Dancing in the Grave

[pherank]

Not to be morbid, but I found these gravestone images interesting, and they led me to a nice little online article.

Both Balanchine and Danilova were buried at Oakland Cemetery, Sag Harbor, New York.

George Balanchine

(photo courtesy Tyler Peck, NYCB)

The Isamu Noguchi lyre from Orpheus!

Alexandra Danilova

(photo by Gene Schiavone. I like the little vodka bottle and the Christmas decorations.)

Dancing in the Grave by Caitlyn Lehmann mentions the last resting places of Taglioni, Nureyev, Nijinsky, Pavlova and others:
http://www.behindballet.com/dancing-in-the-grave/

[Helene]

Ulanova is buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. There is a life-sized half sculpture of her:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20399

[Mme. Hermine]

Olga Spessivtseva:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8196690

[Dale]

The cemetery where Balanchine is buried is right across from my uncle's house. When I would visit, I'd always check in with Mr. B. Now my uncle is buried there, too. There is a famous pianist there, too. But I can't remember his name. I remember he was close to Baryshnikov.

Tiler's picture is from this blog (scroll down):

http://www.bodywrappers.com/company_tilertalks_p04.php

I love what she writes here:

"With that said, two former New York City Ballet principal dancers gave Robbie and I the best gift. They took us to visit Mr. B's grave! I couldn't believe my eyes. In fact, it felt so sacred that I was actually afraid to walk towards the tombstone because I didn't want to disrupt anything. It was an amazing feeling to be there, especially since there were four of us, all HIS dancers, but from different generations."

She's pictured with Damien Woetzel. I'm guessing the other principal is Heather Watts.

[Drew]

These are beautiful pictures (including those at links)...thanks for posting.

If I ever had the opportunity, I would visit Balanchine's grave.

[duffster]

While on tour in Venice with the Harkness Ballet, several of us had the opportunity to visit Diaghilev's grave. It was located on another small island, in a courtyard-garden setting, with other graves surrounding it. We had to get a large key to gain entrance to it. Once we had the key, two of our fellow dancers had a tough time trying to open it. I started to feel that we made the trip in vain- but on the last try it opened. It truly was a sacred moment for us too. Leaving there ,going back to the main island, we witnessed a breathtakingly beautiful sunset over the water. I also had just celebrated my birthday - one that I will always remember.