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SideBarre

It takes more than pliés to lift a ballet company to great heights. From dancers to conductors, teachers to makeup artists, this series features fascinating insight from ABT experts and an intimate look inside America’s National Ballet Company®. Take a spot at the SideBarre to get to know the incredible people behind each bourrée of American Ballet Theatre.

Iris Wilson. Photo: Collette Bonaparte Ashmen.
Posted In
ABT RISEGet to know...
November 13, 2020
ABT RISE Weekend Workshops provide students from traditionally underrepresented populations access to classical ballet, while serving all communities across New York City's five boroughs in a warm and welcoming environment. ABT held its first virtual RISE Weekend on October 24-25, 2020.

"In my Afro Caribbean dance class, I give students the freedom to make their own choices, and I encourage them to reach beyond what naturally comes easy to them."

By Iris Wilson

In February 2020, Richard Toda, Artistic Manager of Engagement at American Ballet Theatre, emailed asking if I could teach the Afro Caribbean classes for ABT RISE Weekend Workshop. Overjoyed and completely stoked about teaching for a prestigious organization, I accepted the invitation. As I prepared my lesson, I knew exactly what I wanted to teach the young second and third grade students who would be participating in the ABT RISE weekend.

Fast forward ahead through a time where our world has been completely flipped upside down by COVID-19, police brutality, BLM protest, California wildfires, closing the city, re-opening the city, #endsars, war in the Congo – and the most chaotic presidential election cycle in recent U.S. history to top it all off – I’m delighted to say that I recently taught my third workshop for the ABT RISE program on October 24 and 25. It was a breath of fresh air and the silver lining in the midst of global pandemonium.

It is truly an honor to be a Teaching Artist with ABT RISE. I love the mission of the program, which is to provide students from traditionally underrepresented populations access to ballet and all forms of dance.

It is so pivotal to the development of the whole child. By participating in programs such as this, it enables students to better understand themselves and the world in which they live. It also allows room for children to be expressive and communicate their own ideas while being creative, learning new things, meeting new friends, and having fun.

ABT RISE Weekend participant in Afro Caribbean dance class.
ABT RISE Weekend participant in Afro Caribbean dance class.

While ballet is the central point, ABT RISE also offers classes in other forms of dance, including jazz, modern, hip hop, and Afro Caribbean. In my Afro Caribbean dance class, I give students the freedom to make their own choices, and I encourage them to reach beyond what naturally comes easy to them. I motivate them to take risks by stepping outside of what’s comfortable or familiar, to test their own boundaries, and to use their imagination.

ABT RISE students have learned dances from Haiti, Cuba, and Dominican Republic, as well as free movement styles found throughout the Caribbean Islands. I teach students the history of the folklore and to recognize the contribution of these cultures to the fabric of our society. This increases their understanding and appreciation of the diversity and value of all people.

Dance, as we already know, is amazingly beneficial for children. It builds a sense of community, and brings joy and happiness to participants.

In the midst of a pandemic where social distancing and masks are mandatory to save lives, we are all on edge and feeling the negative emotional impacts of isolation and being apart from one another. Now more than ever, dance class seems even more magical.

While children may not be able to dance in the physical dance studio and be physically close to their friends and teachers right now, the beauty of technology has allowed the ABT RISE program to continue to bring dance to the lives of children and to enable them to feel connected once again.

As I observed the children expressing themselves through movement during the workshop, I couldn’t help but notice that their smiles had become contagious. The presence of community was there and it felt so organic.

Watching everyone dancing together on the screen in their little boxes restored a new sense of togetherness, no matter how far apart we were. The magic was back in the same way it was before social distancing became our new normal.

Allowing children to unmute themselves so their voices can be heard was an added bonus and a special treat for me, as one student gleefully shared how she loves dancing and that my class was the “best ever” out of the entire weekend. This made my heart smile!

Iris Wilson was an original featured cast member of the three-time Tony Award®-winning Broadway musical Fela! and toured with the show nationally and internationally. She is currently a dance educator at P.S. 9 and a Teaching Artist for ABT RISE.

"By participating in programs such as ABT RISE, it enables students to better understand themselves and the world in which they live. It also allows room for children to be expressive and communicate their own ideas, while being creative, learning new things, meeting new friends, and having fun."

"I teach students the history of the folklore and to recognize the contribution of these cultures to the fabric of our society. This increases their understanding and appreciation of the diversity and value of all people."

"The beauty of technology has allowed the ABT RISE program to continue to bring dance to the lives of children and to enable them to feel connected once again."

Richard Toda.
Posted In
ABT RISEGet to know...
November 10, 2020
ABT RISE Weekend Workshops provide students from traditionally underrepresented populations access to classical ballet, while serving all communities across New York City’s five boroughs in a warm and welcoming environment. ABT held its first virtual RISE Weekend on October 24-25, 2020.

"As Artistic Manager of ABT Engagement, my role is to design and host the program and bring together a faculty to inspire our NYC kids."

By Richard Toda

As I write this, 48 hours ago we brought our virtual RISE weekend to a close. While the glow of the weekend remains, let me share about the program, my role, and some of the wonderful educators who shared their expertise.

The ABT Engagement team welcomed second and third grade New York City public school students to participate in a free series of dance classes and activities over the weekend of October 24-25 via Zoom. As Artistic Manager of ABT Engagement, my role is to design and host the program and bring together a faculty to inspire our NYC kids.

