Kurvenal

I don't know this company, but I know the ballet which Ashton choreographed especially for Ballanchine's NYCB. Someone mentioned remembering having seen it in 1960 with the Norman Walker Co. and wondered if it was the same ballet. They said a dancer, Cora Caan (?) danced in it. Anyone know? Kurvenal

Hi, Just curious who might have seen this at the Lincoln Festival, and what they thought? Anna Kisselkoof makes it sound very very exciting. Makes me wish I was in NY this weekend. Fred

ATM - "Quelque Fleurs" - was that a pas de quatre of sorts, or am I mistaking it for the old pas de quatre? I remember seeing Ruthanna Boris dance when I first starting going to City Center. Fred

I'll bet there were more innovative and intriguing movements to be witnessed up there some nights than on stage. En arriere, en avant, en dedans, and en dehors! Tally ho! Fred

Mel is probably correct as Ballet Theatre doing "Choreartium". If I can find the time I will eventually find it in the microfilm of the NYT. I was just down there for an hour looking in vain for a John Martin review of "Seventh". They were doing it in the spring of 1949 but I haven't run across the review yet. I did find this interesing tidbit, however. The night that Mary Ellen Moylan danced "Ballet Imperial", Balanchine's work to Tschaikovsky's 2nd piano concerto (Martin loved her and the ballet), Markova and Tudor were scheduled to dance sometrhing simply called "Pas de Deux". According to Martin, "it proved to be not a pas deux at all but only a single section of the pas de deux from 'Sleeping Beauty'. What happened to the other three sections nobody connected with the company or Mr. Dolin or Miss Markova cared to say, but it was very nicely done, what there was of it." THAT IS FUNNY! Fred

I think Mel is right in that Ballet Russe did Choreartium - and it was done to Brahms Fourth, not his First, which I think I said in an earlier posting. According to Cyril Beaumont's book, it was first done in London in 1933 - and look at the dancers - Irina Baronova, David Lichine, Vera Zorina, Nina Verchinina, Danilova, Riabouchinski. I don't remember seeing the Pas de deux Classique but Denby reports that in 1944 Ballet Russe was performing at the City Center, and it got done with Danilova and Second Class Seaman Igor Youskevitch (dancing on the last night of his shore leave.) Denby devotes a whole paragraph to the majesty of Youskevitch's dancing - "I know of no dancer anywhere who is nearer than he to perfection. And now he is returning to his base, it is hard to think how the Monte Carlo can long continue as a first-class company without him." I was digging into microfilm at my library today - 1949, looking for the report of Beethoven Seventh. Ballet Russe was giving two appearances in NYC in those days, in the spring, and again in the fall. I still haven't found the review, but John Martin wrote a poor review of the company's overall performances, blaming the director(s) for the sloppiness and pedestrian dancing. On the recommendation of Monica Mosely at NY Public Library I ordered Jack Anderson's "The One and Only Ballet Russe" which she said lists every performance, every ballet danced, and the dancers, dates and places, during the company's existence. That should answer a lot of questions. Last night I was watching the first Erik Bruhn Competition on a tape sent to me by a friend. I have no idea what year it took place, and none of the dancers are familiar names. It opened with Bruhn's version of the Black Swan pas de deux, and the opening pas de deux was to music I did not recognize. I also found the choreography less thrilling than what is supposedly the Petipa-Ivanov version. What does anyone know about this?

The NY Public Library's Monica Mosely, evidently an expert on ballet, came to my rescue regarding the Massine. It was done in 1951. I was off a year. I am going back to my library just to read what John Martin of the NYTimes had to say about it. My feeling about ballets such as the Seventh, Les Presages (to Tschaikovskys Fifth), and Choreatium (to Brahms First), all of which I think were by Massine is that the music is just too overpowering, and a ballet orchestra, IMO, is not geared to play these works, only because they don't play them often enough. My recollection of the Seventh is vague but I do remember lots of people running about stage, and I shall never forget that human ramp! ATM, you were so fortunate to see Danilova as Odette. I may have seen her, but I think I would have remembered it. My first great Odette was Fonteyn. What would it have been like to have seen Danilova in a full-length "Swan Lake"? I would have paid a kings ransom - or managed to sneak into the theatre!!! Fred

