WEBVTT - S2: Ep 4 - The Muses 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:07.080 Ballet in Balanchine's company was all about the female, the 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:14.680 idealized female, and putting her on a pedestal. And one 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:18.800 of the aspects of being a Balanchine dancer was to 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:26.560 have your own perfume that was nobody else's perfume. Balanchine 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:30.120 was so fond of perfume that leaves the scent of 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:38.960 that dancer behind. So it's as if the dancers have 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:46.680 a physiological energetic scent or pulse or resonance or feeld 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:54.080 that is absolutely indelible, and nobody else has it. It's 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:59.120 their own fingerprint. So we each had to have our own, 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:05.080 and we doused ourselves, and we're speaking about bathing and perfume. 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:11.840 We were supposed to leave our scent behind so that 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:13.680 he would know who was there before him. 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:16.200 Why. 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:20.679 It was just part of the culture, the same as 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:23.680 people dressing up for class. They would just make up 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:27.199 to the hill to the just so chaponskirt perfect, clean 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:33.720 shoes and hair done, and their own smells all looking good, 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:38.679 smelling good, all the volition in place, all the readiness 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.440 of being chosen, selected. 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.280 For My Heart podcasts and Rococoa Punch. This is the 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:08.480 turning room of Mirrors America Lance, Part four, The Muses. 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.520 The dancers in Balancine's company wanted to present themselves well. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.760 They wanted to please Balanchine, catch his eye. They knew 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:29.720 he was watching all the time in that studio without 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:33.000 windows and from the heavy curtains of the theater's wings. 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.920 By this point, Stephanie Land was an insider. She'd been 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:40.160 in the company for a while and had navigated the 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:42.360 culture and ethics of Valancine's world. 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:47.120 We've rarely got any guests from outside, but Balanchine actually 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.440 really did favor a few people who came in, and 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.560 one was Pilentesmar from Paris Opera. 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:57.880 Galentesmar was a star ballerina. She danced all over the world, 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.560 and even though she wasn't trained by balanging, she came 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:03.040 to guest dance with the company. 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.280 Years later, I went to visit Guilln in Paris and 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:09.200 her apartment and we had a conversation about her experience. 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:12.120 And here's this person who was an eight twelve at 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:17.680 Paris Opera. She's a very, very gracious woman, and we 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:21.520 sat in her most wonderful apartment. She said, you know, 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.560 the first time I went in, I've just never seen 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:28.799 anything like it. It was like a harim, like a haram, Yes, 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:34.720 and we were so accustomed to it. But everybody in 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:40.640 that room was just waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting to be 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:42.800 the one the concubines or. 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:48.640 Aum, waiting to be the one for Balancine. Essentially, Yes, 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:54.760 in his early years, certainly he did either Mary or 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:59.160 was with six of his ballerinas. And I say his ballerinas. 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.960 They really were part of his life, and each of 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:04.320 them quite different. In the stories around that, quite different, 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:09.520 And there are many, many stories to tell. This was 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:13.920 a time when there really were no clear boundaries, and 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.599 the desire to please and the confusion around that with 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.200 young women definitely was interwoven into that. 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:27.400 I wanted to ask you about Apollo. Could we talk 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:28.400 about Apollo a little bit? 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:29.320 We can. 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:37.400 I watched a video of you dancing it recently, and 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:40.560 maybe could you describe that ballet? 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:50.160 Oh dear, that takes a few hours. I can't even 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:54.080 begin to speak to Apollo with anything that would give 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:59.000 it its due. Honestly, it is so rich and so 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:03.560 ahead of its time. He was beginning to show us 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:09.680 how time and space and bodies and mind and music 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:11.239 could be sculpted and merged. 