Everyone has different learning styles. I’m a visual learner, so in designing our RISE Programs, I visualize the flow of the weekend and how that will support our student outcomes.

The ABT RISE Weekend Workshop is an intensive two days offering almost three hours of dance instruction each day. Rest times are woven into the schedule, with snack time where we show dance video clips and breaks between class offerings. Our days start and end with community building sessions.

During the morning session, expectations are shared, including how to meet our teachers, more complex ideas of what success looks like today, and reminders such as, “Those steps I know, those steps can grow.”

The morning session is an important icebreaker to set everyone up to be ready and successful, especially over Zoom. It has also been important to offer students a variety of entry points to further their interest in dance.

ABT RISE Weekend schedules include a daily ballet class, followed by a pairing of either Afro Caribbean and Modern classes, or Contemporary and Hip-Hop classes for our second and third hours of the day.

ABT RISE Weekend participant.
ABT RISE Weekend participant.

We enlisted ballet faculty from our own Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School Children’s Division, Breana Reed and Alexis Andrews, along with ABT Teaching Artists Mariana Ranz, Carrie Demos, and Kelby Brown, to provide consistency with ABT’s National Training Curriculum. Students also experienced Hip-Hop guest teachers Shaahida Samuels and William Rhem and Contemporary classes with Justin Dominic.

As a former student in Newark Arts High School years ago, Justin Dominic had participated in ABT’s Make a Ballet program. He then danced professionally with Carolyn Dorfman Dance, among other artists and companies. What a joy it was to watch Justin lead and demonstrate Contemporary movement vocabulary with such rich detail for ABT RISE students.

Another admired dance educator who has taught at our previous ABT RISE workshops is Iris Wilson. Iris danced in the Broadway company of Fela! and is now a New York City public school dance teacher. She will share her perspective on the virtual RISE Weekend here on SideBarre later this week.

Part of our network is Harlem School of the Arts (HSA), an ABT-certified school. HSA’s Chief Officer of Education and Creative Programs, Aubrey Lynch, and Dance Chair, Leyland Simmons, lead a conservatory dance program for HSA students on Saint Nicholas Avenue and 145th Street. Leyland taught ballet class to our oldest RISE workshop students on Saturday, and Aubrey and Leyland together introduced students to the possibilities for next steps in their dance education at HSA on Sunday.

Our NYC youth are resilient, and like all dancers, they search out and find community. We’ve now had students who joined us in person at our 890 Broadway studios for our first RISE Workshop, attended our RISE Camp in August, and returned this fall for the RISE Weekend.

I’m so glad these students have found ABT RISE to be a source of community and fun learning experiences that deepened their love of dance. A few of the comments shared during our final reflections show their progress and passion: “I listened,” “I focused better today,” “I had so much fun,” and “I had a great time at all the classes.”

Richard Toda leads educational programs throughout New York City as Artistic Manager, ABT Engagement.

"The ABT Engagement team welcomed second and third grade New York City public school students to participate in a free series of dance classes and activities over the weekend of October 24-25 via Zoom."

"Our NYC youth are resilient, and like all dancers, they search out and find community."

"I’m so glad these students have found ABT RISE to be a source of community and fun learning experiences."

October 27, 2020
ABT has created “ballet bubbles” in various locations of New York State to safely gather dancers and choreographers in a quarantined setting in order to create new works.

“I found that working in this bubble after months of not being able to perform with ABT was extremely fulfilling and inspiring.”

By Anabel Katsnelson

From September 21–October 26, ABT dancers Anabel Katsnelson, Betsy McBride, Duncan McIlwaine, Erica Lall, Jacob Clerico, and Melvin Lawovi, along with Director of Repertoire Carlos Lopez and choreographer Darrell Grand Moultrie, created the first ballet bubble at PS21 in Chatham, New York. The group lived together on the grounds of the performance space, set in the foothills of the Berkshires, for five weeks to rehearse and film a new ballet under strict safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SideBarre spoke to Anabel about the unique opportunity and her experience there.

Anabel Katsnelson, Erica Lall, and Betsy McBride at the PS21 theater. Photo courtesy Katsnelson.
Anabel Katsnelson, Erica Lall, and Betsy McBride at the PS21 theater. Photo courtesy Katsnelson.

How did you feel rehearsing and performing again after months of lockdown?

It was truly a pleasure to dance in a theater after spending months taking “quarantine class” at home on my little square of marley from Harlequin floors. It felt so freeing to take up space and do big jumps across the floor! Rehearsing and creating a new work delighted and challenged me in so many ways; I really tried to soak it all in. The first couple of weeks were physically difficult as far as getting back into dancing shape, but by the end of the project, I felt like I had surpassed where I was as a dancer even pre-covid.

What were the grounds of PS21 like and what did you do there during downtime?

The grounds of PS21 were gorgeous, and we were lucky enough to be there for peak fall foliage! We rehearsed at the on-site theater, just a short walk from the house we all stayed in. I loved being able to go apple picking on my five-minute breaks and take long walks around the grounds in my downtime. There was an animal sanctuary next to the house with pigs and goats! In our downtime at the house we cooked together, watched ballet videos, tie-dyed, celebrated birthdays, sang karaoke, and had dance parties!

How was your experience working and living with the same group of people?

Anabel Katsnelson with Darrell Grand Moultrie rehearsing his new work at PS21 in Chatham, New York. Photo: Carlos Lopez.
Anabel Katsnelson with Darrell Grand Moultrie rehearsing his new work at PS21 in Chatham, New York. Photo: Carlos Lopez.