I am puzzled that there has been no obituary in the NYTimes. Zorina danced the role of the ballerina in Balanchine's "Slaughter on Tenth Ave.", but in London only, and in the movie version. Tamara Geva danced the role in NYC. However, in 1954 George Abbott and Balanchine put together a revival of the show with Zorina. Elaine Stritch was in that also, singing the interpolated song "You Took Advantage of Me." It lasted only two months and was considered very dated. 29 years later, however, it was revived again with Natalia Makarova, and that revival lasted longer than the original in 1936. Did anyone see any of those three shows? Fred

This was a tremendously exciting hour and a half. It began at 9:30 and the time flew by. I could not believe the beauty of this work - incredible dancing by everyone, Yuan Yuan danced like she was weightless, and the Othello - my God! And the score was so great - and the sets. What a marvelous piece of work - and my station, which just infuriated me a day earlier by showing those two tenors in "Duetto" singing a bunch of awful songs and then begging for money, is going to show "Othello" again on Saturday and they didn't ask for a cent. I am taping this ballet. Fred

Leigh, Thanks for the email address. I sent off a plea for help. In answer to your question, I never recall meeting Francis Mason. I remember he reviewed for some publication, but I don't know which one. When I was in the library today I noticed that Balanchine's book had been updated since 1956 and Mason's name was on it. Monica might be able to help you with that Op. 34 you were asking me about. Fred

My muddled memories of Massine's "Seventh Symphony" (Beethoven) drove me to the pulbic library. I spent over an hour reading about ballet in NYC in 1950, going through the NYTimes on microfilm, specifically the de Cuevas company's two week stay. Lots of interesting writing by John Martin, but they didn't do the ballet. I checked Ballet Russe who were in the city in the spring and they didn't do it either. Where and when did I see it? It was performed for the first time in Paris in 1938 one month after "Gaite "Parisienne", but I wasn't there for the opening! Ballanchine doesn't even mention it in his book' Walter Terry does but doesn't give any U.S. dates. Dangerous business looking up things like that! I kept getting stopped by headlines - GB Shaw's obituary, new tenor coming to the Met - Mario del Monaco. Met opens with a flurry of expensive furs, diamonds, and limousines. Amazing how much space the opening got in those days! If anyone can help me out on the Massine work - when and who danced it in NYC and when - I will be eternally grateful. Fred

I am sure I saw him dance with Ballet Russe - for some reason, a ballet using one of the Chopin concertos comes to mind. I am glad that he lived so long. I hope his life was happy and fulfilling. Kurvenal

You're surprised you're getting it in Baltimore! We are getting it in Scranton, PA TWICE! in one week, Tuesday night, after Duetto (which has been getting nasty reviews on the opera websites), and again on Sat. night. We'll have to pay for it with endless hours of Yanni, Church, and all the rest. fred

ATM Chances are we did rub elbows at any number of venues in NYC. I know I stood in line all afternoon in 1949 for standing room to see Sadler Wells' first trip to NYC, and I think I stood in standing room most of the time for all the other performances, plus all those of Ballet Theatre. I am going to have to go to the Public Library as soon as I can and look up a NY Times from April 1949. It was the de Quevas company but known as "The Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo" - all this re the Massine. The Slavenska-Franklin Company was in NYC in Dec. of 1952 but I don't think they would have done Massine's "Seventh". Strangely, Balanchine does not include it in his book of ballets, although he does include all the ballets done up to the publication of the book. And yet, I cannot erase from my mind that scene of a human ramp and some woman (or man) scrambling up, arms outstretched, maybe waving a banner with the words "Excelsior", doing an arabesque - God knows what, but I know I and the friends I was with were finding it hard not to laugh. Maybe we did laugh - it's so long ago, we might have been asked to leave. I find it hard to believe that any company today would be so hard pressed as to want to revive any of those "symphonic" ballets. And I still want to know who's left who can remember the choreography. Maybe they will contact me! Fred