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:24.560 Apollo is Balancing's first major collaboration with the composer Igor Stravinsky. 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:27.279 It was the start of what would be dozens of 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:31.280 projects they partner on, and it launched Balancing into international 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:36.520 fame when he was just twenty four. The ballet follows 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.000 young Apollo, the Greek god of music, as he is 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:43.880 visited and instructed by three muses, the Muse of Poetry, 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.000 the Muse of mime, and the Muse of dance and song. 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.239 At first, Apollo doesn't seem to know what he's doing. 0:05:55.720 --> 0:06:00.040 He's like a shaky cult or a young deer that 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:04.760 isn't quite on its legs yet. And then you see 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:06.159 him find his ground. 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:15.120 You watch him become an artist and a god. During 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:19.440 the ballet, each muse dances for Apollo. They teach him, 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.400 they inspire him. At times, it's hard to tell who's 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:30.480 in power. They're all learning from each other. When Stephanie 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:34.440 danced it, she played the Muse of poetry Calliope. She's 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.360 the first of the muses to dance for Apollo, and 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:40.080 as she dances for him, her body suddenly caves in 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:45.479 on itself, as if an emotional or physical pain. Each 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:47.840 time you hear the cellos make a sudden, low sound. 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:51.680 Then she reaches out while holding one hand to her heart, 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:55.919 as if she's finally expressing what's within. Her mouth opens 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:57.039 as if to speak. 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:02.159 This taking from the gut, from the core, from the soul, 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:05.200 through the throat, through the mouth, and out into the world. 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:09.920 It is again, I think, in that way that is 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:15.080 so Hallmark Balanchine about the importance of women in a 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:19.840 man's life. Only now, of course, the women are muses 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:28.240 and goddess creatures on Mountain Olympus, and that they are 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.920 going to teach this young god all that he needs 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:37.240 to learn. They are the mentors, the guides, the muses. 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.560 Beyond the basic story, the ballet itself is beautiful. The 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:47.000 movements feel classical yet totally modern. At times, Apollo holds 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:49.760 all three of the muses hands and leads them or 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.440 moves them around in a chain, tangling them with each 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.920 other in this abstractly shaped knot. It's interesting to watch 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.840 how the power shifts throughout who is leading who was learning. 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:06.200 Apollo controls and manipulates the muses. Other times it seems 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:12.160 he struggles to contain them, struggles to keep up Ultimately, 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.800 Apollo takes his place as a god. Armed with the 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:19.720 knowledge of the muses. He's now powerful over them. 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:26.280 It is his deep bow to the idealized female and 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:32.319 their role in shaping the world, shaping that world which 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:34.360 is otherworldly. 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:40.840 An ode to his muses. Over the years, Balanchine would 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:49.480 have many. 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:48.760 When he became very interested in someone. They might have 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:52.640 been sixteen or seventeen. They had certain exquisite gifts like 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:58.079 maybe an exquisite Arabesque or jumping, or maybe turning, or 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:01.880 the way the arm the upper body work together. 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:05.560 When Garifola is a dance historian who lives in New York. 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:08.920 She saw many Balanchine ballets during the dance boom in 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:13.280 the seventies. When Balancine was inspired by a dancer, he'd 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:17.160 choreograph dances on her, as they call it, and not 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:19.440 just teach her the steps, but really dance through it 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.440 with her in a way that felt special, and in 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:24.400 many cases he'd fall in love with her. 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:29.880 I think for balancein working with someone and dancing with 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.599 someone was perhaps the only way in which he could 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:36.679 create a really close relationship. 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.040 Balanging was totally absorbed in the art form, and he 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.400 asked the same of his dancers to fully surrender to 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:54.480 the art form and to his vision. Holly Howard was 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:57.079 one dancer Balanchine was drawn to early on, in the 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.200 nineteen thirties, she danced the role of a muse in 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.319 the first performance of Apollo in the United States. 