Anne Marie De Angelo, Di Angelo? D'Angelo?

[Farrell Fan]

I'm on the mailing list of DanceGalaxy, a company of which Judith Fugate and Medhi Bahiri are the Artistic Directors. They have an impressive "Board of Advisors," starting with Karin von Aroldingen, Peter Boal, and Fernando Bujones, and ending with Edward Villella. On the list is Anne Marie D'Angelo. Seeing her name spelled that way was a surprise comparable to when Jean-Pierre Bonnefous became Bonnefoux. In the Second Edition of the Oxford Dictionary it's given as De Angelo, which is how I remember it from when she was dancing with the Joffrey and ABT. I'm sure I've also seen it as Di Angelo. But I'm delighted with the DanceGalaxy spelling, since D'Angelo is also my name. I only saw her dance a handful of times. Does anyone have recollections of her as a dancer and choreographer? Or know how she spells her name?

[dirac]

I'm 99% certain it's Ann Marie De Angelo.

[Estelle]

Farrell Fan, could you tell me a bit more about Bonnefous/ Bonnefoux? I've always seen the former in all French books dealing with Bonnefous (and his career as a POB principal), and often the latter in articles dealing with his American career. Did he really change his name?

[Mel Johnson]

When I was writing performance notes from Joffrey to her, it was Ann Marie De Angelo - I shorthanded AMDA.;)

But one of Agnes de Mille's problems in having people spell her name correctly was part of uncle Cecil's vacillating ways about spelling HIS name - Just look at a few of those silent pix - Cecil B. DeMille De Mille, deMille, de mille, de Mille, d'Mille &c. &c.

[Alexandra]

Estelle, I can answer the Bonnefoux question. I asked it when he was working at Goucher College (a local college) several years ago.

Bonnefoux is the correct spelling. When he first came to America it got changed to Bonnefous (I forget why -- I think it was simply an error on the poster that didn't get corrected, but I may be wrong.) He didn't feel he could change it while he was dancing with NYCB, but when he retired -- and began to choreograph and direct -- he changed it to the original spelling.

[glebb]

I remember a woman who was highly talented and who sort of got the reputation of being too athletic because she could do triple a la second turns on pointe, and double saute basques. But she was an artist who only lived to dance.

Very clean, clear and strong technique. Her legs were very strong and still are!

When the company would be arriving for company class, she would be leaving the studio. She would, by that time, have already given herself a full class and have practiced classical variations.

On tour in her hotel room, she would sculpt ballet dancer figures in her free time. She loved to laugh and still does.

[Farrell Fan]

Thanks for stepping in on the Bonnefous(x) question, Alexandra. I didn't know the answer. Thanks to all for the definitive spelling, and to Glebb for the mini-portrait of the artist.

[Estelle]

Alexandra, thanks for your answer about Bonnefous/ Bonnefoux, but I'm a bit puzzled: the spelling "Bonnefous" did exist before he came to America. For example I have here a copy of a "Dictionnaire des ballets" by Ferdinando Rayna printed in 1967 (before he left the POB) and it's written "Bonnefous". So perhaps there was a mistake in the spelling very early in his career?

(By the way, he had been promoted to principal just before, and it says "Sa carrière a été foudroyante, sa musicalité est grande, son ballon silencieux, élastique, sans une faille, harmonieux et viril au possible. La promotion voulue par l'Opéra est hautement méritée.")

[Alexandra]

Estelle, I can't answer that, I'm sorry to say. I could be misremembering -- the question came up long ago. I can't remember the year, but Julie Kent was his ballerina, and she was 15! (This is a local college that has a ballet department and they have a guest choreographer every year.)

It's also possible that the story is more complex. Is Bonnefoux a usual spelling in France?

[Estelle]

Sorry to be off-topic (perhaps we could open a separate thread about Bonnefous/x?)... It's not

a very common name (actually I know nobody else with that name), but both spellings (with "x" and with "s") sound plausible in French.

[atm711]

I will be seeing Bonnefoux in Chautauqua next week during my annual visit and will pose the question to him. He is in residence there during the summer with the North Carolina Dance Theater.

[Marga]

And how about Faruk (Farouk, Faroukh) Ruzimatov (Rouzimatov)?

I just thought I'd throw him into the mix, because, of course, the name is originally written in the Cyrillic alphabet, leaving it open to a number of legitimate spellings when rendered in the Roman alphabet.

On that same note, there's also Altynai (Altinai) Asylmuratova (Assylmuratova), Alla Ossipenko (Osipenko), Rudolf (Rudolph) Nureyev (Nuriev) and many others from the Russian companies.....