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Speaker 1: Ballet in Balanchine's company was all about the female, the

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Speaker 1: idealized female, and putting her on a pedestal. And one

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Speaker 1: of the aspects of being a balancing dancer was to

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Speaker 1: have your own perfume that was nobody else's perfume. Balancing

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Speaker 1: was so fond of perfume that leaves the scent of

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Speaker 1: that dancer behind. So it's as if the dancers have

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Speaker 1: a physiological energetic center, pulse or resonance or field that

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Speaker 1: is absolutely indelible, and nobody else has it. It's their

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Speaker 1: own fingerprint. So we each had to have our own,

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Speaker 1: and we doused ourselves, and we're speaking at about bathing perfume.

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Speaker 1: We were supposed to leave our scent behind so that

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Speaker 1: he would know who was there before him. Why. It

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Speaker 1: was just part of the culture, the same as people

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Speaker 1: dressing up for class. They would just make up to

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Speaker 1: the hill to the just so chavon skart, perfect, clean

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Speaker 1: shoes and hair dumb and their own smells, all looking good,

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Speaker 1: smelling good, all the volition in place, all the the

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Speaker 1: readiness of being chosen. Selected from My Heart Podcasts and

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Speaker 1: Rococo Punch, This is the turning room of Mirrors America.

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Speaker 1: Lands Part four, The Muses, The dancers and Balancin's company

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Speaker 1: wanted to present themselves well. They wanted to please Balancine,

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Speaker 1: catch his eye. They knew he was watching all the

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Speaker 1: time in that studio without windows and from the heavy

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Speaker 1: curtains of the theater's wings. By this point, Stephanie so

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Speaker 1: Land was an insider. She'd been in the company for

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Speaker 1: a while and had navigated the culture and ethics of

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Speaker 1: Balancine's world. We rarely got any guests from outside, but

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Speaker 1: Balancine actually really did a favor of few people who

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Speaker 1: came in, and one was Helmsmar from Paris Opera. Glentismar

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Speaker 1: was a star ballerina. She danced all over the world,

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Speaker 1: and even though she wasn't trained by balancing, she came

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Speaker 1: to guest dance with the company. Years later, I went

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Speaker 1: to visit Guillne in Paris in her apartment and we

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Speaker 1: had a conversation about her experience. And here's this person

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Speaker 1: who was an eighth twelve at Paris Opera. She's a

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Speaker 1: very very gracious woman, and we sat in her most

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Speaker 1: wonderful apartment. She said, you know, the first time I

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Speaker 1: went in, I've just never seen anything like it. It It

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Speaker 1: was like a harim, like a harem, Yes, and we

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Speaker 1: were so accustomed to it. But everybody in that room

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Speaker 1: was just waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting to be the one

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Speaker 1: in the concubines are alum, waiting to be the one

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Speaker 1: for balancing. Essentially, Yes, in his early years, certainly he

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Speaker 1: did either mary or was with six of his ballerinas.

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Speaker 1: And I say his ballerinas. They really were part of

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Speaker 1: his life, and each of them quite different than the

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Speaker 1: stories around that, quite different, and there are many, many

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Speaker 1: stories to tell. This was a time when there really

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Speaker 1: were no clear boundaries, and the desire to please and

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Speaker 1: the confusion around that with young women definitely was interwoven

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Speaker 1: into that. I wanted to ask you about Apollo. M hmm.

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Speaker 1: Could we talk about Apollo a little bit? We can?

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Speaker 1: I watched video of you dancing it recently, and um,

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Speaker 1: maybe could you describe that ballet? Oh dear, that takes

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Speaker 1: a few hours. I can't even begin to speak to

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Speaker 1: Apollo with anything that would give it its due. Honestly,

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Speaker 1: it is so rich and so ahead of its time.

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Speaker 1: Time he was beginning to show us how time and

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Speaker 1: space and bodies and mind and music could be sculpted

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Speaker 1: and merged. Apollo is Balancing's first major collaboration with the

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Speaker 1: composer Igor Stravinsky. It was the start of what would

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Speaker 1: be dozens of projects they partner on, and it launched

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Speaker 1: Balancing into international fame when he was just twenty four.

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Speaker 1: The ballet follows young Apollo, the Greek god of music,

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Speaker 1: as he has visited and instructed by three muses, the

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Speaker 1: Music Poetry, the Muse of Mine, and the Muse of

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Speaker 1: Dance and Song. At first, Apollo doesn't seem to know

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Speaker 1: what he's doing. He's like a shaky cult or a

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Speaker 1: young deer that isn't quite on its legs yet. And

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Speaker 1: then you see him find his ground. You watch him

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Speaker 1: become an artist and a god. During the ballet, each

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Speaker 1: muse dances for Apollo. They teach him, they inspire him.

