Mary Lynn Slayden

August 7, 2002 "Dancer, teacher and choreographer Duncan Noble died Aug. 5, 2002, at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center after a brief illness. A founding faculty member of the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Dance, he also had a long and successful dance career in this country, Canada and abroad. Mr. Noble was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Aug. 2, 1922, the son of Angus and Agnes Noble McGillvary. He studied classical dance with June Roper in Vancouver and danced with Ballet Theatre (now American Ballet Theatre), the famed Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and Valerie Bettis' company. He appeared in more than seven Broadway shows, including Something for the Boys, On the Town, One Touch of Venus, Annie Get Your Gun, Pal Joey, Can Can and Paint Your Wagon, featuring, among others, Mary Martin, Ethel Merman and Gwen Verdon. From 1955 to 59, he was a featured performer in Max Liebman's NBC spectaculars. Among the great choreographers he worked with are Folkine, Jerome Robbins, Massine, and Agnes de Mille. Mr. Noble was an assistant dean in the School of Dance from 1975 to 87, acting dean in 1987-88 and when he retired in 1993, the school awarded him an honorary doctorate. After his retirement, he continued to teach as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Dance until his death. During his teaching career, he was above all recognized as a coach and teacher of male dancers and the long list of his former students includes Keith Roberts, Chris Martin, Robert Conn and the late Patrick Bissell, all of whom danced with American Ballet Theatre; the late Edward Stierle of The Joffrey Ballet; and Peter Frame and Mel Tomlinson of New York City Ballet. Mr. Noble coached Stierle when he won the ballet world's highest honor for young dancers, the gold at the Prix de Lausanne. As a guest teacher, he has taught throughout the country and abroad at the Nederlands Dans Theatre and the Hungarian Dance Academy. His ballet choreography has been performed by Ruth Mitchell Dance Theatre, North Carolina School of the Arts, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Marietta Civic Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Toronto Opera Festival and at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. He was renowned for his work as a choreographer for summer stock musical theater all over the country, from Lambertville, N.J., to West Palm Beach and from St. Paul to Fort Worth. Mr. Noble was director and choreographer of the school of Pittsburgh Playhouse and director-in-residence at the Lost Colony in Manteo. He adjudicated for the National Association of Regional Ballets; was on the Dance Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts; and served as a consultant for many arts organizations including the West Virginia Department of Culture and History, which honored him with "Duncan Noble Day" in 1992. Greensboro Ballet gave him a lifetime achievement award last year. In 1992, he founded the Festival of North Carolina Dance, which recognizes and supports the work of dancers and companies throughout the state. His numerous ballets for children, including Peter and the Wolf and The Swan Princess, are seen annually by thousands of elementary-age children in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and across North Carolina. He is survived by a nephew, Allen Jones of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. At Mr. Noble's expressed wish, a fund has been established at the School of the Arts in his name for scholarships and special needs of dance students and the dance program. Memorial gifts may be made to the Duncan Noble Dance Fund, payable to the NCSA Foundation Inc., Development Office, North Carolina School of the Arts, 1533 Main St., Winston-Salem, NC 27127. Memorial plans are incomplete at this time." Mr. Noble was my daughter's(95-97') principal teacher one of the years she attended NCSA. We are both saddened at his passing.

Jeannie I always enjoy your posts. Whether ballet or anything else you comment on you are always refreshing. I love the figure skating as well and feel torn between cheering for Kwan who shares my daughter's exact birthday and year and the other talented skaters. I just wish for a safe Olympic Games for all the athletes and spectators. It keeps our world united in a very special way. [ February 07, 2002: Message edited by: Mary Lynn Slayden ]

http://www.ncarts.edu/public_info/ewing_retire.htm I have sent Alex Ewing's, former Chancellor of North Carolina School of the Arts,name to be included in a list of choices for The White House to consider for the Chairman of the NEA. On July 13 The Washington Post carried an article (which I tried to post here) which said that The White House was looking for other suggestions of people to be considered. Apparently Bill Ivey was expected to remain as Chairman but announced his resignation in April and will step down in September. I had been thinking about Mr. Ewing for sometime but didn't act on it until I read that they were still looking for other candidates. What a coup it would be to have a dance advocate in that position..especially ballet. A few facts concerning his background are: General Director, Business Manager Joffrey Ballet, Treasurer and Chairman for the Dance Collection at the NY Public Library, and a member of the Dance Panel for the NEA. He has also been on the Board of SAB and a great many other arts and business boards and associations. In addition to that he is a successful business man with his own corporation. The article stated that The WHite House was now looking at more business leaders outside the arts. I think Alex Ewing meets both criteria. I know him only slightly and just because of his leadership of NCSA..my daughter a '97 graduate. HOwever, everytime I wrote him I received a personal hand-written response...In any field that's impressive. His record of what he accomplished for NCSA is quite remarkable. The Dance program at NCSA may be well-known in dance circles but their music, film, drama and visual arts etc are perhaps even more successful. I was hoping that I might ignite some sort of support from the Balletalert community. It is all happening so quickly that perhaps it is too late but I spoke to the Director of American Arts Alliance and the White House and Congressional Liaison of the NEA, Ann Guthrie Hingston, and they both say there is no leading candidate at this time! FYI Alex Ewing is Lucia Chase's son. Mary Lynn Slayden

Thank you once again, Alexandra. You never fail to come up with an answer for me. I was curious about him since he is such a prominent critic..I wondered where his passion came from. MLS

What can anyone tell me about the dance critic of the NY Times? Just general information concerning how he began writing about dance etc. Thank you.

I came to ballet from a love of theatre. As I started to introduce my children to the arts I included ballet. We were living in London and we went to the English Festival Ballet's (now English National Ballet)Nutcracker. Even after we moved back stateside I continued to attend but the more I went the more I was intrigued by different outstanding indviduals in the dance world and started reading a variety of books from biographies to historical accounts. We just moved back from Australia after seven years.I have seen all I could from The Australian Ballet to Meryl Tankards Dance Theatre and the Bolshoi and NYCB even came a year ago for the Melbourne Festival. That was a thrill since I probably have read more about this company, Balanchine, and its roots than any other. Mary Lynn Slayden