Mature dancers

[KayDenmark]

The NYCB has growing coterie of mature dancers – meaning over-35s. Although age may add depth and subtlety to a performance, are there some Balanchine parts that are simply not feasible or appropriate for a mature dancer?

How long can a dancer continue to perform the company’s repertoire – historically, have there been any NYCB principals whose prime continued past 40 or 45?

How does a dancer stay in peak shape – physically and psychologically - when, like Kyra Nichols or Robert La Fosse, he or she only performs two or three times a season?

And are there some roles that are simply better when performed by a mature dancer?

[hbl]

historically, have there been any NYCB principals whose prime continued past 40 or 45?

I believe Melissa Hayden danced into her 50's.

[bart]

Great topic.

How does a dancer stay in peak shape – physically and psychologically - when, like Kyra Nichols or Robert La Fosse, he or she only performs two or three times a season?

I've wondered about this too. Allegra Kent writes a bit about this in her autobiography. And then there are those vast companies like the Bolshoi, etc., where some stars dance infrequently, but always in extremely difficult, stamina-demanding, spotlight roles. Can class alone sustain you?

Looking forward to the responses to this topic.

[Leigh Witchel]

I think Mozartiana looks best on a mature dancer.

Afternoon of a Faun on the other hand, looks weird.

To stay in top form you have to be performing, not only taking class, but there are certain ballets one can "grow old in" - especially ballets that were made on the dancer. It's like a custom tailored suit; it lasts longer.

[britomart]

Nicely said, Leigh!

I'd definitely agree w/Mozartiana. Also certain roles in Liebeslieder and Davidsbundlertanze - I don't know enough about the choreographic history of these ballets, but it seems as though certain roles were choreographed with more mature dancers in mind. And I've only seen "Orpheus" with older dancers as Eurydice (Helene Alexopolous, Darci Kistler) so I find it hard to imagine a young dancer in the part. I'd also put the Waltz Girl role from Serenade on the list.

One ballet I think benefits somewhat from youth is "Allegro," not just because of the technical demands, but because there is something of an Aurora-like quality about the female principal's part, but without the narrative that sometimes an older dancer can use to great advantage. I am a bit biased about "Allegro" though, because one of the most extraordinary performances of it that I have ever seen was Alexandra Ansanelli's debut in the part about 5 (?) years ago. There was something about her; she was still a girl but on the brink of becoming the woman she grew into, and seeing that moment in that ballet was magical.

What about roles that can go either way? One for me is 2nd mvmt. Symphony in C - someone (was it cabro?) mentioned recently remembering Darci's 16-year-old debut in the role, and many people have lauded Whelan's rendition over the last couple of years. Of course, Whelan's body is holding up extraodinarily even though she is approaching 40, which is not true for every dancer. In her New York Times Magazine interview Whelan said that performing that role was "like talking to God." I don't think that one needs to be a particular age to talk with God, but perhaps communicating that to other mortals is something that is more natural for some dancers early on, and some come to over time.

Edited April 4, 2006 by britomart

[Leigh Witchel]

Choreographic history certainly bears you out on Davidsbundlertanze. The two anchor female roles in the piece were for Farrell and von Aroldingen, both older at the time. von Aroldingen's role in particular demands a wifely quality of maturity and earthiness.

Liebeslieder's original women were Diana Adams, Melissa Hayden, Jillana and Violette Verdy. The Jillana role (the one with the low bun) feels younger than the others to me. I can't recall who I was talking to, but someone remarked to me that one of the particular traits of the Adams role partnered by Bill Carter was a May-September feel between him and her - a baby-faced boy running around with a mature woman.

Ah yes, Ansanelli's Allegro. Friday night, February 8, 2002. I can't forget it

You have a strong point though that our viewing history shapes our perceptions. I've seen more mature dancers do Allegro (Weese) - it looks great on them, as does Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. Tschai Pas - even more than Allegro - has become one of those annunciatory ballets that NYCB casts the most promising dancers in as a benediction. You expect to see a dancer on the rise in it - not one already at their peak, even though they look quite good in it. That has something to do with our expectations as well - the calculus of the dancer. Is it a role for a dancer on the rise, at their peak or on a (gentle) decline?