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Speaker 1: At times, it's hard to tell who's in power. They're

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Speaker 1: all learning from each other. When Stephanie danced it, she

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Speaker 1: played the Muse of Poetry Calliope. She's the first of

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Speaker 1: the muses to dance for Apollo, and as she dances

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Speaker 1: for him, her body suddenly caves in on itself, as

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Speaker 1: if an emotional or physical pain. Each time you hear

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Speaker 1: the cellos make a sudden, low sound. Then she reaches

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Speaker 1: out while holding one hand to her heart, as if

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Speaker 1: she's finally expressing what's within. Her mouth opens as if

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Speaker 1: to speak this taking from the gout from the core,

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Speaker 1: from the soul, through the throat, through the mouth, and

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Speaker 1: out into the world. It is again, I think, in

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Speaker 1: that way that is so Hallmark Balanchine about the importance

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Speaker 1: of women in a man's life. Only now, of course,

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Speaker 1: the women are muses and goddess creatures un mountained olympus,

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Speaker 1: and that they are going to teach this young god

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Speaker 1: all that he needs to learn. They are the mentors,

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Speaker 1: the guides, the muses. Beyond the basic story, the ballet

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Speaker 1: itself is beautiful. The movements feel classical yet totally modern.

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Speaker 1: At times, Apollo holds all three of them muses hands

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Speaker 1: and leads them or move them around in a chain,

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Speaker 1: tangling them with each other in this abstractly shaped not

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Speaker 1: It's interesting to watch how the power shifts throughout who

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Speaker 1: is leading who was learning. Apollo controls and manipulates them uses.

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Speaker 1: Other times it seems he struggles to contain them, struggles

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Speaker 1: to keep up. Ultimately, Apollo takes his place as a god.

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Speaker 1: Armed with the knowledge of the muses, He's now powerful

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Speaker 1: over them. It is his deep bow to the idealized

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Speaker 1: female and their role in shaping the world, and shaping

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Speaker 1: that world which is otherworldly and owed to his muses.

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Speaker 1: Over the years, Balancine would have many when he became

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Speaker 1: very interested in someone. They might have been sixteen or seventeen.

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Speaker 1: They had certain exquisite gifts like maybe an exquisite Arabesque

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Speaker 1: or jumping, or maybe turning, or the way the arm

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Speaker 1: the upper body worked together. Lin Garafola is a dance

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Speaker 1: historian who lives in New York. She saw many balancing

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Speaker 1: ballets during the dance boom in the seventies. When balancing

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Speaker 1: was inspired by a dancer, he'd choreographed dances on her,

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Speaker 1: as they call it, and not just teach her the steps,

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Speaker 1: but really danced through it with her in a way

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Speaker 1: that felt special, and in many cases he'd fall in

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Speaker 1: love with her. I think for balancing, working with someone

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Speaker 1: and dancing with someone was perhaps the only way in

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Speaker 1: which he could create a really close relationship. Balancing was

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Speaker 1: totally absorbed in the art form, and he asked the

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Speaker 1: same of his dancers to fully surrender to the art

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Speaker 1: form and to his vision. Holly Howard was one dancer

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Speaker 1: Balancing was drawn to early on in the nineties. She

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Speaker 1: danced the role of a muse in the first performance

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Speaker 1: of Apollo in the United States. Holly Howard a wonderful

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Speaker 1: American dancer. She was arguably balancings first American muse, like

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Speaker 1: the first American dancer that he became really obsessed with,

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Speaker 1: and that really drove his art. Jim Styke in researched

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Speaker 1: Balancing's early career. He scoured the diaries of Lincoln Kristine,

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Speaker 1: the man who invited Balancing to the US to start

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Speaker 1: his work. The diaries gave Jim a window into the

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Speaker 1: dynamics of those early years in the United States. Balancing

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Speaker 1: took a romantic interest in Holly Howard, and they were

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Speaker 1: kind of a couple. You know, everyone's super young, and

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Speaker 1: at one point they were touring the East Coast on

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Speaker 1: the bus Balancing sad with Holly his current news. When

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Speaker 1: they were in Princeton, Holly Howard, after their show, decided

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Speaker 1: to go out with some of Princeton men, and the

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Speaker 1: next day, when they're getting back on the tour bus,

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Speaker 1: Balancing and sitting next to a different dancer and says, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, you decided to go up to the Princeton

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Speaker 1: Boys so you can sit next to someone else. So

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Speaker 1: there's that classic manipulation power move. We don't really need

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Speaker 1: to know too many of the details to know that

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Speaker 1: there's some games being played and some power dynamics that play.

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Speaker 1: Because even though they had a relationship, Balancing was still

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Speaker 1: Holly's boss. The other chilling tidbit in Christian's Diaries makes

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Speaker 1: reference to one day that Holly Howard had had her

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Speaker 1: fourth abortion by balanching. It's hard to know what that

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Speaker 1: really means, but you can read between the lines and

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Speaker 1: think about what was happening when you say read between

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Speaker 1: the lines, like, how do you read between the lines there?

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Speaker 1: So clearly they're sleeping together. When you say use the

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Speaker 1: phrase fourth abortion by balancing, does that imply essentially the

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Speaker 1: fourth termination of a pregnancy that like Balancing is the father.

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Speaker 1: That's my understanding. You know, we know for a fact

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Speaker 1: that Balancing didn't want his dancers, especially as start answers,

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Speaker 1: to get pregnant and have children, So it's you know,

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Speaker 1: do we have any idea how consensual their relationship was.

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Speaker 1: Do we have any idea how consensual those decisions determinate were?

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Speaker 1: Do we have any idea what Holly Howard went through

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Speaker 1: to go through those procedures while still dancing at a

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Speaker 1: very high level. You know, that's where you realize that

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Speaker 1: the cult makes him into this entirely benevolent figure. When

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Speaker 1: Jim says cult, he thinks there's almost a cult around balancing.