The incredible pod group made the experience so special! Of course, all of us dancers knew each other before the project, but living together for five weeks bonded us all in so many ways. Carlos Lopez, the Director of Repertoire, taught classes for us, organized events for us, rehearsed us, took care of all of our safety protocols, and motivated us every day!

It was inspiring to watch ballets together and have open conversations about our artistic aspirations in a setting outside of the studio. Our choreographer, Darrell Grand Moultrie, also stayed in the same house and got to know each one of us! I think the living situation added a human aspect to the piece. Darrell became acquainted with our personalities and urged us to remain true to ourselves in our dancing.

What was it like working with Darrell Grand Moultrie for the first time?

Anabel Katsnelson gets a leg up at the PS21 theater. Photo courtesy Katsnelson.
Anabel Katsnelson gets a leg up at the PS21 theater. Photo courtesy Katsnelson.

Working with Darrell was incredible! From the get-go, he had a great eye and was able to assess each dancer’s strengths and weaknesses. He was passionate about not only creating an awesome piece, but also ensuring that the process was transformative and impactful. What I learned during these weeks helped me grow as an artist and will stick with me for the rest of my career!

Darrell chose Duke Ellington music for his new work, which will premiere at ABT’s virtual gala on November 23. How was it dancing to jazz music rather than classical piano or orchestra?

I loved dancing to Duke Ellington! It felt great to dance to familiar music while still maintaining a classical base. In this case, the music really dictated the movement. The piece came together seamlessly because the choreography fit the phrasing of the music so well.

Any other reflections from lockdown or the bubble?

I found that working in this bubble after months of not performing with ABT was extremely fulfilling and inspiring. I cannot wait to see the final result at ABT’s virtual gala on November 23!

Anabel Katsnelson is a member of the corps de ballet. She joined ABT in 2016. Follow her on Instagram @anabel_katsnelson.

Susan Jones. Photo: Sarah Sterner.
Posted In
Mentors
October 20, 2020
Who is your mentor?

"I have been blessed to have many mentors – people who not only believed in me, but quietly guided me towards my 40+ years as a member of ABT’s Artistic Staff."

By Susan Jones

Susan Jones as the Cowgirl in <i>Rodeo</i>. Photo: Kenn Duncan.
Susan Jones as the Cowgirl in Rodeo. Photo: Kenn Duncan.

In my many years with ABT, I have been blessed to have many mentors – people who not only believed in me, but quietly guided me towards my 40+ years as a member of ABT’s Artistic Staff.

As a dancer, choreographer Agnes DeMille chose me to dance The Cowgirl in Rodeo, against director Lucia Chase’s preference for a soloist dancer. Of course, Agnes won that “battle.” Her belief in me brought out my inner voice as an artist while teaching me stagecraft: timing, the importance of stillness, and honesty in one’s intent.

Twyla Tharp was next. I was still in the cast of Push Comes to Shove when she chose me to maintain the ballet. ABT’s management picked up on that, and within a year I became an assistant ballet master. The path was clear.

Misha Baryshnikov made it clearer when he became Artistic Director of ABT. His guidance became my mantra during tough times: “It comes with the job.” His assistant, Charles France, mentored in a different way. He taught me to stand up passionately for my point of view and beliefs.

And last, but certainly not least, Natasha Makarova’s trust in me has helped me to raise the bar and keep it aloft. I’ve learned so much from her – about technique, artistry and the marriage between the two.

All of these remarkable people have left their mark on me and how I work. They established the standards that I adhere to, and they are with me when I enter the studio. Lessons of a lifetime.

Susan Jones serves as Regisseur at ABT. January 2021 will mark 50 years since she joined ABT.

Susan shared stories of working alongside Natalia Makarova in a video for ABT OffStage: A 2020 Virtual Season, available on YouTube!

October 13, 2020
In April 2020, the ABT National Training Curriculum Teacher Training Intensives made the leap from in person to online courses. Creators of the National Training Curriculum Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens share their experience with this new virtual world.

"We are honored to work with teachers from around the world via Zoom."

By Franco De Vita, Raymond Lukens

We are two mature men who still write with pens and pencils, type with two fingers, and go into a panic when dealing with computers and the internet. So, for us, it was a scary thought to teach the ABT National Training Curriculum (NTC) Teacher Training Intensives via Zoom.

But the NTC Team, Molly Schnyder, Sonia Jones and Sayako Harada made it happen. It has been an adventure and we are all gaining confidence with every learning curve that comes our way. The NTC Team, from the ABT Education and Training Department, has proven that the “ABT Miracle” does not only apply to performances on stage but also to the work done behind the scenes by the entire organization.

Our first experiment teaching the NTC via Zoom were courses reserved for ABT Company cancers. It went surprisingly well. And what a joy to work with the dancers and with ABT’s Regisseur, Susan Jones. Every time there was a cyber challenge, it was fixed with a great spirit of collaboration from the NTC team and the dancers, just like the ABT family always does.

Poster from Summer 2020 virtual teacher training intensives.
Poster from Summer 2020 virtual teacher training intensives.

Speaking of the ABT family, it touched us deeply that so many of our ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School graduates now dancing with the main Company took the course.

It is impossible to describe the happiness we felt seeing their faces and how hard they worked.

We must say that all the ABT dancers’ commitment to learn the NTC was uplifting, especially now with COVID-19. An added plus has been that we were able to visit them all at their homes – virtually of course!

