WEBVTT - S2: Ep 4 - The Muses 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:07.040 Ballet in Balanchine's company was all about the female, the 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:14.640 idealized female, and putting her on a pedestal. And one 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:18.759 of the aspects of being a balancing dancer was to 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:26.400 have your own perfume that was nobody else's perfume. Balancing 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:30.120 was so fond of perfume that leaves the scent of 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:38.920 that dancer behind. So it's as if the dancers have 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:47.160 a physiological energetic center, pulse or resonance or field that 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:54.240 is absolutely indelible, and nobody else has it. It's their 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:59.120 own fingerprint. So we each had to have our own, 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:05.040 and we doused ourselves, and we're speaking at about bathing perfume. 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:11.800 We were supposed to leave our scent behind so that 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:16.560 he would know who was there before him. Why. It 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:20.959 was just part of the culture, the same as people 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:23.760 dressing up for class. They would just make up to 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.160 the hill to the just so chavon skart, perfect, clean 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:33.679 shoes and hair dumb and their own smells, all looking good, 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.600 smelling good, all the volition in place, all the the 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:55.800 readiness of being chosen. Selected from My Heart Podcasts and 0:01:55.840 --> 0:02:00.480 Rococo Punch, This is the turning room of Mirrors America. 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:20.920 Lands Part four, The Muses, The dancers and Balancin's company 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:24.600 wanted to present themselves well. They wanted to please Balancine, 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:27.640 catch his eye. They knew he was watching all the 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:31.440 time in that studio without windows and from the heavy 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:35.760 curtains of the theater's wings. By this point, Stephanie so 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.640 Land was an insider. She'd been in the company for 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.360 a while and had navigated the culture and ethics of 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:46.040 Balancine's world. We rarely got any guests from outside, but 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.760 Balancine actually really did a favor of few people who 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:54.880 came in, and one was Helmsmar from Paris Opera. Glentismar 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.880 was a star ballerina. She danced all over the world, 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.560 and even though she wasn't trained by balancing, she came 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.840 to guest dance with the company. Years later, I went 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:07.240 to visit Guillne in Paris in her apartment and we 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:11.040 had a conversation about her experience. And here's this person 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.120 who was an eighth twelve at Paris Opera. She's a 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:19.239 very very gracious woman, and we sat in her most 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.600 wonderful apartment. She said, you know, the first time I 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.160 went in, I've just never seen anything like it. It It 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:31.960 was like a harim, like a harem, Yes, and we 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:35.200 were so accustomed to it. But everybody in that room 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:41.080 was just waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting to be the one 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:45.200 in the concubines are alum, waiting to be the one 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:52.960 for balancing. Essentially, Yes, in his early years, certainly he 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.560 did either mary or was with six of his ballerinas. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:01.040 And I say his ballerinas. They really were part of 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:02.920 his life, and each of them quite different than the 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:06.720 stories around that, quite different, and there are many, many 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:11.360 stories to tell. This was a time when there really 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:15.880 were no clear boundaries, and the desire to please and 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:20.720 the confusion around that with young women definitely was interwoven 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:25.839 into that. I wanted to ask you about Apollo. M hmm. 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.320 Could we talk about Apollo a little bit? We can? 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:38.560 I watched video of you dancing it recently, and um, 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:44.800 maybe could you describe that ballet? Oh dear, that takes 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:51.359 a few hours. I can't even begin to speak to 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:55.359 Apollo with anything that would give it its due. Honestly, 0:04:56.320 --> 0:05:00.000 it is so rich and so ahead of its time. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:05.719 Time he was beginning to show us how time and 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:10.599 space and bodies and mind and music could be sculpted 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:23.120 and merged. Apollo is Balancing's first major collaboration with the 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.600 composer Igor Stravinsky. It was the start of what would 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.719 be dozens of projects they partner on, and it launched 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:33.240 Balancing into international fame when he was just twenty four. 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.040 The ballet follows young Apollo, the Greek god of music, 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.880 as he has visited and instructed by three muses, the 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.160 Music Poetry, the Muse of Mine, and the Muse of 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:53.560 Dance and Song. At first, Apollo doesn't seem to know 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:59.039 what he's doing. He's like a shaky cult or a 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:04.160 young deer that isn't quite on its legs yet. And 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:08.599 then you see him find his ground. You watch him 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:16.440 become an artist and a god. During the ballet, each 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:21.000 muse dances for Apollo. They teach him, they inspire him. 