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Speaker 1: He also calls it the Church of Balancing, fervent admirers

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Speaker 1: who don't want anything bad said about him, writers, critics,

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Speaker 1: and dancers who would rather sweep unflattering stories under the

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Speaker 1: rug or minimize those stories effects. You know, we will

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Speaker 1: probably never know the full story. But she this is

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Speaker 1: kind of the heart of her career. She kind of

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Speaker 1: fades away after this. These relationships often faded away eventually,

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Speaker 1: lind says he'd always move on. Well, this is a

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Speaker 1: little bit like the Six Wives of Henry the Eighth,

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Speaker 1: Not quite, but a little bit like that. Balancine married

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Speaker 1: or partnered with a number of these dancers, five to

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Speaker 1: be exact tomorrow, Alexandra Vera, Maria, and Tanna Hill. But

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Speaker 1: even beyond those marriages, he developed other romantic relationships which

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Speaker 1: always seem to be intertwined with his work in some way.

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Speaker 1: Some of these relationships ended because the ballerina's career has

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Speaker 1: led them elsewhere, to cabarets or to Hollywood, But more

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Speaker 1: commonly the relationships ended for a different reason. I think

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Speaker 1: there's a sense in his work that the ballerina, the

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Speaker 1: woman who for a certain moment is ideal, is never

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Speaker 1: fully attainable, or perhaps once she appears to be attained,

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Speaker 1: and then perhaps he loses interest and moves on to

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Speaker 1: something else, to someone else, she's no longer ideal. Through

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Speaker 1: Balancine's twenties, his thirties, and his forties, his pattern of

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Speaker 1: having relationships with his dancers persisted. Sometimes he was decade

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Speaker 1: is older than his romantic counterpart. His company grew, He

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Speaker 1: had more and more talented dancers coming into their own

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Speaker 1: and inspiring his choreography. In nineteen fifty four, he was

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Speaker 1: fifty years old, and he sees this talent around and

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Speaker 1: he's making ballets for them all. And then there's Electric Kent.

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Speaker 1: It's a very young Electric Kent. This is Siren City.

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Speaker 1: The traffic doesn't stop for sirence, and it's a free

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Speaker 1: for all. Um my name is Allegra Kent. I was

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Speaker 1: born in August eleven, ninety seven, on the same day

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Speaker 1: that Edith Wharton died turning producer Alan Lance Lesser, and

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Speaker 1: I met Allegric Kent in her studio apartment in New York,

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Speaker 1: walking in felt special. Allegra Kent was one of those

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Speaker 1: musices who stood out. She was somebody balancing bent the

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Speaker 1: norms for I've known who she was since I was

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Speaker 1: a kid. I read one of the books she wrote

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Speaker 1: cover to cover many times in middle school. She was

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Speaker 1: my idea of the perfect ballerina. It's hard to think

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Speaker 1: of a more iconic dancer than Alegra Kent. Your wall

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Speaker 1: is just covered in dwellers, most of its career pictures,

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Speaker 1: but uneating more children and grandchildren. Alecra's fingers are thin

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Speaker 1: and wrinkled. She gestures to the photos on the wall

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Speaker 1: and slow circular motions. They're mostly of Allegra, gorgeous and moody,

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Speaker 1: black and white images of her in the most beautiful

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Speaker 1: poses mid dance. So over here seven deadly sins. There

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Speaker 1: are shots of her backstage, one of her balancing on

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Speaker 1: points that had been in Vogue magazine. This is Russia

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Speaker 1: six too, my name is over there a poster in

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Speaker 1: Russian with her name on it, and then balancing and

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Speaker 1: Allegra both squatting midmotion. They're dancing together, side by side.

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Speaker 1: Next to it is a photo of the two of

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Speaker 1: them on stage in front of the curtain. She holds

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Speaker 1: a bouquet of flowers about with Balanchee Sarenad Japan. Scattered

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Speaker 1: among all this are these blue and black images. They

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Speaker 1: look like ink blots, raw shock tests. When we get

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Speaker 1: closer we realize their dark limbs in bright blue water.

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Speaker 1: Their photos of Allegra doing exercises in a pool. She

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Speaker 1: used to put flotation devices on her arms and legs

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Speaker 1: and move in the water, pushing air down in the water.

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Speaker 1: It was easy to go up, but hard to go down.

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Speaker 1: It was like contrary to gravity. I have a certain

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Speaker 1: contrariness in my nature. In these pictures in the pool,

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Speaker 1: her body reflected itself, cut in half, the pool became

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Speaker 1: a mirror. You can't see her torso or her face,

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Speaker 1: just legs and arms reflected back. Surreal symmetry. Part of

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Speaker 1: her is always hidden. What do you think was your

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Speaker 1: favorite ballet to dance? That is very hard to say.

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Speaker 1: He's like asking what your favorite child is or something,

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Speaker 1: or your favorite flower. Because then I think, oh, all

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Speaker 1: the flowers that start with A, those are all my favorite,

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Speaker 1: all the ones that start with B yes, all the

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Speaker 1: ones that start with P yes, all the ones that

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Speaker 1: start with W. So I could throw out an answer,

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Speaker 1: but I I wound. Throughout our interview, Allegra's thoughts felt

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Speaker 1: watery and mysterious and hard to pin down. She often

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Speaker 1: left our questions unanswered. Allegra was born in Santa Monica, California,

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Speaker 1: to two Jewish parents. They divorced while she was still young.

