Ruth Page

[Mme. Hermine]

A little film posted by and for Ruth Page's school, from a video made after a school performance 23 years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5FCUxcbXPA

Unfortunately I do not know who the children are.

[Gina Ness]

What a wonderful video! I love the way she interacts with these young dancers...very kind and attentive. You can hear words of wisdom interspersed throughout!

[Treefrog]

I didn't watch it all the way through, but I had quite the opposite reaction: here a is a woman who has no concept how to engage young people. There are many long pauses, and it feels quite awkward to me.

Edited to add: I went back and watched the rest of it, and see that she does loosen up a bit.

[Mme. Hermine]

I knew Miss Page well enough to know that she really liked being around children; strangely enough, she wasn't particularly comfortable with cameras.

[vrsfanatic]

Thank you for the lovely link. It was wonderful to see Ms. Page, knowing all that she and her husband have done for the development of ballet in the US. I had only seen still photos of her and of course heard the wonderful stories until this point.

As for not being comfortable in front of the cameras, it a very common issue! She was a wonderful person who contributed so very much.

[atm711]

She came across as quite modest and unpretentious; it is quite hard to believe how that power-house of a ballet "Frankie and Johnny" came out of that demure woman.

[Mme. Hermine]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhk4T5b_uQw

Would it be better for this subject to be in the section about History?

To be entirely correct, the choreography is credited both to Miss Page and Bentley Stone.

[Farrell Fan]

Whether or not Miss Page was comfortable among children, it is abundantly clear from this lovely video that the children were comfortable and loved being with her. Thanks for posting it.