How wonderful for you Paul to have seen Sibley, Seymour, and Nureyev. I saw Fonteyn, of course, but with Helpmann, Michael Somes, and John Hart as her partners. I have seen them both on video, and while I never saw Baryisnikov in person either, I have him on video. Leigh, I am amazed I can find nothing in my library on Massine's "Seventh", but Denby does refer to it in an essay on Massine. "He can get away with murder. If one took him seriously he would be guilty of murdering the Beethoven Seventh." And of the dancers, "they get on top of each othrs, lie down, run around, crouch, whirl, pose, wave, or huddle." Sounds very much like what I saw, but I can't imagine why Cincinnati would want to try to bring this behemoth back to life when there are so many other ballets that need reviving. And who is reconstructing the choreography? I also found out Massine did the first movement of "Moonlight Sonata" at the Met with Ballet Theatre in 1945. Toumanova and Massine danced - Denby hated it, and loathed the orchestration, too. I checked into the NY Public Library. Again, it amazes me that they would have films of Massine's works while so much else is lost. Tell me, is Labahn dance notation still used at all? I recall back in the '50s when it was in use, but I wonder now if we rely on film as an accurate record of ballets? You spoke of doing a ballet for Atlanta Ballet II. I would like very much to know what your profession entails when you have time. You could email me privately. I talked to a friend who has a son, a lawyer working in NYC, who is married to a girl who goes by the professional name of Leonora Volpe. She choreographs/directs, and just did a "Traviata" for some company, in the TriBeCa area. His name is Howard Mulligan. Do you know anything about that? And I never did see "Ivesiana". When was NYCB doing that, and who did the choreography? Enjoyed your Merrill Ashley story. Fred

In answer to your question, Paul, yes, Kurvenal (correctly Kurwenal) was Tristan's right hand, and in Wagner's opera, he dies defending his lord aginst Melot, an enemy of Tristan. Then Isolde arrives, and the rest you know. My favorite opera, by the way, the Mt. Everest of operas for me. The name Reme Charlip stirs up some memories but I cannot say I remember him at all. And, Leigh, your mother's memories are priceless, and I am glad she is alive to relate them. NYC will always be a magical city for me, but back when I was in my 20's it was especially magical. I did go to NYCB by sneaking in many times. They used to print one program for the whole week, and each night might have four or five ballets on the program. I would go on Tuesday night, keep my program, go to the bar across the street from City Center - I think it was called "Tosca" then - and have a drink and wait for intermission after the first ballet. I would then leave my coat at the bar, go over with my program in hand, and wander in with everyone else and there were always seats. And I might get to be there three and four nights running. Many of the early lovers of NYCB began to resent it when the company's fame began to grow, and they had to rub shoulders with people, many of whom seemed to know nothing about the ballet but were going because it all at once became the thing to do - Balanchine was becoming known as a great choreographer, and with a company with names like Tallchief, Eglevsky, Magallenes, Robbins, Kaye, Laing, Haydn, Reed, Adams, and all the others - and a longer season than any other company could do in NYC - tickets suddenly became hard to get. I wasn't sure I could sneak in and find a seat anymore! Damn! I got to meet a lot of different artists - I once attended a cocktail party given by Elie Siegmeister, the composer, and had a marvelous conversation with a violinist from the NY Philharmonic; and one night I went to a collage party at the apartment of a young modern dancer and choreographer, James Mainwaring, I think, and some dancers from NYCB were there, including Tanaquil LeClerq, and I was so in awe of her that I could'n't put a sentence together without sounding totally stupid! About Op. 34, I know nothing, but Paul's comment about the bandages reminds me of Babilee's ballet "L'Amour et son Amour". Besides Babilee and Nathalie Philappart as Cupid and Psyche, there were two male dancers, one of them Ralph McCracken whom I knew, and they had white strips of cloth wound around their bodies, going from their ankles up around their torsos and around their arms. Cocteau did the sets and costumes. The music by Franck was the best thing about the ballet. That was in 1951 when the two were guest artists with ABT at the old Met. The de Cuevas company only came to NYC one time that I can recall. I know I saw a ballet by Ana Ricarda, "Del Amor y del Muerte" with Marjorie Tallchief and George Skibine. The ballet was very Spanish with a lot of Spanish dancing, lots of skirts flying, anguished, angry looks between the two principal dancers, and lots of black and red colors. Both the principals had come to this country with great credentials, but this ballet did not give me any idea of how good they really were. I am sure Rosella Hightower was with the company then, but I don't know now why I didn't get to see more of them. They must have been there at least a week. I was there when Jacque d"Amboise joined NYCB and that was an exciting time. I am sure he began in the chorus, but it seems like he appeared full-blown in "Picnic at Tintagel", a ballet by Ashton based on the Tristan legend. I found it to be a splendid work. D'Amboise as Tristan, Diana Adams as Isolde were awesome together - he was so young and so athletic - nothing seemed beyond him, and she was one of the loveliest women in the company, and so elegant - and heartbreaking - in that role. And there was a dancer, Barnett, I think, who was Merlin, and he was fabulous. A really fine character dancer. I somewhat doubt that that ballet survived, however. Sad Fred