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Speaker 1: In California, for a while, everyone changed their religion once

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Speaker 1: a week, but my mother decided that we should be

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Speaker 1: Christian scientists. According to Christian science, there's no pain. It's

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Speaker 1: very complicated. The Christian scientists around her believed the physical

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Speaker 1: body had no substance, that pain and pleasure weren't real,

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Speaker 1: and a Lira took that seriously. When she danced, she

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Speaker 1: told herself the pain wasn't real and kept dancing. In

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Speaker 1: this religious household, Allegra learned to obey authority, and she

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Speaker 1: learned to keep unpleasant feelings hidden with ballet. Even as

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Speaker 1: a kid, she realized she had found a way to

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Speaker 1: express herself without revealing her thoughts. Dance was how she

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Speaker 1: fought with her mother. Dance could bypass words. That's something

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Speaker 1: balancing would understand. He was known for speaking through movement.

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Speaker 1: For the rest of a Likra's life, she'd feel that

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Speaker 1: displaying emotions made her vulnerable, so she didn't. She held

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Speaker 1: them secret, and that's what made dance special. When a

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Speaker 1: Laker was fourteen, she and her mother moved to New

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Speaker 1: York so a Legra could pursue dance. She auditioned for

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Speaker 1: a scholarship at the School of American Ballet. Her mother

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Speaker 1: did the talking. They brought a letter of introduction from

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Speaker 1: her previous ballet teacher, who wrote a Likra's dancing was demonic.

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Speaker 1: Balancine observed part of a ballet class to a val

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Speaker 1: You wait her, she says. Even at the time, she

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Speaker 1: knew this was a metaphysically all or nothing moment. She

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Speaker 1: had the feeling if balancing rejected her, she'd have some

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Speaker 1: kind of breakdown. As a Legra danced, she mirrored his

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Speaker 1: face with her own, almost involuntarily. His face gave nothing away,

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Speaker 1: and neither did hers. She wouldn't let him see how

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Speaker 1: important she knew the passing moments were, or how eager

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Speaker 1: she was to get a scholarship. After four short minutes,

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Speaker 1: he left. It was all he needed. She got the scholarship.

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Speaker 1: A year later, she was invited to be an apprentice

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Speaker 1: in the company. Soon she took her first ballet classes

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Speaker 1: from balancing himself from Mr b. He liked the way

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Speaker 1: I danced, he liked the way I moved. One day

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Speaker 1: during class, Balancing said to her, you can do anything.

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Speaker 1: They yeah, I was a little different the way I

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Speaker 1: approached things, in the way the way I heard the music.

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Speaker 1: So yes, but the music came first. Of course, Allegra

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Speaker 1: understood Balanci's philosophy. The music came first, and the way

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Speaker 1: he talked about it felt almost magical. One evening performance,

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Speaker 1: we were doing a Mozart ballet in Saltzburg, and he said,

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Speaker 1: last night I spoke to Mozart and he he started

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Speaker 1: talking about this experience. I wish I had written it

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Speaker 1: down because Aty was speaking. One moment I was crying

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Speaker 1: and the next moment I was laughing because it was

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Speaker 1: so glorious, was so moving it was, And actually I

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Speaker 1: think he did you think he? I think he communicated

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Speaker 1: with the greatness of the past. Could you tell us

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Speaker 1: about Balancin's relationships with his dancers. He fell in love

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Speaker 1: with a number of his dancers, He married some of

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Speaker 1: his dancers, and I think that as far as that

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Speaker 1: was the early years, and then his life became much

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Speaker 1: more complicated, and it's so complicated I can't talk about.

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Speaker 1: But she would write about some of it in her autobiography,

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Speaker 1: and things certainly would become complicated. Alegh writes she noticed

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Speaker 1: a pattern and Balancing's love affairs. There was a time

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Speaker 1: limit around seven years. Balancing got older, the women stayed

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Speaker 1: the same age, usually between fifteen and twenty three. A

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Speaker 1: leg Where wrote, as an apprentice, a Logo found herself

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Speaker 1: in classes with dancers she admired, including some of Balantiein's

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Speaker 1: former and future wives, who danced side by side. When

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Speaker 1: a Laker was an apprentice, tannekill Leclair was on the rise. Tanny,

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Speaker 1: she was called. She was eight years older than Allegra

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Speaker 1: and looked like modern art. Allegra says one day Tanny

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Speaker 1: came in with a bandage on her nose. Apparently she

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Speaker 1: had kicked so high to the front during a grand

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Speaker 1: batma exercise that she need herself in the face. Allegra

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Speaker 1: was impressed. Allegra's mother and the other mothers talked about

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Speaker 1: balancing constantly, and that included his romantic pursuits. They became experts.