After seeing that the courses were successful for the dancers, the ABT NTC Teacher Training Intensives are being offered to all teachers wishing to participate.

It is mind boggling that we have teachers attending the courses from the entire world, with those in Australia and Asia getting up in the middle of the night to follow the lectures.

We are truly blessed, and we are humbled and honored to be given the opportunity to work with teachers from around the world in this new way online. Still, we look forward to the day we can all meet again at ABT’s historic New York City studios at 890 Broadway.

Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens designed and codified the ABT National Training Curriculum, which was introduced in 2007. They are now ABT National Training Curriculum Associates Emeriti.

Jennifer Tipton. Photo by Brigitte Lacombe.
Posted In
A Look Back at 80 Years
October 9, 2020
This week on SideBarre, lighting designer Jennifer Tipton steps into the spotlight.

"Behind every shining light on stage is a great lighting designer, but Jennifer Tipton doesn’t exist in the shadows. She is a giant in her industry."

Gillian Murphy in <i>The Brahms-Haydn Variations</i>. Photo: Marty Sohl.
Gillian Murphy in The Brahms-Haydn Variations. Photo: Marty Sohl.

Light. For the most part, we just accept it. We don’t question it nor may we even think about it. We take for granted that we are able to see, and that light will continue to allow us to see. There is a reason why darkness can evoke so much fear—light illuminates our world into abundance. Without its presence, so many things just disappear.

There is a certain place that one takes note of the light. In the theater, when the lights dim to signal the start of a show, it brings a collective hush over an eager audience and the late comers scrambling to find their seats.

With the darkness comes a flood of anticipation. We gladly accept ourselves disappearing into the blackness, for the light that appears before us creates another world to immerse ourselves within. It is so seamless that we do not even notice the light that took us there.

Behind every shining light on stage is a great lighting designer, but Jennifer Tipton doesn’t exist in the shadows. She is a giant in her industry, a revered and respected artist who has won too many awards to count: a MacArthur Grant, a Laurence Olivier Award, two Bessies, two Tonys®, two American Theatre Wing Awards to name a few. Jennifer’s work, both in theater and in dance, is known and beloved around the world.

A dancer performs in front of a couple of graffiti artists
in <i>Deuce Coupe</i>
after its premiere in 1973. Photo: Herbert Migdoll.
A dancer performs in front of a couple of graffiti artists in Deuce Coupe after its premiere in 1973. Photo: Herbert Migdoll.

Now a Professor of Design at the Yale School of Drama, Jennifer’s roots began in modern dance. The summer between her junior and senior year of high school in Columbus, Ohio, Jennifer went to the American Dance Festival, where she fell in love with the Graham technique, created by American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham.

She loved it so much that during her senior year, she spent two weeks in New York by herself, studying at the Martha Graham Dance Company studios. Although she transitioned into lighting design after graduating from Cornell University, her dancer’s eye has always remained sharp, intuitive and essential to her lighting.

So how does lighting design work? When working on a new ballet, Jennifer would go see the work in the studio and was often one of the first people to see the whole ballet with virgin eyes. Arriving simply as a viewer, she would ask the choreographer not to talk to her about the piece until she had seen it. “If the choreographer tells me certain things, like [the dancers are] reacting to a ghost at this point, then I will see the ghost” she said. Her independent notions that she then formed about the ballet allowed her to aid the choreographer in their storytelling and give recommendations as to how an intention can be made more present by the light.

Scene from <i>Deuce Coupe</i> in 2019. Photo: Gene Schiavone.
Scene from Deuce Coupe in 2019. Photo: Gene Schiavone.

The next step, moving a work to the stage from the studio, creates a significant difference in how the ballet looks, and it is here that Jennifer works her magic. With the addition of costumes or sets, from the most detailed to the barest, light is the medium through which these elements come together to form a performance.

On stage, light could be its own character, especially in dance, where choreography and light infuse to sculpt and define the movement. The three-dimensional elements of this relationship are the key to perception of breadth and volume, but it must not be obtrusive. As Jennifer explains:

“The lighting designer has to be very careful not to be bigger than the dance.”

It was always her hope that the audience didn’t take too much notice of the light on stage. If one did take note, it could have been for all the wrong reasons (a stage shrouded in an excess of shadow can certainly be a performance-killer). It is the lighting designer’s job to use the light to not just make the dance visible, but to tell a story—one that is fitting and freeing, allowing an understanding and interpretation of the narrative.

Scene from <i>In the Upper Room</i>. Archival photo: Marty Sohl.
Scene from In the Upper Room. Archival photo: Marty Sohl.

Jennifer’s time as a lighting designer was sometimes difficult. It wasn’t a very glamorous job, and she often missed out on the recognition that the dancers, choreographers, costume designers and composers received. She frequently found herself traveling alone, having to fend for herself, needing to be strong. One must weather the bumps and bruises, she told me, to develop a shell, but also needs to stay sensitive to the surrounding world.

Jennifer made it through with her guiding force, “I’ve been just so in love with light, that those other things don’t matter.”

We should all hope to find something in our lives to talk about with as much reverence and passion as Jennifer does about light.

During the Fall 2019 season at the David H. Koch Theater, ABT presented Tharp Trio, a program of three Twyla Tharp ballets: The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Deuce Coupe and In the Upper Room. It was not just an evening of Twyla, but an evening of Jennifer Tipton too.

