ETHAN STEIFEL Interviewed by Elizabeth Kaye

[carbro]

My notes:

Kaye: This event is one of your few appearances this season.

Steifel: " It's been very frustrating. Thanks for reminding me." Overall, between two separate surgeries, it will have been a 4-5 month recovery period. When you're injured, you begin to quesiton everything: Should I change my diet? Change my way of working? Change my shampoo?

After an injury-free career, suddenly had two within three months. First one knee, then the other.

Kaye: Your start in ballet?

Steifel: Too much Ethan Allen furniture was being broken. Sister, 15 months older, started gymnastics. He took gymnastics, too. Then, she switched to ballet, and their mother, thinking of the possible consequences of leaving Ethan at home with no one to protect the furniture, decided it was financially prudent to take him along to his sister's classes. Before long, he decided it looked like fun, so started taking classes. (His sister ultimately spent 10 years as a dancer in Switzerland).

Kaye: The film, The Turning Point?

Steifel: Had a huge impact. Madison, Wisconsin, had little ballet. The film showed great stars.

Kaye: And what about all those pretty girls in leotards?

Steifel: That was always a bonus.

Kaye: Getting to New York?

Steifel: Dad worked for Federal Bureau of Prisons. Was transferred to Pennsylvania, where Ethan enrolled in Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. From there, father was transferred to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, in lower Manhattan. He was 14 and offered a scholarship to SAB.

Kaye: Started your days at the prison?

Steifel: Whole family got up at 4:30 a.m. and drove downtown to be sure to get a parking spot. He and his sister would spend 1 to 1 1/2 hours in the prison before leaving for school.

Kaye: Whether it was Stanley Williams or Jerry Robbins, there was always someone in charge who picked Steifel as The One to Watch.

Steifel: Was in Men's Advanced, Williams brought Natasha Gleboff, SAB Administrator, to watch class and pointed him out. After than, he was enrolled also in a newly formed class, Men's Special.

Kaye: A lot of well-known dancers in that class: Baryshnikov, Nureyev, Bujones, Martins . . . Didn't Nureyev credit Williams with saving his career? Elongating his muscles? How did you deal with all those stars in your class?

Steifel: Parents raised him to respect his elders, so he kept a distance from the stars, but he watched them.

Kaye: Ever get the feeling any were watching you?

Steifel (scanning the audience): We're all adults here. Yes, some were looking at him, but for different reasons. [laughter]

Baryshnikov, then AD of ABT, started the School of Classical Ballet. Martins extended an invitation to Steifel to join NYCB, but he chose to study with Baryshnikov. Then Baryshnikov closed the school; Steifel returned to NYCB.

At NYCB, a dancer does a lot right away -- real dancing, not just spear holding. It's a great place to start out, a natural transition from SAB. He was the only dancer to receive coaching from Baryshnikov in Harlequinade. He was also coached in that role by Villella.

Kaye: Working with Robbins?

Steifel: "I can't say I wasn't humiliated by him." They got that out of the way early, and from then on, the relationship got better. He danced in West Side Story, Dances at a Gathering and Goldberg Variations. Once Robbins was with you, he was fully behind you.

The most difficult circumstance is performing when his parents are in the audience. They really don't know much about ballet, but he needs to show them that all their sacrifice was worth it. They were there for his debut as Romeo, "looked stunned."

While at NYCB, ABT was always in the back of his mind. Martins asked, "Aren't you happy here?" He was receiving offers from other places and then a call Michael Kaiser (then exec. dir. of ABT).

Kaye: That was the shock that went around the plaza. He had been led to believe that if he stayed at NYCB, he could be AD one day.

Steifel: Wasn't sure he was ready to leave, but sensed if he didn't take Kaiser's offer, at the end of his career he would have a sense of unsatisfaction. Maybe he was "too comfortable" at NYCB. He wanted more challenges, a new set of expectations to conquer.

Kaye: You got so much very soon.

Steifel: Yes. In one rehearsal for R&J with Julie, he lifted her and carried her around the stage before realizing that it was the wrong lift -- the one from Le Corsaire! ABT was always testing his capabilities. He was afraid to turn anything down, but also afraid of not being able to do it all and do it well. Had two weeks to prepare Swan Lake and didn't feel ready.

Kaye: What about the classic roles -- Albrecht, Siegfried?

Steifel: They are charged with the ghosts of great dancers -- Nureyev, Bruhn, etc. "These people paved the way for what I do today."

Kaye: Rehearsal process?

Steifel: Goes into the studio with some "bullet points" -- very generalized ideas of what he wants to do with a role. It is only in the studio, when you are working in partnership, that you begin to get specific.

'95 was a big year: Anastasia, Romeo & Juliet, Bayadere, partnering McKerrow and Jaffe, more experienced dancers who guided him. The more comfortable he is, the better the result on stage. [i don't remember if this was a reference to his partner, or the role, but it's probably safe to assume

both.]

In '97 ABT revived Dolin's Variations for Four. They added steps to the choreography and sequins to the costumes. Extremely difficult to dance, especially in the heavier tunic.

Wonders "whither technique?" Could have been a gymnast -- had that opportunity -- but ballet has all those athletic demands plus artistic ones. Wants to adhere to standards of form and musicality, but is not necessarily a purist in contemporary or modern works. You can still be creative while performing a role as it was made to be danced. Doesn't want to be anal retentive.