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Speaker 1: They said, Tanny had caught Balantiein's eye when she was

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Speaker 1: eleven years old. Later, when they went on tour, Tanny

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Speaker 1: and her mother stayed in a suite with Mr. B.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty two, Balancien married Tanaquielle. She was twenty

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Speaker 1: three and he was forty eight. He'd found his new

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Speaker 1: mus Allegra's mother didn't like this pattern of women, Allegra

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Speaker 1: rights in her autobiography. In my mother's mind, there was

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Speaker 1: only one type of pain that could be truly serious,

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Speaker 1: and that would occur if Balanchine got me. Nothing was

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Speaker 1: as terrible as his making me another Lolita in his

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Speaker 1: ballerina gallery m hm In Allegra was still an apprentice,

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Speaker 1: and then she got the news I was invited into

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Speaker 1: the company. I was fifty. She said, yes, what would

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Speaker 1: you say were some of the like pivotal moments or

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Speaker 1: turning points as a dancer? Definitely the unanswered question that

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Speaker 1: launched you as a star. That was the first peace

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Speaker 1: Balentine did for me. The first ballet. I was seventeen,

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Speaker 1: Balanchine was fifty. Allegra had been in the company two years,

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Speaker 1: dancing in the core. This rehearsal was different, just her

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Speaker 1: and four men balancing. Told the leger to take her

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Speaker 1: point shoes off. She would do this piece barefoot, but

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Speaker 1: her feet would never touch the floor. Balancing had her

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Speaker 1: climb on top of the ballet bar. He placed the

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Speaker 1: four men in front of her, and then he said, now, Allegra,

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Speaker 1: step on the men's shoulders. The men gripped her ankles

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Speaker 1: and she stepped up. Eventually, on stage, the men would

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Speaker 1: wear all black. Their costumes dissolved them into the dark backdrop.

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Speaker 1: I'm wearing all white leotard. Nothing ill tearried down. The

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00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:48,959
Speaker 1: piece was called The Unanswered Question. It began with one man,

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Speaker 1: bear skinned, the only one not in black, backing onto

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Speaker 1: the stage looking up. A man comes out, searching, seeking

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Speaker 1: mine too feel the truth of what this images. And

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Speaker 1: a woman is being held totally upright and progressing slowly

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Speaker 1: while the visible man reaches for her. The men in

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Speaker 1: black carry her forward. She's loading above them all standing

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Speaker 1: then sitting in mid air, then dipping backwards into somersault,

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Speaker 1: threaded through the men's legs and looked back up in

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Speaker 1: a slow motion dive. It's like watching someone's wim in

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Speaker 1: a watery black void. And the bear skin man the

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00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:41,639
Speaker 1: seeker reaches for her. Is she an image? She on

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Speaker 1: the unobtainable, She is everything, but he can't. She's out

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Speaker 1: of reach, and at one point she sort of curls

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Speaker 1: into his arm, but immediately the men take her away

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Speaker 1: and she's threaded in. At one point she's held on

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Speaker 1: high and I slowly tilted backwards and fell fell straight

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Speaker 1: back from standing on their shoulders. You could hear the

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00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:21,520
Speaker 1: terror from the audience. It sounded like a gas. Of course,

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00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,760
Speaker 1: the men caught me as I did every time, but

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00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:33,679
Speaker 1: I realized that bouncing love to create fear, dramatic fear

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Speaker 1: and the audience, and that was definitely one of those moments.

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Speaker 1: And then the ballet progresses. I'm threaded through their legs,

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Speaker 1: I'm hauled around like rope around their waist. I'm held

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Speaker 1: on high and I do at arabisk and and then

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Speaker 1: I at leave. I'm taking way, and the man the

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00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 1: seeker is still following me, But this time he's him back,

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Speaker 1: He's not in front. She has moved past him, and

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Speaker 1: I'm man obtainable. It was the beginning of her life

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00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 1: as a balancing news During rehearsals of The Unanswered Question,

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Speaker 1: Allegro felt Balancing was in love with her. The question

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00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 1: hung there. What did Mr Be ultimately want from her?

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Speaker 1: She thinks at that point, neither of them knew what

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Speaker 1: was your relationship with balancing? Like he Corey graphed, he

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00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 1: chose me. I danced and very warm, not personal, very warm.

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Speaker 1: He asked how I was, and things like out. Allegra

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00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 1: and Mr B's connection felt close and unspoken. It would

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00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 1: never turn romantic. And the Unanswered Question, Allegra says she

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Speaker 1: was a sensual, spiritual object sought by a man who

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00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 1: could never possess her, the object of a quest, but

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00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:22,680
Speaker 1: she eludes the man. The mystery is never solved, the

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00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:47,480
Speaker 1: question never answered. That's the dynamic of all the roles

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00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:50,720
Speaker 1: balance she would make for her. She writes, a suppressed

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Speaker 1: in her life and unanswered questions. Yeah, everyone knew Balancing

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Speaker 1: thought his dancers shouldn't have children. He say to them,

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Speaker 1: anyone can be a mother, but how many could be

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Speaker 1: a ballerina. How many could dance Balancin's choreography. But a

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00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:43,160
Speaker 1: lager got married, she had a baby, despite Balancine's wishes.

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00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:46,760
Speaker 1: I did what I wanted to do. That was part

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Speaker 1: of my nature. Allegra speaks highly of balancing. She doesn't

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Speaker 1: seem to want to get into the nitty gritty of

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Speaker 1: relationships or company dynamics, but in her autobiography, Allegra writes

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Speaker 1: that leaving the company for any reason was a dangerous thing.

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Speaker 1: Balancine might not want you back. Disloyalty hurt him. He

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Speaker 1: expected allegiance. Allegra writes that although he didn't overtly encourage

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Speaker 1: awe or worship, in a subtle way, he used the

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Speaker 1: idolatry of the dancers to keep the company together. I

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Speaker 1: think the first baby balance she thought was an accident,

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Speaker 1: But the second one he thought. Wait a minute. When

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00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,040
Speaker 1: Allegra came back from childbirth the second time, she writes

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00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:37,680
Speaker 1: that he told her in a serious tone, now, Allegra,

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Speaker 1: no more babies. Enough is enough. Babies are for Puerto Ricans.