She had worked with the famed choreographer on all three ballets that spanned three decades. Having them shown together in one evening was a proud and significant moment for Jennifer, a celebration of many years of work.

Herman Cornejo in a recent performance of <i>In the Upper Room</i>. Photo: Rosalie O'Connor.
Herman Cornejo in a recent performance of In the Upper Room. Photo: Rosalie O'Connor.

The lighting featured in In the Upper Room is particularly striking. The beautiful interference of beaming white lights against semi-transparent fog on stage functions as a curtain through which the dancers can appear and disappear. They do not simply exit the stage, they are engulfed and released, their lingering energy fueling the progression of the dance.

Much has changed in lighting design over the years with new and evolving technology. Computer controls make some things possible that could not have been achieved before, such as the rhythm and dynamics in light transitions. There is an increased fluidity of the light that can be altered and manipulated more so than ever before.

Lights and color filters themselves have changed, and the use of LED lights is getting better, but Jennifer does have one gripe about this: “LEDs are not full spectrum lights, so I really don’t like LED light on skin very much. There are all colors in skin, so it needs a full spectrum—skin of all colors needs full spectrum light to not be flattened out.”

Technology has not threatened the organic creativity of before, for these are just new tools. The most important instruments come from within: “One still needs an eye. One still needs the mind to organize the light. The brain will find a way to organize what it’s seeing, whether you organize it or not.”

In this way, light can be the scenery, the highlighter, the focus, the innocuous presence on stage, but Jennifer hopes that, above all else, lighting designers will always continue to make it about the performer. For what is an empty stage with a set and lighting if there is no one to dance within it?

The writer, Bethany Beacham, joined ABT as Marketing Coordinator in 2020.

October 6, 2020
In July and August, Lauren Bonfiglio held a book drive to serve children in the New York City area and bring the ABT community together.

"This “free time” experience has kept me connected with my ABT family, along with introducing me to new friends and collaborators. I look forward to volunteering with Brooklyn Book Bodega again in the near future."

By Lauren Bonfiglio

Lauren Bonfiglio with books collected for her ABT book drive.
Lauren Bonfiglio with books collected for her ABT book drive.

There’s been a shared sentiment amongst many of us that having extra time on our hands has led us to explore our other interests and passions. Having more time in the day to think, reflect and fill those hours has proven to be a unique challenge.

Before the pandemic, every department of ABT was gearing up to celebrate our 80th Anniversary, and we were on a high after the successful world premiere for Of Love & Rage.

For me, this momentum fueled my desire to create and stay engaged with the ABT community, along with NYC in the months following the shutdown. Thus far, I’ve enjoyed wearing a few different hats: dancer, college student, teacher, videographer, editor. Volunteering was something that I always wanted to take part in, but with ABT’s bustling rehearsal and performance seasons, it was hard to find time to do so. This unexpected break in our schedule has given me the opportunity to explore volunteering possibilites.

I came across Brooklyn Book Bodega through a community email. They are a 501(c) (3) organization, based in Brooklyn, whose mission is to increase the number of households that have 100+ books for babies, kids and teens. I was enthralled by this idea, as reading was something that I loved while growing up, and I wanted to help families build a library of their own, especially during this time of the pandemic.

With this, I decided to host a book drive and wanted to include my colleagues and friends at ABT. I organized a few different ways as to how people could participate in donating that included books coming through the mail to my apartment and scheduling socially distanced or contactless pick-ups around the boroughs of NYC.

I was so thankful and thrilled for the enthusiastic response, as we’ve already delivered about 600 books to Brooklyn Book Bodega. And, as more packages keep arriving at my apartment, the count is now closer to 800 books!

The process of putting word out, receiving and collecting books, sorting them into age categories and delivering to Brooklyn Book Bodega was a fantastic experience for me, learning how to take a project from beginning to end. I love to keep busy and having Brooklyn Book Bodega to work with made my summer very fulfilling.

While sorting the books, it was fun to come across some of my favorites like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Giving Tree, Goodnight Moon, along with The Giver, Fahrenheit 451, The House on Mango Street, The Outsidersand of course Romeo and Juliet. It was also so wonderful to have an author in our ABT community sign and donate copies of her new book Gravity.

This “free time” experience has kept me connected with my ABT family, along with introducing me to new friends and collaborators. I look forward to volunteering with Brooklyn Book Bodega again in the near future. I’m feeling super grateful to all that supported this book drive, making it a success. Happy Reading!

Lauren Bonfiglio has been a member of the corps de ballet since 2015.

Last month, the first two books in ABT’s partnership with Random House Children’s Books launched. Have you checked out B is for Ballet and Boys Dance! yet? Find them wherever books are sold!

Carmelita Maracci. Photo by Brett Weston.
Posted In
A Look Back at 80 Years
October 2, 2020
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we are recognizing Carmelita Maracci, a ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher influential to ABT's history.

"Carmelita Maracci was the name that everyone should have known, but few did. She was a standout of her generation."

It is rare to encounter a person who has been described with such a wide range of impassioned, fervent adjectives—ones that are only fit for those who have a touch of the extraordinary inside of them. “Phenomenon,” “jaw-dropping,” “a legend”—these are just a few ways dance critics and contemporaries have described Carmelita Maracci.

Hers was the name that everyone should have known, but few did. She was a standout of her generation. John Martin, dance critic for The New York Times in 1937, said she was “manifestly destined for a great career.” Robert Joffrey, a student of Maracci’s, recalled, “There was, and still is, no one like her. She had incredible strength and supreme delicacy. Her technique was astonishing, perfection itself.” It was even said that she “danced with thunder,” but she could have been thunder itself—her talents almost magical.

