Charles France

[Farrell Fan]

I didn't know Charles France, who died on Christmas Day, but I knew what he looked like and who he was. For me, his presence at a performance always implied that something important was taking place.

[Natalia]

I'm sorry to read this news, FarrellFan. He was a very important person within ABT during the Baryshnikov years. I've forgotten the official title but he was Baryshnikov's right-hand-man in making artistic decisions.

[Helene]

The latest issue of Ballet Review (Summer 2006) includes an interview with Charles France by Laura Leivick. I'm not sure whether it was published before and it is a reprint, or if this is the first time it's been published. France mentions Baryshnikov (born 1948) being 50 and La Fosse (born 1959) being 40, which would suggest the late 90's or early 00's, but one of his answers is "This year, they're [ABT] going to do a new Swan Lake," to which Leivick replied, "Kevin McKenzie is doing it," which would suggest a later date. I can't find rep/production info for anything but the 2006/7 City Center season on the ABT website; the Great Performances website describes that the Murphy/Gomes/Corella broadcast "captures all the grandeur of ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie's visually stunning new production."

[Kanawha]

I, too, was saddened to read of Mr. France's death while skimming through this topic this morning. In the book "Private View" published in 1988, there is a section about him and it speaks of his devotion to Mr. Baryshnikov and to ABT. Also, if I'm not mistaken, in the film "Dancers" Mr. France makes a cameo. There is a scene where Baryshnikov is viewing some snippets of film of the new costumes for Giselle and Mr. France comes into the 'scene in the scene' to adjust the train on Bathilde's gown. My sympathy goes out to his friends and family.

[Helene]

There is another interview by Michael Langlois with Charles France that's been published in the Fall 2006 issue of Ballet Review. There's a note to say, "Michael Langlois' complete interview has been edited to eliminate some of the overlap between it and Laura Leivick's conversation with Charles France published in our summer issue."

A snippet, in answer to "What were your responsibilities [as Baryshnikov's assistant at ABT]":

What caused some people to misinterpret my role was that Misha was completely terrified about speaking to the dancers he suspected were going to make trouble. He would talk to people he thought were reasonable, but sometimes his antennae were quivering away so he'd ask me to speak to the others. In many instances what these dancers wanted were things he and I had already discussed, so I would usually say, "Misha and I have spoken about this and he's just not going to change his mind. If you still disagree I think the best thing you can do is make an appointment with him yourself."

Strangely enough, they rarely did. My theory was that some dancers would rather hear no from me than from Misha. Sometimes they would then come back to me and say, well, what about this, or what about that, and I would say, "I'll ask" or "You'll have to see him about that."

[Paul Parish]

I found both Ballet Review interviews really helpful in getting a sense of who Charles France was and how he could be so useful in running ballet companies (he was at NYCB also). He was uniquely situated to know what to do. The biographical info is fascinating -- what an upbringing!

Check it out.