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:12.080 Holly Howard a wonderful American dancer. She was arguably Balanching's 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:17.920 first American muse, like the first American dancer that he 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:22.520 became really obsessed with and that really drove his art. 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:27.680 Jim Stikeen researched Balancing's early career. He scoured the diaries 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.680 of Lincoln Kirstein, the man who invited Balanging to the 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:34.760 US to start his work. The diaries gave Jim a 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.600 window into the dynamics of those early years in the 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:38.400 United States. 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:44.160 Balancing took a romantic interest in Holly Howard, and they 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:46.520 were kind of a couple. You know, everyone's super young. 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:49.800 And at one point they were touring the East Coast 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:54.199 on the bus, Balanging sat with Holly his current news. 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:58.480 When they were in Princeton, Holly Howard, after their show, 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:02.520 decided to go out with some of the Princeton men 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:04.760 and the next day when they're getting back on the 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:10.600 tour bus, Balancing sitting next to a different dancer and says, oh, well, 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:12.280 you know, you decided to go out to the Princeton 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:16.240 Boys so you can sit next to someone else. So 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:23.040 there's that classic manipulation power move. We don't really need 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:25.520 to know too many of the details to know that 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:30.199 there's some games being played and some power dynamics at play. 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:35.319 Because even though they had a relationship, Balanging was still 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:36.400 Holly's boss. 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:43.360 The other chilling tidbit in Christine's Diaries makes a reference 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:47.480 to one day that Holly Howard had had her fourth 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:52.679 abortion by Balancing. It's hard to know what that really means, 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:57.120 but you can read between the lines and think about 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:58.240 what was happening. 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:01.560 When you say read between the lines, like, how do 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:02.959 you read between the lines there? 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:05.120 So clearly they're sleeping together. 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:09.760 When you say use the phrase fourth abortion by balancing, 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:13.520 is that imply essentially the fourth termination of a pregnancy that, 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:15.400 like Balancing was the father. 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.400 That's my understanding. You know, we know for a fact 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:23.600 that Balancing didn't want his dancers, especially the start answers, 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:27.400 to get pregnant and have children, So it's you know, 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:30.760 Do we have any idea how consensual their relationship was. 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:36.160 Do we have any idea how consensual those decisions to 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:40.760 terminate were. Do we have any idea what Holly Howard 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:46.480 went through to go through those procedures while still dancing 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:50.079 at a very high level. You know, that's where you 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:54.800 realize that the cult makes him into this entirely benevolent figure. 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:58.240 When Jim says cult, he thinks there's almost a cult 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.760 around Balannging. He also calls it the Church of Balancing, 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:07.079 fervent admirers who don't want anything bad said about him, writers, critics, 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.439 and dancers who'd rather sweep unflattering stories under the rug 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:12.960 or minimize those stories effects. 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.280 You know, we well probably never know the full story, 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:19.959 but this is kind of the height of her career. 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:22.760 She kind of fades away after this. 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:30.280 These relationships often faded away eventually. Lynn says he'd always 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:30.600 move on. 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.880 Well, this is a little bit like the Six Wives 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:39.760 of Henry the Eighth, Not quite, but a little bit 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:40.160 like that. 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.520 Balancing married or partnered with a number of these dancers, 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:51.199 five to be exact, Tamara, Alexandra, Vera, Maria, and Tannakhill. 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:54.920 But even beyond those marriages, he developed other romantic relationships, 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.240 which always seemed to be intertwined with his work in 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.760 some way. Some of these relationships ended because the ballerina's 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.880 career has led them elsewhere, to cabarets or to Hollywood, 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.800 But more commonly the relationships ended for a different reason. 