From her birth in 1908, Carmelita Maracci’s origins were shrouded in mystery, at least for her. Told by her mother that she was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, it was only much later that Maracci’s husband found out and shared with her that she was actually born in Goldfield, Nevada. Her father, both Italian and Spanish, raised his daughter as Spanish, and despite her puzzling background, this had the biggest impact on who she came to be. After Maracci’s family moved to Los Angeles, where she finished her schooling, her parents encouraged her to pursue a future as a dancer, and off she went to New York.

Carmelita Maracci. Photo by Gjon Mili.
Carmelita Maracci. Photo by Gjon Mili.

There she studied with Mikhail Mordkin, who formed the Mordkin Ballet, the predecessor to Ballet Theatre. Eventually, she made her way back to Los Angeles and it was there, in the 1930s, that she met Agnes de Mille. Although they were just a few years apart in age, de Mille studied ballet under Maracci’s tutelage.

From the moment they met, de Mille’s fervent admiration and awe of her teacher solidified a strong bond between the two of them. She could see that Maracci was not just a good ballet dancer.

She created something special when she experimented with blending ballet and Spanish dance, a style she called Hybrid dancing, which she began to bring to audiences on both the East and West coasts.

In the early 1950s, Agnes de Mille urged Maracci to choreograph a new work for Ballet Theatre. She created Circo de Espana, which premiered on April 19, 1951. It was a suite of five serious and comic Spanish dances, and on opening night, Carmelita danced the leading roles in three of the pieces: La Maja y el Euisenor, Fire Dance and Portrait in Raw Espana. It was then planned that Alicia Alonso would take over the roles following that performance opening night.

Despite the talents and stage presence Maracci brought, despite rehearsals of a promising and exciting show, the ballet fell flat. The premiere was not a smashing success, and although critics praised her unfailing, staggering technique, the New York audience was not quite sure what to make of the ballet and had a markedly tepid response.

As the story goes, co-director of Ballet Theatre, Oliver Smith, told de Mille that the piece needed to be adjusted and sent her to give Maracci some words of encouragement to pull the piece back together. Antony Tudor told de Mille that the ballet was “No good,” a message she passed along. When she delivered the news to Maracci, she said it “produced in no time a collapse…because Carmy was always on the emotional brink, Donald Saddler [a Soloist at Ballet Theatre] had to carry her from the theater in his arms. And that wasn’t the first time she committed career suicide.”

Maracci retreated away from the limelight and away from Ballet Theatre. Sadly, there are very few records left of her ballet, Circo de Espana. It was only many years later that a 72-year-old Carmelita admitted the devastation she felt at the time to Los Angeles journalist Donna Perlmutter: “She came to deliver the verdict and then she told me that Tudor always says what he doesn’t mean, that he meant I’m no good.”

Carmelita Maracci was a woman whose dancing was powerful enough to be compared with the elements of the earth—her passion burned, her presence on stage was so grounding that she owned spaces and commanded time. Yet, her gifts came with a deep-feeling heart. She was an artist that prioritized feelings and meanings over commercial success.

It didn’t need to matter that the audience liked her work. That wasn’t the point of it. She wanted to dance real stories because she felt real pain. She had led a relatively privileged life herself, a normal childhood, supportive parents, and the pains and horrors in the world that she spoke of sometimes seemed to belong to another world.  In fact, they belonged to other people and she just felt them deeply.

She refused to dance in fairy tale ballets with otherworldly and mystical creatures: “I could not be a dancer of fine dreams and graveyard decor. So, I danced hard about what I saw and lived.”

Carmelita Maracci. Photo by Brett Weston.
Carmelita Maracci. Photo by Brett Weston.

Most of the world never got to see the greatness that was Carmelita Maracci. Her legacy continues on through her beloved students. Jerome Robbins, Carmen de Lavallade and even Charles Chaplin – as well as ABT’s own Erik Bruhn, Christine Sarry and Cynthia Gregory – owe their early dance education to her. Gregory has given accounts of Maracci teaching in class “on pointe and wearing pink tights, puffing on a cigarette, flicking it out the window and dashing off a fast, furious set of pirouettes.”

The world was perhaps robbed of the opportunity to witness the great Maracci, but her students received an education that few others had access to. She infused her ballet classes with lessons about literature, politics and philosophy. She talked to her students not just as dancers but as people. She left a large impact on many dancers, and although that can be a profound legacy, there are others that still call her career trajectory a “tragedy.”

Carmelita said it best when she denounced the notion that her “unplanned oblivion” was a tragedy. “Save that word for human suffering,” she said, “for wars that kill innocent people, for the devastation of the poor and unwanted, for the corruption and cruelty that cause these things in the world. Mine is no tragedy. If art could relieve misery, I’d gladly sacrifice it.”

She refused to conform to or make way for a lot of things in her lifetime—the commercial side of the dance industry, the conventional structure of a ballet class, the confines of a corps de ballet.

But most of all, she refused to compromise who she was for anyone else. She was unique and she owned that.

Greatness can often come with sadness—but mostly from the people who impose their ideas of greatness upon us, and that comes with a considerable and often unfair burden. Sometimes it can be enough to stand quietly in your convictions, knowing that you do so for yourself, knowing that that in itself is great.

