet dancers -- even grand figures who can command the stage -- seem young, slight, and vulnerable when seen at ease, in natural light, in practice clothes or in informal street clothes.

Conversely, Danilova, who is being discussed now on a another thread, represented a different type. She projected visual "size" even off stage, despite her small frame.

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