Kaye: Ballet is anal retentive. [laughter]

Steifel. Sees the death of Mercutio in R&J as the point from which the story takes off. "Nothing wakes you up like the sight of blood."

Audience: Effect of film, Center Stage?

Steifel: The role is part Ethan, part not. People are questioning the film more, now that he is an artistic director. While teaching and performing in schools, he notices that people fear he might be Cooper Nielsen. [laughter]

Audience: Ballet Pacific?

Steifel: The chance to direct a company came earlier than he'd expected -- this year. BP pursued him, and it seemed to be a good opportunity to build a company that's had its ups and downs. With support there from John Gardner and Amanda McKerrow, he will be able to dance, but is being more selective.

Kaye: Relationship with Gillian Murphy?

Steifel: "My better half." They've been together for seven years. It is sometimes difficult working together, because familiarity allows you to lose the etiquette of a ballet studio, and his working style is to be honest and direct, which can be hard for some people. After working with your significant other, it is sometimes hard, too, to leave what happened in the studio in the studio.

Kaye: You and Gillian got together when she was 17?

Steifel: (nodding, then, jumping off his stool downstage) No! Nineteen! Nineteen! [laughter].

Kaye: . . . and you were 25?

Steifel: yes.

Audience: Goals for this season?

Steifel: Petrouchka and Amanda's last Giselle. Is fighting to do the Albrecht, but Petrouchka is "not knee friendly."

Audience: "Your Petrouchka was revelatory in Washington."

Audience: Are you marking or dancing your rehearsals?

Steifel: Both. Is about 70% recovered.

Audience: How long have you been dancing?

Steifel. Had first class at 8, went pro at 16. Is now 32.

Audience: What did Gillian's mom say when you took her across country on your motorcycle?

Steifel: More like her dad. Gillian had been at North Carolina School of the Arts -- on her own for a while.

Danced in Zurich two non-consecutive years and spent four years as a guest artist with Royal Ballet. In Europe, dancers have 13-month-long contracts. No one knows when the thirteenth month is. Vacation, maybe? Zurich does 35-40 performances a year, vs. NYCB about 70*, plus Nuts. It's hard to do a ballet twice and then retire it.

Audience: How important is it to have ballets made on you?

Steifel: A good thing. You can bring your own sensibility to anything, but not all choreographers want dancers' input. Whenever you're the first to dance a role, you have a wider range of interpretive possibilities.

Audience: Twyla Tharp's "Known By Heart"?

Steifel: It was mostly already done when she came into the studio. Tharp is intelligent and meticulous. He and she had a special affinity.

Audience: Steifel and Stars?

Steifel: It's now "Steifel and Students." The professionals' names bring cachet, but it's actually a kind of a Michael Jordan Basketball Camp for dancers.

Kaye: Thank you.

Steifel: Thank you.

Audience: [Applause]

* Actually seven per week times 17 weeks is 119.

Thanks to JJC for clarification and correction.

Edited June 7, 2005 by carbro

[Helene]

That was terrific, carbro

[dirac]

Let me add my thanks, carbro. Great job.

[carbro]

Thanks, Helene and dirac. All I did was transcribe the conversation, since most of the BalletTalk gang (which includes many Ethan fans) couldn't be there.

[Marga]

Thanks, carbro, that was fabulous! I love reading dancer interviews!

[Renata]

I really enjoyed reading the interview. Thanks for taking the time to write it down and post it.

[DancingGiselle]

Thank you, carbro! I've only seen Ethan dance a few times over the past couple of years during ABT's appearances at the Kennedy Center, but I'm certainly a huge fan (as huge as I can be from a distance). I'll miss him terribly if his engagements at Ballet Pacifica keep him too busy to dance with ABT during the company's annual stints in DC. And he might even take Gillian with him to CA (in the most recent issue of Pointe, she says something about how much she'd love to dance with Ethan's company). *sniff*

[DancingPixie]

what a terrific interview, thankyou so much - I can't help but admire Ethan Stiefel, (he dances like a dream ) and it's lovely to see that he's a cool person as well

[vrsfanatic]

Thank you also for that very interesting interview. If you have the opportuntiy to ask Stiefel why he credits Baryishnikov as his teacher I would love to know (ha, although maybe I do not want to hear his answer)...

Baryshnikov, then AD of ABT, started the School of Classical Ballet. Martins extended an invitation to Steifel to join NYCB, but he chose to study with Baryshnikov. Then Baryshnikov closed the school; Steifel returned to NYCB.

Actually the main teachers of the boys in that school were Jurgen Schneider, Sasha Filipov and Sasha (Alexander) Minz. Baryishnikov actually only taught a few time! I know it sounds so nice to say that Baryshnikov was the teacher, but in reality he taught very little in those years.

[carbro]

Thank you also for that very interesting interview. If you have the opportuntiy to ask Stiefel why he credits Baryishnikov as his teacher I would love to know (ha, although maybe I do not want to hear his answer)...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I only transcribed the interview, VRS, I did not conduct it. That role was filled most capably, with tact and charm, by Elizabeth Kaye. But I'll keep your question in mind should the opportunity to ask ever arise.