The writer, Bethany Beacham, joined ABT as Marketing Coordinator in 2020.

Wig and Makeup Supervisor Rena Most and Principal Dancer Devon Teuscher. Photo: Susie Morgan Taylor.
Posted In
Get to know...Occupations
September 29, 2020
How did you become a wig and makeup artist for ABT?

"I have always been drawn to the intensity and excitement of the show being live. Even though shows are very well rehearsed, mishaps can happen at any moment, so being alert and a quick thinker is essential."

By Rena Most

At the very young age of two, as my parents recall, I was interested in and loved lipstick, the only makeup my mother used. I regularly wanted to wear it and quickly learned how to apply it. My parents supported this strange fascination and my practice grew.

From painting my sisters’ faces and studying different looks in magazines to getting friends ready for events and eventually getting involved with community theater, I knew I wanted to pursue the makeup industry in my early teens.

Von Rothbart Lakeside’s prosthetic headpiece.<br>A disposable baldcap (right) fits over the interior headpiece (left) and is then painted and glued to the dancer. <br>Photos: Rena Most and Jill Haley Gugliuzza.
Von Rothbart Lakeside’s prosthetic headpiece.
A disposable baldcap (right) fits over the interior headpiece (left) and is then painted and glued to the dancer.
Photos: Rena Most and Jill Haley Gugliuzza.

My sister’s high school art teacher recommended I take an art class when I got to high school. Reluctantly, I did. At the age of 16, I discovered a new passion and talent. I continued to take various art classes and went on to study Fine Arts in undergrad. After exploring different avenues of the makeup industry, I had decided I wanted to pursue the theatrical realm.

Working with wigs and hair came later, once I was already pursuing professional theater. I had to learn and practice a lot to catch up to my peers who had been doing hair and wigs for years. I am still learning new tricks and techniques!

Working in theater was appealing to me for several reasons. I have always been drawn to the intensity and excitement of the show being live. Even though shows are very well rehearsed, mishaps can happen at any moment, so being alert and a quick thinker is essential.

The maidens in Alexei Ratmansky's <i>Firebird</i> wear whimsical wigs. Photo: Marty Sohl.
The maidens in Alexei Ratmansky's Firebird wear whimsical wigs. Photo: Marty Sohl.

Theater often happens at a very quick pace, which adds excitement and sometimes chaos! We often have to get talent ready in 10 – 30 minutes, while someone doing the same thing for print or TV may easily have an hour to prep their subject. This forces us to know our craft inside and out, to be able to move quickly without stopping to think and still produce high-quality results.

Working live also pushes you to work with many different teams in a unique way that is not always required in other types of productions. Theater is known for its magic-like quick changes, the “How did they do that?” moments – the answer is, with a lot of practiced hard work and a whole team of people! It is the quickness and talent of the backstage crew that makes it happen.

Working for ABT has included all of those exciting characteristics plus so much more. Working with ABT is unique because of its repertoire and touring itinerary. We are constantly performing different ballets in different cities. Immaculate organization has been crucial for me to be able to efficiently set up our room and get my team ready, no matter where we are and what ballet we are performing.

We often have a day or two to unpack our giant road boxes and set everything up (including translating our notes for our local team of hair and makeup artists, depending on where we are) before our first performance, so efficiency is key. We perform so many ballets with an endless amount of characters to create – some ballets are harder than others.

Whether it is creating a villain, aging 20-year old dancers to look 80, managing 200 wigs or 50 mustaches, the hair and makeup room is never boring! Bringing these characters to life each night is always fun, but working and forming bonds with the talented, hilarious, kind, intelligent dancers of ABT each day is what truly makes this job so special.

Rena Most is ABT’s Wig and Makeup Supervisor.

Check out Rena's feature in Dance Magazine!See more of Rena's work on her ABT OffStage profile!
Carla Fracci, Paolo Bortoluzzi and Eleanor D'Antuono in Les Sylphides. Photo: Louis Peres.
Posted In
A Look Back at 80 Years
September 24, 2020
This is the story of how ABT conductor David LaMarche solved the mystery of the missing music of Les Sylphides.

"ABT was incredibly excited to be able to bring back this historic score that fall when they performed the ballet at the David H. Koch Theater. "

There are many ways to describe Michel Fokine’s 1909 ballet Les Sylphides, which was thought to be the first non-narrative ballet, one that was crafted with no boundaries to mood and imagination. It is a ballet blanc—a ballet in which the corps de ballet is dressed all in white to represent ethereal ghosts, fairies or transcendent spirits.

Though that could be crafted into a story unto itself, this ballet has no narrative to follow, only the enchanting beauty of the sylphs dancing with a man under the midnight moon’s luminescence.

Though it was a short romantic classic, it was revolutionary and left an indelible influence on 20th-century ballet.

Benjamin Britten. Photo courtesy of ClassicFM.
Benjamin Britten. Photo courtesy of ClassicFM.

The score, originally composed by Frédéric Chopin, has been orchestrated many times, despite the challenges some see in translating Chopin’s piano pieces into something fitting for a whole orchestra. Maurice Ravel, Alexander Gretchaninov, Gordon Jacob, Roy Douglas and Benjamin Britten all had their go, but it is Britten’s score in particular that is the protagonist of our story.