Ah ha! Found the new home. Checked out the website and put it in my favorites. I had no idea so many musicals played there - "Inside USA" with Bea Lillie singing "Oh Come ye, oh come ye to Pittsburgh!" I don't even recall what the theatre was like and I saw "Kiss Me Kate" there as well as the de Cuevas ballet company. I don't know if it was that company but I recall seeing a ballet danced to a well known symphony; one of those ballets that Leonide Massine loved to do - it seemed rather dreadful and I recall one scene where dancers seemed to form a human ramp and a dancer scaled up as to a mountain top. I checked Beaumont's book of ballets and he mentions "Choreartium" danced to Brahm's Fourth, and "Les Presages" to Tchaikovsky's Fifth, but the description of neither rings a bell. If anyone knows what the ballet was, I would love to know. Concerto Barocco I saw many times. I know Tallchief, Adams, LeClerq and Pat Wilde all danced in it at various performances, but I could not say for sure which two I saw. It could have been all of them but in what combinations I don't know. I lived at 47 King St. on the north side of the street. An apartment on the street had an arched passageway which led into a courtyard. At the back was a three story apartment with six apartments. I lived on the third floor on the left. There was a fireplace and I bought wood from some company in the Bronx. They delivered it - a half cord I think, and stacked it up under the stairs on the ground floor! In the kitchen was a pot-belly stove in which I burned Presto Logs. I had to share a john with the apartment on the right side of the floor. A bathtub in the kitchen had a big flat lid over it which served as a work space to prepare meals, and when I wanted to bathe, the lid, on hinges, was lifted up and hooked against the wall. The building was built against a much taller building which housed printing firms and sometimes my apartment quivered for hours on end when the presses were all running. I loved it. Arthur Mitchell was a friend of mine before he ever got to NYCB. He was dancing with some little company run by a woman, and a friend of mine, a photographer, was hired to take some shots. I used to help her out and Arthur became one of our circle. His success was well deserved. Ballet did so much for me. I learned so much music I might never have heard, and so much more - Britten's Illuminations, for example. I knew nothing of Rimbaud or Verlaine, but I eventually read biographies of both. It's a bitch to read but Auden's "Age of Anxiety" got read because of Robbins's ballet. And so on. I am going to begin ordering some ballet videos. I already ordered one of Russian dancers, but I can't recall the name. I know I will get lots of suggestions from posters of Ballet Alert. Now I am going to subscribe to whatever I should. Fred of them

Leigh, I did not see either Roma or the Schoenberg work you refer to. I remember reading about Roma but nothing more. For someone who asked I also did not see Agon. I think my friend Arthur Mitchell, the black dancer, was featured in that. As for places where ballet was performed - I went most often to the City Center, sometimes 3-4 times a week. Top prices were $3.60 for orchestra, but I used to get a balcony seat for $1.80 and then move down. During the week the audiences were sparse and there were lots of empty seats, until the company's fame spread. Ballet Theatre performed most often at the old Met, but I also saw them at the Center Theatre which is gone. I think it was on 6th Ave. around 48th St. I also saw ballet at the Century Theatre - the Slavenska-Frankling company - that was up on 7th Ave., the last block before Central Park, on the west side of the block. Long gone! I saw Martha Graham at a Broadway Theatre around Broadway and 50th St. Then the 92nd St. Y for recitals like Janet Collins. I lived at various places - 13th St. between 6th and 7th, Waverly Place where I shared a duplex with two other fellows - $50 each per month - then on 79th St. between 2nd and 3rd for $48 per month, and also a cold water flat on King St. west of 6th Ave. which was $45 a month. The subway was 10 cents, Broadway shows were about $3 to $5 for top seats. I think the orchestra of the Met was only $3.60. I still have programs with stubs around somewhere. At one time I had every playbill for every event I saw - I pasted in the stub, and wrote a brief review in the margins. Almost everything got lost in a fire back in 1972. Fred