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00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 1: I don't know if this was a racist joke or

404
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,800
Speaker 1: a racist attempts to rain a liegra in. Either way,

405
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,400
Speaker 1: she thought, this man directs the company, not my life.

406
00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 1: But he welcome me back into the company, and he

407
00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:04,160
Speaker 1: always will be back. So what she didn't realize yet

408
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:08,240
Speaker 1: was that she'd never be back, not really well. She

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00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:11,480
Speaker 1: was having a baby. Balancing had turned to someone new,

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00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:16,160
Speaker 1: someone young, someone who would become his most famous muse

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Speaker 1: of all time, a fifteen year old girl named Suzanne Farrell.

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Speaker 1: Balancing and Suzanne Farrell were joined at the hip. This

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00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:28,920
Speaker 1: couple this you know, you know. You could call it

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00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,520
Speaker 1: an artistic power couple. You could call it, hey, you know,

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00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:40,360
Speaker 1: mus artist. There's obsession in both directions. I think Susanne

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Speaker 1: is probably Balancing's most iconic dancer and his most complicated relationship.

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Speaker 1: She declined to speak with us for this podcast, but

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Speaker 1: she did write a memoir about this time. Early on,

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Speaker 1: when she was at the School of American Ballet, it

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00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,240
Speaker 1: was clear that Balancing was drawn to her. She had

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00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:02,560
Speaker 1: physical quality because he was looking for a natural musicality

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00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:07,920
Speaker 1: and a willingness to try anything he asked. Balancine choreographed

423
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:11,040
Speaker 1: to the first ballet specifically for Susanne when she was eighteen.

424
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 1: It was a potted du between a young girl and

425
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:18,359
Speaker 1: an older man, she realized it was about the two

426
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:28,120
Speaker 1: of them. Later, she would write, it did not occur

427
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:30,879
Speaker 1: to me that I was entering into an emotional abyss

428
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:33,919
Speaker 1: so deep that perhaps I should decide if I thought

429
00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,880
Speaker 1: it might be worth it it was worth it. But

430
00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:41,839
Speaker 1: I never once stopped to consider that question. In retrospect,

431
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,120
Speaker 1: I realized that the fact that I had no outside

432
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:47,760
Speaker 1: points of reference meant that I made various important decisions

433
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:55,920
Speaker 1: in a social vacuum. Balancie and Susanne worked closely in

434
00:34:55,920 --> 00:35:00,360
Speaker 1: the studio, like creative conspirators, and that trickled outside theater.

435
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,359
Speaker 1: On tour in Europe, they spent every evening together at

436
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:08,720
Speaker 1: museums or shops, or walking arm in arm. Soon Balancing

437
00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:14,120
Speaker 1: became Suzanne's whole life. Knowing Balancine's jealousy, Susanne felt she

438
00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:22,439
Speaker 1: couldn't really have other friends, and she didn't mind. Even

439
00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:25,879
Speaker 1: though Balancing was forty one years older than Suzanne. There

440
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:29,960
Speaker 1: was this romantic undercurrent that was clear to everyone. When

441
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,799
Speaker 1: she was twenty two and he was sixty three, a

442
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:37,240
Speaker 1: newspaper even falsely reported that they were engaged, and Susanne

443
00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:40,800
Speaker 1: felt that undercurrent herself. In her book, she writes quote

444
00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:43,560
Speaker 1: it was for him that I felt the first stirrings

445
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:46,600
Speaker 1: of adult love, and he was, without doubt the most

446
00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:50,680
Speaker 1: important man in my life. But she knew Balancing was

447
00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:54,400
Speaker 1: still married to Tanny, that he was living two separate lives,

448
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:58,160
Speaker 1: one of which he didn't discuss with Susanne. So when

449
00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:01,080
Speaker 1: an audience member began taking special noice of her, she

450
00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:04,640
Speaker 1: began a new relationship. His name was Roger. He was

451
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:06,600
Speaker 1: a couple of months older than her, and when they

452
00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:11,040
Speaker 1: got engaged, he gave her a pearl ring. Suzanne knew

453
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,120
Speaker 1: not to wear the ring to the theater, but one

454
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:19,279
Speaker 1: day Balanchin saw it on her finger. He exploded. He

455
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:24,560
Speaker 1: ordered her to take it off. His anger frightened her.

456
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:30,640
Speaker 1: She obeyed and ended her relationship with Roger. In the end,

457
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:34,200
Speaker 1: she said it was not her decision, it was Balanchin's.

458
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,960
Speaker 1: A week later, Balancing came to Suzanne's hotel room on tour.

459
00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:45,600
Speaker 1: He presented her with his own ring. She writes that

460
00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:49,080
Speaker 1: when she turned it down, he hurled it across the room.

461
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,880
Speaker 1: In fear, she dropped to her knees, clambered for the

462
00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:54,240
Speaker 1: ring under the bed, and put it on her finger.