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:13.400 I think there's a sense in his work that the ballerina, 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.280 the woman who for a certain moment is ideal, is 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:23.040 never fully attainable, or perhaps once she appears to be attained, 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:28.040 then perhaps he loses interest and moves on to something else, 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:31.600 to someone else, she's no longer ideal. 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:55.760 Through Balancine's twenties, his thirties, and his forties, his pattern 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.680 of having relationships with his dancers persisted. Sometimes he was 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:04.400 decade older than his romantic counterpart. His company grew, he 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.280 had more and more talented dancers coming into their own 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:09.239 and inspiring his choreography. 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:13.880 In nineteen fifty four, he was fifty years old, and 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:20.120 he sees this talent around and he's making ballets for 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:27.880 them all. And then there's Allegra Kent. It's very young, 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:28.640 Allegri Kent. 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:37.800 This is siren City. The traffic doesn't stop for sirens. 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:39.440 And it's a free for all. 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:40.800 Wow. 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:50.360 My name is Allegra Kent. I was born in August eleventh, 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:55.600 nineteen thirty seven, on the same day that Edith Wharton. 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:59.880 Died turning producer Alan Lance Lesser, and I met Allegorc 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.360 Kent in her studio apartment in New York, walking in 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:07.200 felt special. Allegra Kent was one of those muses who 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.440 stood out. She was somebody balannging bent the norms for 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.200 I've known who she was since I was a kid. 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:15.600 I read one of the books she wrote cover to 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.360 cover many times in middle school. She was my idea 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.280 of the perfect ballerina. It's hard to think of a 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:24.240 more iconic dancer than Alegra Kent. 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:28.200 Yes, your wall is just covered in dwellers. Most of 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:32.680 it is career pictures, but I need more children and grandchildren. 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:37.640 At eighty five, Alecra's fingers are thin and wrinkled. She 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:41.200 gestures to the photos on the wall and slow circular motions. 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:45.400 They're mostly of Allegra, gorgeous and moody, black and white 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:49.160 images of her in the most beautiful poses mid dance. 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.960 So over here seven Deadly Sinned. 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:55.360 There are shots of her backstage. One of her balancing 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.400 on point that had been in Vogue magazine. 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:02.840 This is Russia ninety two. My name is over there. 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.760 A poster in Russian with her name on it, and 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:10.679 then Balanchine and Allegra both squatting mid motion. They're dancing together, 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.119 side by side. Next to it is a photo of 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:16.560 the two of them on stage in front of the curtain. 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:19.320 She holds a bouquet of flowers. 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:24.040 A bow with Balanchine Saraena Japan. 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:28.360 Scattered among all this are these blue and black images. 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:33.160 They look like ink blots, rorshock tests. When we get 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.440 closer we realize they're dark limbs in bright blue water. 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:41.119 They're photos of Allegra doing exercises in a pool. She 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:43.760 used to put flotation devices on her arms and legs 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:44.520 and move in the. 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:50.359 Water, pushing air down in the water was easy to 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:55.560 go up, but hard to go down. It's like contrary 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:04.680 too gravity. I have a certain contrariness in my nature. 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.440 In these pictures in the pool, her body reflected itself, 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:17.560 cut in half, the pool became a mirror. You can't 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:20.919 see her torso or her face, just legs and arms 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:26.119 reflected back. Surreal symmetry. Part of her is always hidden. 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.560 What do you think was your favorite ballet to dance? 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:34.800 That is very hard to say. 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.360 It's like asking what your favorite child is or something. 