Gelsey Kirkland

[Paul Parish]

Dear Carbro, and all, I defer to you who saw Saland often, live, over time, since I only saw her live once --

But in that case Saland was unearthly, in excelsis. It was winter of 1991-92, nearing the end of her career. She danced the waltz girl in Serenade that night, and as she was borne offstage in the finale, she opened herself up to the heavens with an action that reminded me of Farell's in the Preghiera of Mozartiana. It was an act of reaching......

She was a dancer greatly inferior in technique to Kirkland; Saland had more imagination than technique -- but WHAT an imagination! THAT she had/has in common with Kirkland.

[Drew]

Hmm...perhaps I'm not always the best judge of whether or not my opinions count as quirky.

[Grissi]

I think I need some help in this thread. I have always heard about Gelsey Kirkland. When I was in Canada for summer vacation in 1987 (I am Spanish), I found her 'Dancing on my grave' and read it. I never saw her dancing, since this year, when I bought 'Baryshnikov at a Wolf trap'. I found her Quixotte pas de deux magnificent, full of details and quality. And I read again her autobiography. I am reading now Taper's 'Balanchine. His life'. And only once is Kirkland mentioned... What happened there? Was she really a Balanchine star? Was her dancing of such importance? There is no link between the two books.

[Dale]

Grissi, I agree that sometimes there appears to be gaps in Taper's book. That's because Taper's work grew out of a series of profiles he did in the New Yorker. He focuses on the dancers who were around then and who he had access to. He later filled in some gaps. Farrell doesn't even get much play, and some of it is negative.

Also, Kirkland was just beginning to come into her stardom when she left for ABT. Her style also didn't seem to mesh with Balanchine's way of doing things.

[Grissi]

Thank you, Dale. Yes, I know that she was more comfortable when she started with the ABT. But what I mean is that I think that Balanchine marked more Kirkland than the opposite. I don't know. In any case, I know that this topic belongs to another thread: Which do you think is the best of Balanchine's biographies?

[Dale]

Many people on the board have noted that while the Taper is an important and useful book, there really hasn't been a truely in-depth bio on Balanchine.

[canbelto]

Which do you think is the best of Balanchine's biographies?

None of them. The Gottlie mini-bio is ok, and Taper's book is longer but also very incomplete. As others have said, it was based on a series of New Yorker profiles on Balanchine, and really lacks a lot of objectivity. If Mr. B didn't want to talk about it, mostly it didn't get in the book. And there were lots of things Mr. B didn't like talking about

[dirac]

Grissi, below is a link to one of the threads that Dale mentions where two recent Balanchine bios (short ones) are discussed. As Dale says, it’s been a recurring topic on the board, and if you browse around Writings on Ballet or do a search more is likely to come up.

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=17904

Regarding Kirkland’s relationship with Balanchine, there is no one place to go. There is Kirkland’s book, of course, and there are comments made by other dancers in their own books and in interviews. Melissa Hayden made some interesting comments to Robert Tracy for his book, “Balanchine’s Ballerinas” remarking, as I recall, that Kirkland “got too much too soon without the right kind of support.” She seems to have gotten too much from Balanchine in a sense, and yet not enough. Kirkland made a poignant statement in her first book about Balanchine – “I never knew what to do with my love for him” (again from memory) -- which sounded as if it came from the heart. It’s too bad that it didn’t work out for them. What roles he might have made for her!

[Dale]

Thanks Dirac for those thoughts. I'd love to see Kirkland coach the version of Balanchine's Firebird in one of those Balanchine Foundation projects, or Theme and Variations. (I've seen the Alonso coaching session of T&V for the BF, but Kirkland's version is a bit different).

[bart]

I'd love to see Kirkland coach the version of Balanchine's Firebird in one of those Balanchine Foundation projects, or Theme and Variations.

Thanks, Dale. You've rekindled a memory long lost: Kirkland and d'Amboise in Firebird.

In the later part of the 1950s -- with Hayden and Tallchief (forces of nature, both of them) -- the ballet presented an Firebird who was swift, powerful, mysterious, both sexless and womanly, and "old" in the sense of "timeless". The Prince, on the other hand, was young, slightly shallow, and not too memorable.

In the early 70s, the ballet -- which I believe was restaged after several years out of rep -- suddenly remerged to present a very young, very fragile girl paired with mature and experienced Prince. This was astonishing in itself, as were the redecorated production and extravagent costumes, and quite a bit of new choreography. (I still prefer the simpler look of the City Center production.)

I wish I could say I remember the specific details of Kirkland's dancing from this performance. I remember flow rather than force; long line; more softness than steel. And I DO remember the feeling that something great had been reinvented. The feeling when the firebird was on the stage was changed enormously. In the big pas de deux, the moments of struggle, surrender and appeal for freedom were especially moving when danced by someone so slender and so young.

[Paul Parish]

Wow, Bart, that was eloquent -- How I wish I'd seen ANY of those performances.

Thanks,

Paul

[carbro]

And I DO remember the feeling that something great had been reinvented. The feeling when the firebird was on the stage was changed enormously. In the big pas de deux, the moments of struggle, surrender and appeal for freedom were especially moving when danced by someone so slender and so young.

Well, there was that utter, heart-wrenching vulnerability that infused every step Gelsey took. Also, I am under the impression that there were significant choreographic revisions in the latter version.

[Grissi]

Thank you all. Your info is very useful.