463
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:58,880
Speaker 1: She says, quote it was never quite clear whether or

464
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,320
Speaker 1: not the ring was intended to symbolize our present or

465
00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:05,480
Speaker 1: future union in marriage, but I think at least to him,

466
00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:10,560
Speaker 1: it signified an exclusive attachment. To me, it signified love

467
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:19,080
Speaker 1: and all its ghoshness, desperation and beauty. Dancers at the

468
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 1: company knew that Suzanne Farrell was off limits romantically, that

469
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:26,640
Speaker 1: you belonged to Balancing, But eventually Suzanne did start to

470
00:37:26,719 --> 00:37:29,680
Speaker 1: date someone else again, a fellow dancer in the company,

471
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:33,439
Speaker 1: Paul Mahea. They kept it secret, but they couldn't hide

472
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:37,120
Speaker 1: it entirely. When Balancine realized Susanne and Paul were in

473
00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:41,840
Speaker 1: a relationship, he did something Susanne did not expect this time.

474
00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:45,440
Speaker 1: He asked her to marry him. But Suzanne couldn't give

475
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:49,799
Speaker 1: Balancing what he wanted. Jean Paul quietly married, and that's

476
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:59,040
Speaker 1: when things unraveled. Balancing avoided, Suzanne and Paul started losing roles. Finally,

477
00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:03,239
Speaker 1: one day, Suzanne confronted Balancing. She would later call that

478
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:06,400
Speaker 1: day the most a real day of her life. She

479
00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:10,160
Speaker 1: sent Balancing a note stop the retaliation, or she and

480
00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:12,759
Speaker 1: Paul would leave the company, not that she thought it

481
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:16,440
Speaker 1: would go that far, but Balancing was still her boss.

482
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:20,880
Speaker 1: That night, the Russian wardrobe manager entered the dressing room

483
00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:26,200
Speaker 1: and slipped Suzanne's two two off its hanger. She was crying, Susanne,

484
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:34,280
Speaker 1: you're not dancing tonight, she said. At age, Susanne realized

485
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:37,600
Speaker 1: her world was ending. She was no longer a member

486
00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 1: of the New York City Ballet. And you know, you

487
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:47,040
Speaker 1: can imagine someone that young, who had built their entire

488
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:51,400
Speaker 1: life and identity around one artist run on a company

489
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,280
Speaker 1: and balancing at that time was such a powerful figure.

490
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:59,000
Speaker 1: No other company in America would be able to hire

491
00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:01,319
Speaker 1: Susanne Ferrell to dance, even though she was one of

492
00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:06,120
Speaker 1: the pre eminent dancers of her generation, for fear of

493
00:39:06,239 --> 00:39:18,000
Speaker 1: incurring the ire of balancing. Balanchine was so fond of

494
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:22,799
Speaker 1: perfumes that leaves the scent of that dancer behind, and

495
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:28,120
Speaker 1: it's still permeates. Teenage Stephanie's a Land joined the company

496
00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:30,600
Speaker 1: a couple of years after Suzanne had been forced out.

497
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:37,400
Speaker 1: The muse was still in the air, her presence lingered.

498
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:43,200
Speaker 1: My parents got me as my graduation present, my grief

499
00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:48,480
Speaker 1: a bottle of perfume, and I remember just bathing in

500
00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:54,680
Speaker 1: the scent. And at the time Suzanne Farrell had gone

501
00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:57,960
Speaker 1: away from the company, and I got into the elevator,

502
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,920
Speaker 1: I believe, with Balanciine and carn vent Ding. Karen was

503
00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:05,920
Speaker 1: another famous dancer at the company. When Stephanie stepped into

504
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:09,120
Speaker 1: the elevator, she says she saw something change on Mr

505
00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:13,600
Speaker 1: B's face, a little bit of a look of displeasure

506
00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:18,719
Speaker 1: or surprise or or unease, and Karen just looked at

507
00:40:18,719 --> 00:40:24,440
Speaker 1: me sideways and kind of cringed, and I didn't know why. Afterwards,

508
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:26,480
Speaker 1: Mr B got out and she let me know that

509
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 1: the perfume was definitely to be discarded. It had been

510
00:40:32,719 --> 00:40:40,239
Speaker 1: Suzanne's perfume. Years later, Suzanne Farrell would eventually return to

511
00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:44,439
Speaker 1: balancing in his company, finally forgiven. They continued to work

512
00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:49,360
Speaker 1: together for years until Balancing's death. Suzanne Farrell's story is

513
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:52,640
Speaker 1: one of ballet legend, now a piece of balancing history

514
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:55,399
Speaker 1: that lingers in the air, and not everyone sees eye

515
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:59,000
Speaker 1: to eye on it. Historian Jim Styken is someone who's

516
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:03,200
Speaker 1: been publicly critical of how Balanche treated Susanne. She's never

517
00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:05,759
Speaker 1: denounced him for the way that he treated her, but

518
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:09,200
Speaker 1: you know, it was really shocking the way that she

519
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:11,560
Speaker 1: was treated, and it's hard not to think about it

520
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:14,920
Speaker 1: in terms of like a you know, blacklisting of like

521
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:19,080
Speaker 1: someone who spurs your romantic overtures, who chooses another man

522
00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:21,799
Speaker 1: over you, and then you are going to punish that

523
00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 1: woman professionally and ensure that her livelihood is endangered and

524
00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:31,560
Speaker 1: that she can't have autonomy over her own career and life.