"Wedding Bouquet" was one of the ballets Sadler Wells brought over in 1949 along with things like "Checkmate", "Hamlet", and "Facade". I recall those three but I somehow missed "Wedding Bouqet." "Illuminations", one of my all-time favorite ballets, I saw at least a dozen times, if not more. Tanaquil LeClerq danced "Sacred Love" in it - a lovely score - I own at least five different singers, all men, singing it, but it was sung in the pit by a woman then. Melissa Hayden was "Profane Love", and Magellanes was the Poet. LeClerq was absolutely lovely in that role. The sets and costumes were by Cecil Beaton - a gorgeous ballet to look at for many reasons. I can still see Magellanes, holding his wounded arm outstretched, the other hand clutching it, as he walked through a tear in the gauze at the back of the stage, turned and disappeared into a blinding sun. The line (in English) "I hang golden chains from star to star, and I dance" is all I need to bring back that ballet to mind. Balanchine choreographed a version of a "Sylvia" pas de deux for Tallchief and Eglevsky which I saw 37 times. I used to be able to rattle off all the positions Tallchief took. It was a nothing sort of thing but they dashed it off with grand panache and everyone loved it. All of the ballets in the company's repertoire were for the most part short - and that pas de deux got thrown in, I guess, whenever the duo were willing to dance it. "A second, and a second, and an attitude" was the way it went for her first solo. All this reminiscing just seems to stir up a lot of long-dead memories. I haven't talked to anyone about the dance in ages. By the way, check your PBS stations - Great Performances next week is doing Lars Lubovitch's "Othello" as part of the "Dance in America" series. Fred

Hugh Laing was trained as a classical dancer in England just as Nora Kaye was in this country. I think Laing was a member of Ballet Russe along with Franklin, Eglevsky, and Youskevitch and danced many of the classical roles before he became known as a Tudor dancer. And that, along with great dramatic characterization, requires a strong classical technique. All of Tudor's ballets require it just as Balanchine's do. Laing developed into a great Romeo, the Young Man in "Pilllar of Fire", building on his classical background. Harold Lang had stopped dancing in ballets when I got to NYC. In 1948 he was in Cole Porter's "Kiss Me Kate" and in 1952 Cole Porter's "Pal Joey" was revived, and Lang got the lead role. I saw him in that, but there was not much dancing for him. He did sing a lot of songs, however. After that I lost track of him. Danilova as Zobeide - my first ballet. I remember very little, but it seems to me there was not a lot of dancing for her. A lot of rolling around on pillows as I recall. I thought the costumes and set looked rather faded. I think Ballet Russe did not have too many more seasons after 1948. Markova, Dolin, and Slavenska were guest artists, but I saw none of them dance then. Beriosova I saw as Swanhilda in Sadler Wells Theatre Ballet company, the only time I saw "Coppellia". It is hazy in my memory but I do remember the final scene between her and David Blair as Franz, basically a pas de deux. She was a gorgeous looking young woman, radiant and a brilliant dancer. Nadia Nerina I know was one of the Fairies in the Sadler Well's "Cinderella" in which Moira Shearer danced the lead, but I have no recollection of Nerina, and little of Shearer. Shearer danced the "Blue Bird Variation" in "Sleeping Beauty", I believe, with Alexis Rassine. I wish I remembered that pair dancing. I do remember Beryl Grey as the "Lilac Fairy". My God, she all but stole the show from Fonteyn - if she had more to do, she might have. She had such a majestic presence, so serene, moving with such grace. Her character is never required to dance rapidly, but her arabesques were so beautifully held, her port de bras was flawless right down to her fingertips. One of my favorite Balanchine ballets was "Orpheus" with Tanaquil Leclerq, Magellanes and Moncion. Now Tanaquil I do remember because I saw her in so many things so many times - "Swan Lake", "Age of Anxiety", "Afternoon of a Faun", Ballade (and Nora Kaye also), "Bouree Fantasque", "Symphony in C", but I never got to see "Caracole" for some reason, and she was in that; she danced the younger woman in "Lilac Garden" with Nora Kaye. Tanaquil was very willowy, almost underfed. She moved in a strangely remote way which many peole found unpleasant. She perhaps should not have done "Swan Lake" but she danced very well in all the other roles. As Eurydice she was especially appealing, her long limbs put to great use in Balanchine's choreography. And she was superb in "La Valse", one of Balanchine's finest works. I also remember her in "Concerto Barocco" but I'm not sure who else was in that. I was saddened by her death a year or two ago. ENOUGH ALREADY - Fred