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:23.800 At times, it's hard to tell who's in power. They're 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:31.120 all learning from each other. When Stephanie danced it, she 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:34.880 played the Muse of Poetry Calliope. She's the first of 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.160 the muses to dance for Apollo, and as she dances 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:42.000 for him, her body suddenly caves in on itself, as 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.960 if an emotional or physical pain. Each time you hear 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.720 the cellos make a sudden, low sound. Then she reaches 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.440 out while holding one hand to her heart, as if 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.240 she's finally expressing what's within. Her mouth opens as if 0:06:56.279 --> 0:07:01.279 to speak this taking from the gout from the core, 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:03.960 from the soul, through the throat, through the mouth, and 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:09.040 out into the world. It is again, I think, in 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:13.880 that way that is so Hallmark Balanchine about the importance 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:17.400 of women in a man's life. Only now, of course, 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:24.440 the women are muses and goddess creatures un mountained olympus, 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:29.920 and that they are going to teach this young god 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:35.840 all that he needs to learn. They are the mentors, 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:40.720 the guides, the muses. Beyond the basic story, the ballet 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:45.080 itself is beautiful. The movements feel classical yet totally modern. 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.320 At times, Apollo holds all three of them muses hands 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.000 and leads them or move them around in a chain, 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.240 tangling them with each other in this abstractly shaped not 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:59.160 It's interesting to watch how the power shifts throughout who 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:04.320 is leading who was learning. Apollo controls and manipulates them uses. 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.520 Other times it seems he struggles to contain them, struggles 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:14.520 to keep up. Ultimately, Apollo takes his place as a god. 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.320 Armed with the knowledge of the muses, He's now powerful 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:24.320 over them. It is his deep bow to the idealized 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:30.920 female and their role in shaping the world, and shaping 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:37.640 that world which is otherworldly and owed to his muses. 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:46.920 Over the years, Balancine would have many when he became 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:50.400 very interested in someone. They might have been sixteen or seventeen. 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.920 They had certain exquisite gifts like maybe an exquisite Arabesque 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:59.559 or jumping, or maybe turning, or the way the arm 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:04.120 the upper body worked together. Lin Garafola is a dance 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.280 historian who lives in New York. She saw many balancing 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:11.199 ballets during the dance boom in the seventies. When balancing 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:15.200 was inspired by a dancer, he'd choreographed dances on her, 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.199 as they call it, and not just teach her the steps, 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:20.160 but really danced through it with her in a way 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.840 that felt special, and in many cases he'd fall in 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:28.679 love with her. I think for balancing, working with someone 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:32.560 and dancing with someone was perhaps the only way in 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:38.800 which he could create a really close relationship. Balancing was 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.400 totally absorbed in the art form, and he asked the 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.800 same of his dancers to fully surrender to the art 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:55.079 form and to his vision. Holly Howard was one dancer 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:58.680 Balancing was drawn to early on in the nineties. She 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.240 danced the role of a muse in the first performance 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:07.559 of Apollo in the United States. Holly Howard a wonderful 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:15.040 American dancer. She was arguably balancings first American muse, like 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:19.920 the first American dancer that he became really obsessed with, 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:24.320 and that really drove his art. Jim Styke in researched 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:28.720 Balancing's early career. He scoured the diaries of Lincoln Kristine, 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.559 the man who invited Balancing to the US to start 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.520 his work. The diaries gave Jim a window into the 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:40.679 dynamics of those early years in the United States. Balancing 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:44.320 took a romantic interest in Holly Howard, and they were 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.800 kind of a couple. You know, everyone's super young, and 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.520 at one point they were touring the East Coast on 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:55.199 the bus Balancing sad with Holly his current news. When 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:59.000 they were in Princeton, Holly Howard, after their show, decided 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:03.280 to go out with some of Princeton men, and the 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.440 next day, when they're getting back on the tour bus, 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:10.600 Balancing and sitting next to a different dancer and says, well, 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:12.280 you know, you decided to go up to the Princeton 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:16.200 Boys so you can sit next to someone else. So 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:23.000 there's that classic manipulation power move. We don't really need 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:25.480 to know too many of the details to know that 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:30.080 there's some games being played and some power dynamics that play. 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:35.280 Because even though they had a relationship, Balancing was still 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:42.800 Holly's boss. The other chilling tidbit in Christian's Diaries makes 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:47.040 reference to one day that Holly Howard had had her 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:52.080 fourth abortion by balanching. It's hard to know what that 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:55.760 really means, but you can read between the lines and 0:11:56.559 --> 0:12:00.559 think about what was happening when you say read between 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:02.880 the lines, like, how do you read between the lines there? 