[Helene]

Choreographic history certainly bears you out on Davidsbundlertanze. The two anchor female roles in the piece were for Farrell and von Aroldingen, both older at the time. von Aroldingen's role in particular demands a wifely quality of maturity and earthiness.

Not to mention the mature d'Amboise, post 1970's knee injury, the second role (after Meditation) in which he embodied Balanchine. I don't have my performance diary at hand, but if I'm remembering correctly, Koslov was the first dancer I saw assume the role after d'Amboise. (I'll check later. ETA: He was.)

Adam Luders was a relatively mature dancer when he was cast in the Schumann/composer role in the ballet. Alexandre Proia was the first dancer I saw replace him. Although a dramatic dancer, too, Proia was, I believe in his late twenties or early thirties when he danced the role, and he didn't have the gravitas that Luders did. (If PNB were to do the ballet, I would love to see Christophe Maraval in the role.)

Edited to add: Farrell was the first woman I saw after von Aroldingen in the "white" role, the last time I saw her dance in the ballet, but despite her maturity, did not capture the groundedness nor the caring quality of the role, which is almost entirely focused on the man. (Calegari danced Farrell's role in that performance, which she shared with Kozlova through the early 90's.)

[carbro]

A paradox -- the Sleepwalker. She works best when she seems virginal, but young dancers have not, IMO, been able to evoke the great tragedy in this ballet. Perhaps that's why Allegra Kent's imprint is so indelible.

That, and the cosmic tie -- that this was the role that introduced her to her life's work.

Both the women (and their partners) in Emeralds are suited to more experienced -- at-one with the world -- dancers.

I also see the Woman in Green (Dances at a Gathering -- NYCB but not Balanchine) as tipping towards -- if not well into -- middle age.

Great topic, Kay. Thank you!

[Helene]

I also see the Woman in Green (Dances at a Gathering -- NYCB but not Balanchine) as tipping towards -- if not well into -- middle age.

It's interesting that you mention this. In teaching the role in Violette et M. B. -- I can't remember if it was Elisabeth Platel -- she mentions Norma Desmond, a person who was someone in her time, but is dusting off the moves.

[Edited To Add: It was Isabelle Guerin she was coaching (not Platel, whom Verdy coached in Emeralds [still didn't have this right. VV coached Platel in In the Night with Leriche]), who said she thought her character as the "oldest." Verdy agreed, and the subtitles translated what she said as "Here I am, the Sunset Boulevard has-been."]

[dirac]

Liebeslieder's original women were Diana Adams, Melissa Hayden, Jillana and Violette Verdy. The Jillana role (the one with the low bun) feels younger than the others to me. I can't recall who I was talking to, but someone remarked to me that one of the particular traits of the Adams role partnered by Bill Carter was a May-September feel between him and her - a baby-faced boy running around with a mature woman.

That's interesting. Farrell took over that role when she was still very young, some felt too young, dancing it with Kent Stowell, I think. So the May-September feeling, if it was there, must have disappeared almost immediately. (Unless it came back with Karin von Aroldingen later in the sixties -- but she was young, too, of course.) I also recall from Arlene Croce's review of the revival in the early eighties that Farrell, returning to the part in her maturity, "compensated by playing young," or words to that effect. But she would have been just right at that stage as a Slightly Older Woman.

[bart]

The Rosenkavalier Waltz, from Vienna Waltzes. Maybe because I associate it with Suzanne Farrell's farewell, after serious injuries. I would imagine it's impossible to separate the dance from the image of Farrell, at least for those of us of a certain age.