I am amazed at the number of people who want to know about dancing in the past. Unfortunately, when I went to NYC in 1947 I was a naive provincial whose only contact with ballet was what I saw in movies. But when I saw Danilova in Scheherazade I was hooked! I picked up Denby's "Looking at the Dance" and with every page became more enthralled. Then I discovered Kamin's Ballet Shop in the mid 50's (between 54 and 55th, I think) on Sixth Ave. Books, magazines (many from London), glossy program booklets from every company with photos of all the dancers. And so my education began. From the distance of 50 years some memories remain vivid, some are hazy and some are lost. Vivid - Magellanes in "Illuminations", "The Cage", the one performance given of Balanchine's "Le Baiser de la Fee", and of the last I remember only Magellanes climbing up a rope webbing to reach the Ice Maiden; Moncion and Tallchief in "Firebird": Moncion and Mounsey in "Prodigal Son", although Jerome Robbins and Tallchief were the dancers in the first performance of the revival. I saw Robbins dance that as well as "Tyl", "Symphony in C". His energy and enthusiasm, the cleanliness of line, his finely tuned turns, all of which he brought to his choerography and got other dancers to emulate. Hugh Laing - great classical technique; probably the finest of Tudor male dancers, perhaps because of his close personal relationship with Tudor. As Romeo there was a youthfulness and a vulnerablity that came across so well. He had a beautiful body, darkly handsome features. Like all the dancers of that period his lines were always clean, his leaps beautifully arched. I only saw the ballet twice, both times with him and Kaye. Friends kept telling me I had to see Markova as Juliet to understand the ballet, but I never did, and I found Kaye totally believable, fragile, moving about the stage in eloquent and elegant style. The final scene in the tomb was heartbreaking. Her grief was immeasurable, but then with the knife in her hand, she rose en pointe, almost joyful, and killed herself. My God! I wish I had seen the ballet a few more times because I had misgivings about the choreography and Delius's music, and I love Delius. I still think that the ballet needed more space - perhaps if it had been done in two acts and expanded a bit. As it was, it lasted about an hour, I think. I am sorry that whole wondrous period was not able to be filmed. What a joy to be able to see Fonteyn's first American "Sleeping Beauty", that company's "Daphnis and Chloe", so much Balanchine, Slavenska and Franklin in "Streetcar". Ciao, Fred

The dancer who remains vivid in my mind is Nora Kaye. I saw her first in 1946 or 1947 when she was with Ballet Theatre. She danced Tudor's "Pillar of Fire" and I, almost totally new to ballet, found myself almost on the point of tears. I saw her many times after that - in 'Lilac Garden", "Fall River Legend", in Herbert Ross's "Caprichos", Robbins's "The Cage" and "Age of Anxiety", and a number of ballets long (and rightfully) gone. Nora Kaye had a presence on stage, especially in the Tudor ballets, that was riveting. She had a flawless technique and her sense of character was quite remarkable. Her Juliet in Tudor's ballet with Hugh Laing as her Romeo was almost as good as Alica Markova for whom the role was created. Kaye had a great feeling for the rhythm and melody of whatever she danced. My memory at this point is probably faulty, but I don't remember her ever giving anything but a totally involved performance in whatever she danced.

Dear Leigh, Thanks so much for that information. I love this website. Fred

Paul Godkin, back in the 40's and 50's, was a lead dancer with Ballet Theatre, dancing Pat Garrett to John Kriza's Billy in "Billy the Kid", for example. I was friends with him then, but lost track of him. I would like to know if he is still alive, perhaps he taught for a time after retirng from dancing with the company. If anyone has any information about Paul I would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks. Fred

I saw Janet Collins dancing in the opera "Aida" at the old Met back in 1951, but I don't recall much except that it was a lavish production and Janet did the requisite pseuo-Egyptian moves choreographed by Zachary Solov. That was her first appearance and she did danced in a number of other operas after that including "The Dance of the Hours" in "La Gioconda", but I did not see any of those following engagements. What remains vivid in my memory is a performance she gave about the same time at the 92nd St. Y. One of the numbers was done to an a capella rendition of "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child". She was in a black dress that had a wide skirt that went to the floor. Her bare feet were spread apart but she never moved them. All her movements were confined to one spot as she bent, swayed and twisted her torso and used her arms and head to convey such pain and anguish as did not seem possible. I think I attended that performance with a number of friends including Arthur Mitchell who went on to become the first black dancer in Balanchine's company and eventually became the founder of the Harlem Ballet. Fred