525
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:36,359
Speaker 1: So it's, um, it's a really tricky case. A lot

526
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:40,200
Speaker 1: of people have criticized me for kind of parsing it

527
00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:45,000
Speaker 1: out and writing about it. I don't know how you

528
00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:50,880
Speaker 1: can call that anything but a misogynistic, abusive power and

529
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,440
Speaker 1: something that you know, even if she won't denounce him,

530
00:41:53,480 --> 00:42:11,879
Speaker 1: it's like the actions kind of speak for themselves. This

531
00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:16,080
Speaker 1: is what Suzanne Farrell wrote in her memoir. Quote that

532
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:19,239
Speaker 1: Balancie spent his life building pedestals for his ballerinas to

533
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:23,280
Speaker 1: stand on is no secret, and although some might protest

534
00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:26,200
Speaker 1: the position as one of inequality, no one who has

535
00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:29,040
Speaker 1: ever been there has ever complained it is the most

536
00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:32,920
Speaker 1: humbling and beautiful place I've ever been. Balancine was a

537
00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:36,360
Speaker 1: feminist long before it was the fashion. He devoted his

538
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:49,520
Speaker 1: life to celebrating female independence. End quote Suzanne Holly Taniquiel

539
00:42:49,719 --> 00:42:55,160
Speaker 1: Alegra Stephanie. They all performed Balancie's ballet Apollo. They all

540
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:59,680
Speaker 1: played the roles of Apollo's muses on stage. Apollo is

541
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:02,120
Speaker 1: such a beautiful ballet. I can't help but love it.

542
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:06,480
Speaker 1: But something about it bothers me too. As much as

543
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:09,320
Speaker 1: the muses have their moments, you know that Apollo is

544
00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:13,520
Speaker 1: the center. The muses are important, but they're important because

545
00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:17,360
Speaker 1: of what they do for him. Apollo is the god.

546
00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:24,480
Speaker 1: He is in control. Apollo, or Balancing, keeps the muse

547
00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:27,400
Speaker 1: on her pedestal right where he can always see her.

548
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:38,880
Speaker 1: Balancing has many famous quotations, but maybe the most famous

549
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:43,000
Speaker 1: is that he loved to say Ballet is woman. People

550
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:45,360
Speaker 1: often quote Ballet as a woman as a sign of

551
00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:47,799
Speaker 1: his reverence for the female body and the role of

552
00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:51,040
Speaker 1: women in his art. It's a phrase you hear all

553
00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:58,440
Speaker 1: the time. What does it really mean? How feminist is

554
00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:02,040
Speaker 1: the phrase ballet is one? And this is the rest

555
00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:06,200
Speaker 1: of what Balanchine had to say. Quote. Man is a

556
00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:11,440
Speaker 1: better cook, a better painter, a better musician, composer. Everything

557
00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:17,800
Speaker 1: is man, sports, everything. Man is stronger, faster. Why because

558
00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:20,880
Speaker 1: we have muscles and were made that way. And woman

559
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:24,720
Speaker 1: accepts this it is her business to accept. She knows

560
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:28,440
Speaker 1: what's beautiful. Men are great poets because they have to

561
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:32,200
Speaker 1: write beautiful poetry for women. Odes to a beautiful woman.

562
00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:37,680
Speaker 1: Woman accepts the beautiful poetry. You see. Man is the servant,

563
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:44,000
Speaker 1: a good servant. In ballet, however, woman is first. Everywhere

564
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:47,480
Speaker 1: else man is first, but in ballet, it's the woman.

565
00:44:48,440 --> 00:45:21,560
Speaker 1: All my life. I've dedicated my art to her. Next

566
00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:27,280
Speaker 1: time on The Turning Gone unchecked. Bad things can happen,

567
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:32,960
Speaker 1: and they did, and then people are scared. You know,

568
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:46,440
Speaker 1: people are still afraid to talk. The Turning is a

569
00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:50,240
Speaker 1: production of Rococo Punch and I Heeart Podcasts. It's written

570
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:54,040
Speaker 1: and produced by Allen Lance Lesser and Me. Our story

571
00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:58,320
Speaker 1: editor is Emily Foreman. Mixing and sound designed by James Trout.

572
00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:02,759
Speaker 1: Jessica Carissa as our assistant producer. Andrea Swage is our

573
00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:09,479
Speaker 1: digital producer. Fact checking by Andrea Lopez Crusado. Special links

574
00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:11,520
Speaker 1: to a leg or Kent if you want to check

575
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:15,520
Speaker 1: it out. Her autobiography is called Once a Dancer. Also

576
00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:18,720
Speaker 1: to Susanne Farrell and Tony Bentley, who wrote the memoir

577
00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:23,040
Speaker 1: Holding Onto the Air, and Jim Stiken, whose book is

578
00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:29,719
Speaker 1: called Balancine and Kirstine's American Enterprise. Our executive producers are

579
00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:33,040
Speaker 1: John Parotti and Jessica Alpert at Rococo Punch and I

580
00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:43,600
Speaker 1: Get Trina Norvelle and Nikki Etre at iHeart Podcasts. For

581
00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:46,160
Speaker 1: photos and more details on the series, follow us on

582
00:46:46,200 --> 00:46:49,680
Speaker 1: Instagram at Rococo Punch, and you can reach out via

583
00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:59,600
Speaker 1: email The Turning at Rococo punch dot com. I'm Erica Lance.

584
00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:10,640
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. M