I Was a Dancer - Jacques D'Amboise [213]
The Years Leading to Balanchine’s Death
1. From Carrie’s scrawled notes: Robert Indiana’s Borscht: 1) BROWN 1 lb. BEEF CHUNKS on all sides in oil in skillet; 2) HEAT 2 quarts (8 cups) CHICKEN BROTH in large soup pot; 3) ADD beef chunks; 4 CARROTS, quartered lengthwise and half; 4 TURNIPS, peeled and quartered; 2 ONIONS, peeled and halved; 1/2 bunch CELERY, halved (use upper branches and leaves, reserving lower half for another use); 4) PLACE 1 CABBAGE, cut into 8 wedges (gently place cabbage wedges on top, in a wheel shape); 5) CENTER (on top) 1/2 bunch PARSLEY, 1–2 lb.; 3-oz. can ITALIAN TOMATOES (with half of the liquid); 6) ADD 1 tsp. DRIED DILL, 4 BAY LEAVES, 1 tsp. FINES HERBES, SALT, and PEPPER; 7) SIMMER covered for 2 hours (when reheated, use sour cream dab). SERVES 8.
2. Later the Felt Forum was renamed the Paramount Theatre.
3. Rosemary was functioning as NYCB’s ballet mistress at the time, doing 90 percent of the work in rehearsing and staging the repertoire.
4. After his death, Balanchine’s assistant Barbara Horgan informed me that Balanchine left Noah and the Flood to me.
5. Kip Houston went on to dance principal roles with NYCB.
6. Native Dancers, with music by Vittorio Rieti, was a ballet inspired by racehorses, choreographed by Balanchine for Patricia Wilde and me (1959). In the early 1950s, Balanchine had given the music to Jerry Robbins for a possible ballet. Jerry workshopped it with some seventeen members of NYCB whom he manipulated and cajoled into working for him for nothing in the off-season. I was one of them. It was never realized. Several years later, Balanchine called Patricia Wilde and me in for rehearsal on Native Dancers; I recognized immediately the music I knew so intimately.
7. G. Schirmer Inc., well-known publishers of classical music.
8. William Golding, Pincher Martin: The Two Deaths of Christopher Martin (Harvest Books, 2002).
9. Stanley Williams was brought to SAB from Denmark as a teacher. Balanchine was impressed with the dancers’ footwork from the Bournonville school of dance and wanted it for his company. Stanley was low-key, unaggressive, and gave a simple, easy, and slow class without too much repetition and no pressure. A cult of NYCB dancers formed around him, in many ways, perhaps, as a relief from the intense pressure, speed, and multiple repetitions of Balanchine’s classes.
10. Celebration, January 20, 1983.
11. John Clifford, an electrifying dancer in the company and a choreographer.
12. I assumed that Jerry had given up trying to use me in his choreography. I still danced Afternoon of a Faun, and loved it, but had weaned myself out of his ballet Interplay. Years earlier, sitting around during the creation of his ballet The Concert (1956), waiting for him to use me, I up and told him, “Jerry, I’ve read half the contents of the New York Public Library waiting around for you to decide what you want me to do. I’m not coming anymore.” That had been decades before. A few days after his triumph with critics and audiences with Goldberg Variations (1971), we were riding the NYST elevator with a few fellow dancers. Suddenly, he spun his frame to confront me. “Hen, hen, Jock, hen, hen. I’d like you to learn and dance the role that Helgi’s doing. Hen, hen. I’d like to see you dancing it.” You know how you sometimes grin with embarrassment? Baring my teeth in a frozen smile, I noticed that both of my hands went up involuntarily and clutched my throat. I stammered, “Jerry, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t handle your rehearsals or perform more. I’m too old for that.” An anguished, high-pitched “EEEEE-YOU!” issued from him. He balled up a fist and hammered one quick blow to the top of my head. We both stood, stunned and unbelieving. The elevator doors springing open on the ground floor ended our little