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:45.080 Or your favorite flower, because then I think, oh, all 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.200 the flowers should start with A. Those are all my favorite, 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:51.879 all the ones that start with B yes, all the 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.399 ones that start with P yes, all the ones it 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:59.160 start with W. So I could throw out an answer, 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:00.679 but I think I won't. 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:07.560 Throughout our interview, Allegra's thoughts felt watery and mysterious and 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:11.399 hard to pin down. She often left our questions unanswered. 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:17.040 Allegra was born in Santa Monica, California, to two Jewish parents. 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:19.080 They divorced while she was still young. 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:24.720 In California, for a while, everyone changed their religion once 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.840 a week, but my mother decided that we should be 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:36.280 Christian scientists. According to Christian science, there's no pain. It's 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:37.680 very complicated. 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.800 The Christian scientists around her believed the physical body had 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:47.520 no substance, that pain and pleasure weren't real, and Elkra 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:51.320 took that seriously. When she danced, she told herself the 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:56.720 pain wasn't real and kept dancing. In this religious household, 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:00.560 Alekra learned to obey authority, and she learned to keep 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:05.159 unpleasant feelings hidden with ballet. Even as a kid, she 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:08.320 realized she had found a way to express herself without 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.960 revealing her thoughts. Dance was how she fought with her mother. 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:17.919 Dance could bypass words. That's something Balanging would understand. He 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:21.200 was known for speaking through movement. For the rest of 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:24.800 Alkra's life, she'd feel that displaying emotions made her vulnerable, 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:29.560 so she didn't. She held them secret, and that's what 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:38.080 made dance special. When a Lakra was fourteen, she and 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:40.280 her mother moved to New York so a Leger could 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:43.800 pursue dance. She auditioned for a scholarship at the School 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.600 of American Ballet. Her mother did the talking. They brought 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:51.399 a letter of introduction from her previous ballet teacher, who wrote, 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:59.200 Alegras dancing was demonic. Balanging observed part of a ballet 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:02.400 class to a valuate her. She says, even at the time, 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:05.240 she knew this was a metaphysically all or nothing moment. 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:09.320 She had the feeling if Balanching rejected her, she'd have 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:13.720 some kind of breakdown. As a Legger danced, she mirrored 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:19.080 his face with her own almost involuntarily. His face gave 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:23.040 nothing away, and neither did hers. She wouldn't let him 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:26.520 see how important she knew the passing moments were, or 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:32.400 how eager she was to get a scholarship. After four 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:36.679 short minutes, he left. It was all he needed. She 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:41.359 got the scholarship. A year later, she was invited to 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:45.159 be an apprentice in the company. Soon she took her 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:49.119 first ballet classes from balancing himself from mister b. 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:52.680 She liked the way I danced, He liked the way 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:53.800 I moved. 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:58.200 One day during class, Balanchine said to her, you can 0:21:58.280 --> 0:21:59.360 do anything. 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:03.199 But yeah, I was a little different the way I 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:07.639 approached things, in the way the way I heard the music. 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:13.240 So yes, but the music came first. 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:25.919 Of course, Alegra understood Balancine's philosophy. The music came first, 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:29.000 and the when he talked about it felt almost magical. 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:37.200 One evening performance, we were doing a Mozart ballet in Salzburg, 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:44.160 and he said, last night I spoke to Mozart and 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:49.480 he he started talking about this experience. I wish I'd 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:53.560 written it down because as he was speaking, one moment 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:57.600 I was crying and the next moment I was laughing 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:03.119 because it was so glorious, was so moving, so and 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:04.600 actually I think he did. 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:07.040 You think he spooked amongstart. 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:12.359 I think he communicated with the greatness of the past. 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:17.840 Could you tell us about Balanchine's relationships with his dancers. 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:19.880 He fell in love with a number of his dancers, 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:23.680 He married some of his dancers, and I think that as. 