An Englishman from Lowestoft, Suffolk, Benjamin Britten, born in 1913, showed his musical talent from an early age and attended the Royal College of Music. In 1939, along with his partner, Peter Pears, his pacificism forced him to leave an ever-growing antagonistic Britain facing World War II. With a quick stop in Canada, they ended up in America and settled down in Brooklyn, New York. They resided at 7 Middagh Street, an artistic commune of sorts for intellectuals and creatives, including Oliver Smith.

A scenic and interior designer by trade, Smith began his official collaboration with Ballet Theatre working with Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein on Fancy Free. The year after his scenery graced Ballet Theatre’s stages, Smith became co-director of the Company, along with founder Lucia Chase. But before all of that took place, Smith had a hand in creating one of the first ballets to be performed by ABT, Les Sylphides. He commissioned his friend Benjamin Britten to reorchestrate Chopin’s music for the ballet for only $300, and though that was worth a lot more than it is today, it was still considered tuppence for the task.

Now our story must fast forward 73 years to 2013. Britten’s orchestration of Les Sylphides had fallen out of use at ABT, which had had to use an orchestration by Roy Douglas the few times the ballet had been performed in its later years. It was a perfectly fine score, but never “quite right.”

Not like Benjamin Britten’s score, which was lost, and no one had sought to find it, until 2013.

David LaMarche studying a trumpet part for <i>Les Sylphides</i> arranged by Benjamin Britten. Photo by Yana Paskova for <i>The New York Times</i>.
David LaMarche studying a trumpet part for Les Sylphides arranged by Benjamin Britten. Photo by Yana Paskova for The New York Times.

“I love mysteries,” David LaMarche says as he recalls his venture to find the lost score. With the Company since 1999, David is a conductor, rehearsal pianist and administrator of the Music Department at ABT. A man of many skills, he is the gatekeeper of the music that the Orchestra plays. Indeed, he is the gatekeeper of this mystery. Who better to talk to than the man who solved it?

The second David in our story—David Vaughan, a dance historian and close friend to David LaMarche—asked his friend if he had ever heard the Benjamin Britten orchestration of the ballet when he found out that ABT was planning to perform Les Sylphides that fall. They went to the New York Public Library Jerome Robbins Dance Division in Lincoln Center, Manhattan and thanks to the library’s vast resources, they were able to watch an old performance of the ballet that included Britten’s score.

They both decided that they wanted to find it, bring it back to its home, and back to the stage.

Alicia Markova in <i>Les Sylphides</i>, 1944. Photo by Carl Van Vechten.
Alicia Markova in Les Sylphides, 1944. Photo by Carl Van Vechten.

The search began with David LaMarche sifting through ABT’s music office, which was no easy task as there were stacks upon stacks of paper and boxes of music from the Company’s current repertoire. Eventually, David come across a peculiar miniature score that had no name attached to it.

“I started leafing through [the score] and I thought, “‘I remember hearing this in that video tape that I saw at Lincoln Center,”’ David recalls. “This must be the score that goes along with the Benjamin Britten version.”

But he couldn’t be sure. Invigorated by this find, he set off on the next step of his journey to search ABT’s warehouse in Secaucus, New Jersey. He enlisted the help of this story’s third David, David Carp, the ABT Orchestra librarian, who was just as eager to find the music.

Now reader, if at this point of the mystery you expected a dramatic warehouse quest that spanned many days and sleepless nights, then I must regretfully disappoint you.

Astoundingly, LaMarche remembers, “We just kept pulling boxes out and going through each one to see if we could find it and after about half an hour, we found a folder that had some parts from Les Sylphides and in that folder, there was one card that said ‘Second trumpet, arranged by Benjamin Britten’.”

Alicia Markova in <i>Les Sylphides</i>, 1944. Photo by Carl Van Vechten.
Alicia Markova in Les Sylphides, 1944. Photo by Carl Van Vechten.

It was a gift that the search was simple, since ABT’s warehouse is filled with an eclectic array of costumes, sets, props, minutes of old board meetings, and of course, a prolific collection of music.

However, the mystery had not been solved yet. Once this folder was found, the next step was to confirm that it was actually Britten’s score. LaMarche brought it back to ABT and compared it to the unlabeled one he had found in his office. His suspicions were confirmed when, after sending a copy to the The Britten–Pears Arts Foundation in the United Kingdom, they excitedly told David, “I think we can surmise that this is the lost score of Britten’s Les Sylphides.”

ABT was incredibly excited to be able to bring back this historic score that fall when they performed the ballet at the David H. Koch Theater.

So how did it get lost? I asked David.

ABT has a vast library of music for an ever-expanding repertoire. Every year, new works are introduced, and ABT has undergone a lot of change since 1940. At a certain point, the music office could not accommodate the sheer amount of papers they stored, and some of the music was moved to the warehouse, making space for the more modernized classics that were being performed. Though the score could also have been lost because ABT lends out music to other companies.

Once Britten’s score was found, many ballet companies wanted to perform Les Slyphides to the newly discovered music. It was exciting not just for ABT, but for the ballet community at large.

Things get lost, especially when they are at the mercy of the inevitability of passing time; we all know this. Each week on this blog, we look back to reflect and amplify the voices and stories that haven’t been widely shared before.

The hope is to think about the lessons we learned back then, and the lessens that we learn retroactively. There is always something new to gain from the past, and sometimes, we are lucky to get something back that once was lost. As was the case for Benjamin Britten’s score to Les Sylphide, it returned to its home at American Ballet Theatre and we are all the more better for it.

The writer, Bethany Beacham, joined ABT as Marketing Coordinator in 2020.