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:07.520 So clearly they're sleeping together. When you say use the 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:11.520 phrase fourth abortion by balancing, does that imply essentially the 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:15.360 fourth termination of a pregnancy that like Balancing is 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 as start answers, 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:27.360 to get pregnant and have children, So it's you know, 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:30.800 do we have any idea how consensual their relationship was. 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:36.960 Do we have any idea how consensual those decisions determinate were? 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.280 Do we have any idea what Holly Howard went through 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:46.880 to go through those procedures while still dancing at a 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:50.840 very high level. You know, that's where you realize that 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:55.439 the cult makes him into this entirely benevolent figure. When 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.119 Jim says cult, he thinks there's almost a cult around balancing. 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:03.280 He also calls it the Church of Balancing, fervent admirers 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:07.000 who don't want anything bad said about him, writers, critics, 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:10.080 and dancers who would rather sweep unflattering stories under the 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:15.280 rug or minimize those stories effects. You know, we will 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:18.800 probably never know the full story. But she this is 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:20.320 kind of the heart of her career. She kind of 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:28.120 fades away after this. These relationships often faded away eventually, 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:35.439 lind says he'd always move on. Well, this is a 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:37.720 little bit like the Six Wives of Henry the Eighth, 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:42.440 Not quite, but a little bit like that. Balancine married 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.120 or partnered with a number of these dancers, five to 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:51.360 be exact tomorrow, Alexandra Vera, Maria, and Tanna Hill. But 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:55.400 even beyond those marriages, he developed other romantic relationships which 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.920 always seem to be intertwined with his work in some way. 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.080 Some of these relationships ended because the ballerina's career has 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:04.800 led them elsewhere, to cabarets or to Hollywood, But more 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:09.160 commonly the relationships ended for a different reason. I think 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:13.760 there's a sense in his work that the ballerina, the 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.559 woman who for a certain moment is ideal, is never 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:23.040 fully attainable, or perhaps once she appears to be attained, 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.280 and then perhaps he loses interest and moves on to 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:52.000 something else, to someone else, she's no longer ideal. Through 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.880 Balancine's twenties, his thirties, and his forties, his pattern of 0:14:55.960 --> 0:15:00.000 having relationships with his dancers persisted. Sometimes he was decade 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.360 is older than his romantic counterpart. His company grew, He 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.280 had more and more talented dancers coming into their own 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:12.040 and inspiring his choreography. In nineteen fifty four, he was 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:18.160 fifty years old, and he sees this talent around and 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:26.000 he's making ballets for them all. And then there's Electric Kent. 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:33.960 It's a very young Electric Kent. This is Siren City. 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:39.040 The traffic doesn't stop for sirence, and it's a free 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:48.400 for all. Um my name is Allegra Kent. I was 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:53.720 born in August eleven, ninety seven, on the same day 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:59.000 that Edith Wharton died turning producer Alan Lance Lesser, and 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.000 I met Allegric Kent in her studio apartment in New York, 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:06.600 walking in felt special. Allegra Kent was one of those 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.960 musices who stood out. She was somebody balancing bent the 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:12.720 norms for I've known who she was since I was 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:15.040 a kid. I read one of the books she wrote 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.800 cover to cover many times in middle school. She was 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:22.040 my idea of the perfect ballerina. It's hard to think 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.920 of a more iconic dancer than Alegra Kent. Your wall 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.440 is just covered in dwellers, most of its career pictures, 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:36.040 but uneating more children and grandchildren. Alecra's fingers are thin 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:39.240 and wrinkled. She gestures to the photos on the wall 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:44.640 and slow circular motions. They're mostly of Allegra, gorgeous and moody, 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:47.240 black and white images of her in the most beautiful 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:52.680 poses mid dance. So over here seven deadly sins. There 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.400 are shots of her backstage, one of her balancing on 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.640 points that had been in Vogue magazine. This is Russia 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:03.640 six too, my name is over there a poster in 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:06.639 Russian with her name on it, and then balancing and 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:12.040 Allegra both squatting midmotion. They're dancing together, side by side. 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:14.560 Next to it is a photo of the two of 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:17.680 them on stage in front of the curtain. She holds 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:25.760 a bouquet of flowers about with Balanchee Sarenad Japan. Scattered 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.320 among all this are these blue and black images. They 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:33.160 look like ink blots, raw shock tests. When we get 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.439 closer we realize their dark limbs in bright blue water. 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:41.119 Their photos of Allegra doing exercises in a pool. She 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:43.679 used to put flotation devices on her arms and legs 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:48.760 and move in the water, pushing air down in the water. 