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:27.000 Far as that was in the early years, and then 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:30.960 his life became much more complicated, and it's so complicated 0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:32.800 I can't talk about. 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:37.440 But she would write about some of it in her autobiography, 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:43.760 and things certainly would become complicated. Alegra writes she noticed 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:46.800 a pattern in Balanchine's love affairs. There was a time 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:51.560 limit around seven years. Balanchine got older, the women stayed 0:23:51.600 --> 0:23:57.520 the same age, usually between fifteen and twenty three, Alegro wrote. 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:01.320 As an apprentice, Aligo found herself in classes with dancers 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:05.360 she admired, including some of Balanchine's former and future wives, 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:09.719 who danced side by side. When Alekra was an apprentice, 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:13.240 Tanakille Leclair was on the rise. Tanny she was called. 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:16.199 She was eight years older than Allegra and looked like 0:24:16.280 --> 0:24:20.359 modern art. Allegra says, one day Tanny came in with 0:24:20.359 --> 0:24:23.280 a bandage on her nose. Apparently she'd kicked so high 0:24:23.280 --> 0:24:26.080 to the front during a grand Vatma exercise that she 0:24:26.200 --> 0:24:30.840 need herself in the face. Allegra was impressed. Allegra's mother 0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:34.119 and the other mothers talked about Balancine constantly, and that 0:24:34.200 --> 0:24:38.800 included his romantic pursuits. They became experts. They said Tanny 0:24:38.880 --> 0:24:42.320 had caught Balanchine's eye when she was eleven years old. Later, 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:45.160 when they went on tour, Tanny and her mother stayed 0:24:45.160 --> 0:24:49.040 in a suite with mister b. In nineteen fifty two, 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:53.240 Balancine married Tanakil. She was twenty three and he was 0:24:53.280 --> 0:24:58.080 forty eight. He'd found his new muse. Allegra's mother didn't 0:24:58.119 --> 0:25:01.760 like this pattern of women. Alegra writes in her autobiography, 0:25:02.760 --> 0:25:04.959 in my mother's mind, there was only one type of 0:25:05.000 --> 0:25:08.320 pain that could be truly serious, and that would occur 0:25:08.400 --> 0:25:12.000 if Balanchine got me. Nothing was as terrible as his 0:25:12.119 --> 0:25:21.679 making me another lolita in his ballerina gallery. In nineteen 0:25:21.720 --> 0:25:25.399 fifty three, Allegra was still an apprentice, and then she 0:25:25.480 --> 0:25:26.399 got the news. 0:25:26.800 --> 0:25:30.160 I was invited into the company. I was fifty. 0:25:31.240 --> 0:25:35.399 She said, yes, What would you say? Were some of 0:25:35.400 --> 0:25:39.680 the pivotal moments or turning points as a dancer. 0:25:40.480 --> 0:25:45.280 Definitely the Unanswered Question that launched you as a star. 0:25:46.240 --> 0:25:50.199 That was the first piece Balanine did for me, the 0:25:50.240 --> 0:25:51.080 first ballet. 0:25:52.119 --> 0:25:58.359 I was seventeen, Balanchine was fifty. Aleikra had been in 0:25:58.400 --> 0:26:01.960 the company two years, dancing in the core. This rehearsal 0:26:02.000 --> 0:26:06.560 was different, just her and four men. Balanchin told Alegra 0:26:06.640 --> 0:26:09.000 to take her point shoes off. She would do this 0:26:09.040 --> 0:26:12.240 piece barefoot, but her feet would never touch the floor. 0:26:13.680 --> 0:26:16.040 Balancin had her climb on top of the ballet bar. 0:26:16.720 --> 0:26:19.040 He placed the four men in front of her, and 0:26:19.080 --> 0:26:24.959 then he said, now, Allegra, step on the men's shoulders. 0:26:25.680 --> 0:26:31.240 The men gripped her ankles and she stepped up. Eventually, 0:26:31.359 --> 0:26:35.200 on stage, the men would wear all black. Their costumes 0:26:35.200 --> 0:26:37.240 dissolved them into the dark backdrop. 0:26:39.000 --> 0:26:42.720 I'm wearing all white leotar. Nothing yell tear down. 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:48.240 The piece was called The Unanswered Question. It began with 0:26:48.359 --> 0:26:51.560 one man, bear skinned, the only one not in black, 0:26:52.040 --> 0:26:54.240 backing onto the stage looking up. 0:26:55.840 --> 0:27:02.399 A man comes out, searching, seeking to feel the truth 0:27:02.560 --> 0:27:07.600 of what this image is, and a woman is being 0:27:07.680 --> 0:27:12.160 held totally upright and progressing slowly. 0:27:14.520 --> 0:27:17.199 While the visible man reaches for her. The men in 0:27:17.280 --> 0:27:21.800 black carry her forward. She's loading above them all standing, 0:27:22.280 --> 0:27:25.679 then sitting in mid air, then dipping backwards in a summersault, 0:27:25.800 --> 0:27:28.720 righted through the men's legs, and moved back up in 0:27:28.760 --> 0:27:32.560 a slow motion dive. It's like watching someone swim in 0:27:32.560 --> 0:27:37.600 a watery black void. And the bear skinned man the seeker, 0:27:38.400 --> 0:27:39.200 reaches for her. 0:27:40.080 --> 0:27:43.879 Is she an image? Is she on the unobtainable? She 0:27:44.200 --> 0:27:50.560 is everything? But he can't. She's out of reach, and 0:27:50.680 --> 0:27:55.160 at one point she sort of curls into his arm, 0:27:55.320 --> 0:28:02.400 but immediately the men take her away and she's threaded 0:28:02.560 --> 0:28:06.960 in and at one point she's held on high and 0:28:07.160 --> 0:28:12.160 I slowly tilted backwards and fell. 0:28:12.400 --> 0:28:15.760 Fell straight back from standing on their shoulders. You could 0:28:15.760 --> 0:28:17.240 hear the terror from the audience. 0:28:17.840 --> 0:28:22.560 It sounded like a gas. Of course, the man caught 0:28:22.600 --> 0:28:26.000 me as I did every time, but I realized it 0:28:26.160 --> 0:28:35.639 bouncing love to create fear, traumatic fear in the audience, 0:28:36.920 --> 0:28:43.480 and that was definitely one of those moments. And then 0:28:43.520 --> 0:28:49.640 the ballet progresses. I'm threaded through their legs, I'm hauled 0:28:49.720 --> 0:28:54.360 around like rope around their waist. I'm held on high 0:28:54.400 --> 0:28:59.600 and I do Arabique, and then not at leave, I'm 0:28:59.640 --> 0:29:07.080 taking way and the man the seeker is still following me, 0:29:07.200 --> 0:29:10.440 but this time he's in back. He's not in front. 0:29:11.200 --> 0:29:16.120 She has moved past him, and I'm unobtainable. 0:29:22.440 --> 0:29:24.920 It was the beginning of her life as a balancing muse. 0:29:27.160 --> 0:29:31.600 During rehearsals of The Unanswered Question, Allegra felt balanging was 0:29:31.600 --> 0:29:36.160