John Taras

[Farrell Fan]

He'd faded from the NYCB scene in recent years, but at one time John Taras played an important part in the company's success. He recognized Suzanne Farrell's talent before Balanchine even noticed her. He choreographed one of the strangest ballets ever in the NYCB repertory -- Piege de Lumiere -- a drama featuring convicts and butterflies. I don't recall seeing Arthur Mitchell as The Young Convict, but I did see his successor in the part, Paul Mejia. It was one of Mejia's best roles. In the Tschaikovsky Festival of 1981 and for sometime thereafter, Taras's Souvenir de Florence was ubiquitous. I must have seen it half a dozen times in a matter of weeks. And when it was revived some years later, I realized just how much I'd missed it.

I'll never forget the 1983 SAB Workshop, when Kirstein, Taras, Robbins, and Martins came before the curtain as Kirstein announced Balanchine's death: "Now he is with Mozart, Tschaikovsky, and Stravinsky." Like Kirstein and Robbins, John Taras is there now too.

[Mel Johnson]

Oh, dear, I didn't realize he had gone! I liked his work and used to dance in one of his longtime favorites, "Designs with Strings". His setting of "Jeux" for NYCB was distinctive and carried with it some of the troubling nature of the Nijinsky original, but without trying to "reconstruct" it.

[atm711]

Although I didn't see it, I seem to recall that a young Svetlana Beriosova danced the lead in 'Designs with Strings' with the Metropolitan Ballet----but I can still recall John Taras as a young performer with Ballet Theatre, and his ballet 'Graziana' which was well received.

[perky]

Not only was he a choreographer of distinction in his own right, but he served Mr. B and NYCB faithfully for many years as a ballet master. The knowledge, advise and support he provided to many dancers for so many years will be sorely missed.

[cargill]

Does anyone know what will happen to Symphony in C now? He owned it, as I understand, and it was one of the few not managed by the Balanchine Trust.

[Mel Johnson]

Unless Taras willed those rights to someone else, it reverts to the Estate.

And yes, Beriosova was one of the leads in the old Metropolitan Ballet production. She danced the pas de deux with Erik Bruhn. Taras was also a dancer with Ballet Caravan, and before that, danced at the 1939 World's Fair in a pickup company formed by Balanchine and Kirstein.