[Helene]

I can't recall who I was talking to, but someone remarked to me that one of the particular traits of the Adams role partnered by Bill Carter was a May-September feel between him and her - a baby-faced boy running around with a mature woman.

Melissa Hayden was quoted by Nancy Reynolds in Repertory in Review as follows:

Here again, the quality of the movement and the pieces related to specific dancers. For instance, Diana Adams--[balanchine] liked the stateliness of her, her maturity, and he put her with someone (Carter) who was young, blond, looked almost like a child on stage. And not a 'Balanchine' dancer. But perfect for Diana. If you look at the choreography, he's always running after her, running because she was flattered by his attentions.

That's interesting. Farrell took over that role when she was still very young, some felt too young, dancing it with Kent Stowell, I think. So the May-September feeling, if it was there, must have disappeared almost immediately. (Unless it came back with Karin von Aroldingen later in the sixties -- but she was young, too, of course.) I also recall from Arlene Croce's review of the revival in the early eighties that Farrell, returning to the part in her maturity, "compensated by playing young," or words to that effect. But she would have been just right at that stage as a Slightly Older Woman.

Here is Croce's quote from her June 4, 1984 review in The New Yorker:

We cannot help seeing [Farrell and McBride] through the lens of Vienna Waltzes, in which Farrell dances the Rosenkavalier sequence and McBride recreates an image of Fanny Elssler. Farrell's Liebeslieder role is much lighter, and she compensates for it by playing young.

Croce mentions that von Aroldingen also danced the Adams role in the revival. (Her performance of the role, partnered by Lüders, was my favorite.)

McBride also took over Hayden's role very young, and was on the broadcast that was excerpted in the PBS Balanchine biography. Of McBride in the revival, Croce said:"For McBride, no adjustment is necessary; she has grown back into the role but not past it, and she's as exciting to watch as Farrell." I find it interesting that a very young dancer was cast in the role that has the single most mature single in the piece: the third-to-last waltz, where the women does a slow series of drops forward in arabesque in the tone of the burnished Brahmsian chords. I cannot find who likened these to the trust in a long, close marriage.

[KayDenmark]

That has something to do with our expectations as well - the calculus of the dancer. Is it a role for a dancer on the rise, at their peak or on a (gentle) decline?

I saw Merrill Ashley in Ballo della Regina near the end of her career, and it seemed to me that she wasn't able to give the ballet what it deserved.

How does a dancer know when to leave a beloved role behind? Particularly a role that is - as Leigh expressed it - a custom-tailored suit.

[sz]

How does a dancer know when to leave a beloved role behind? Particularly a role that is - as Leigh expressed it - a custom-tailored suit.

Usually, your body and your respect for the role, the ballet, tell you it's time... before a director does.

Edited April 5, 2006 by sz

[Helene]

How does a dancer know when to leave a beloved role behind? Particularly a role that is - as Leigh expressed it - a custom-tailored suit.

To use the same metaphor, when that suit needs altering, does it still look appropriate?

[canbelto]

I think the second act pdd in "Midsummer's Night Dream" is best danced by mature dancers. After all the very youthful frolicking of the first act, the second act pdd seems to be Balanchine's statement about a mature, healthy marriage. "You need to be very serious and really love each other." I think to have young 'uns dance this looks odd.

[Quiggin]

Leigh, I think Kyra Nichols did Mozartiana better around 1995 than later on, though quite lovely at both times. It's just that earlier I was just overwhelmed by her account of all the articulations and shapes Balanchine had secreted into the choreography. She may have had an off night when I saw her in 2003(?). I saw her do two Liebeslieders in 2004 and one night she held back a bit, but the other night she was full on. She has certainly had a long and full career.

Luders did La Valse, in additon to Davidsbundetanze, late, and he did phlegmatic to the end brilliantly (though sometimes his landings had a two stage quality about them).

Darci Kistler, another autumnal dancer, did a nice Liebeslieder recently, though sometimes she is a bit coy and her tempos have been, from time to time, a bit bizarre.