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:52.320 It was easy to go up, but hard to go down. 0:17:53.200 --> 0:18:02.200 It was like contrary to gravity. I have a certain 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:11.679 contrariness in my nature. In these pictures in the pool, 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.959 her body reflected itself, cut in half, the pool became 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:19.119 a mirror. You can't see her torso or her face, 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:25.000 just legs and arms reflected back. Surreal symmetry. Part of 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:29.919 her is always hidden. What do you think was your 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:34.800 favorite ballet to dance? That is very hard to say. 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:38.960 He's like asking what your favorite child is or something, 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:45.080 or your favorite flower. Because then I think, oh, all 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.240 the flowers that start with A, those are all my favorite, 0:18:48.560 --> 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 that 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:59.160 start with W. So I could throw out an answer, 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:05.879 but I I wound. Throughout our interview, Allegra's thoughts felt 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:09.840 watery and mysterious and hard to pin down. She often 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:15.719 left our questions unanswered. Allegra was born in Santa Monica, California, 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:19.040 to two Jewish parents. They divorced while she was still young. 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:24.720 In California, for a while, everyone changed their religion once 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.879 a week, but my mother decided that we should be 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:36.480 Christian scientists. According to Christian science, there's no pain. It's 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:41.960 very complicated. The Christian scientists around her believed the physical 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:46.040 body had no substance, that pain and pleasure weren't real, 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.399 and a Lira took that seriously. When she danced, she 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:55.480 told herself the pain wasn't real and kept dancing. In 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:59.800 this religious household, Allegra learned to obey authority, and she 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:04.639 learned to keep unpleasant feelings hidden with ballet. Even as 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:06.600 a kid, she realized she had found a way to 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:11.000 express herself without revealing her thoughts. Dance was how she 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:15.960 fought with her mother. Dance could bypass words. That's something 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.479 balancing would understand. He was known for speaking through movement. 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:22.679 For the rest of a Likra's life, she'd feel that 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:27.560 displaying emotions made her vulnerable, so she didn't. She held 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:36.240 them secret, and that's what made dance special. When a 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:39.159 Laker was fourteen, she and her mother moved to New 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:42.480 York so a Legra could pursue dance. She auditioned for 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.880 a scholarship at the School of American Ballet. Her mother 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:49.120 did the talking. They brought a letter of introduction from 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:53.440 her previous ballet teacher, who wrote a Likra's dancing was demonic. 0:20:57.520 --> 0:20:59.879 Balancine observed part of a ballet class to a val 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.520 You wait her, she says. Even at the time, she 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.280 knew this was a metaphysically all or nothing moment. She 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:09.480 had the feeling if balancing rejected her, she'd have some 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:13.960 kind of breakdown. As a Legra danced, she mirrored his 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:19.960 face with her own, almost involuntarily. His face gave nothing away, 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.360 and neither did hers. She wouldn't let him see how 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:27.040 important she knew the passing moments were, or how eager 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:33.160 she was to get a scholarship. After four short minutes, 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:37.720 he left. It was all he needed. She got the scholarship. 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.080 A year later, she was invited to be an apprentice 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:46.400 in the company. Soon she took her first ballet classes 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:51.040 from balancing himself from Mr b. He liked the way 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:55.440 I danced, he liked the way I moved. One day 0:21:55.480 --> 0:21:58.880 during class, Balancing said to her, you can do anything. 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:03.159 They yeah, I was a little different the way I 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:07.600 approached things, in the way the way I heard the music. 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:22.720 So yes, but the music came first. Of course, Allegra 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:27.040 understood Balanci's philosophy. The music came first, and the way 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:32.240 he talked about it felt almost magical. One evening performance, 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:38.840 we were doing a Mozart ballet in Saltzburg, and he said, 0:22:40.800 --> 0:22:46.320 last night I spoke to Mozart and he he started 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:50.000 talking about this experience. I wish I had written it 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:54.600 down because Aty was speaking. One moment I was crying 0:22:55.520 --> 0:22:58.720 and the next moment I was laughing because it was 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:03.879 so glorious, was so moving it was, And actually I 0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:09.119 think he did you think he? I think he communicated 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:14.959 with the greatness of the past. Could you tell us 0:23:15.000 --> 0:23:18.640 about Balancin's relationships with his dancers. He fell in love 0:23:18.680 --> 0:23:20.679 with a number of his dancers, He married some of 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:24.159 his dancers, and I think that as far as that 0:23:24.760 --> 0:23:28.240 was the early years, and then his life became much 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:32.800 more complicated, and it's so complicated I can't talk about. 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:38.000 But she would write about some of it in her autobiography, 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:43.720 and things certainly would become complicated. Alegh writes she noticed 0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:46.800 a pattern and Balancing's love affairs. There was a time 0:23:46.800 --> 0:23:51.560 limit around seven years. Balancing got older, the women stayed 0:23:51.600 --> 0:23:55.440 the same age, usually between fifteen and twenty three. A 0:23:55.520 --> 0:23:59.879 leg Where wrote, as an apprentice, a Logo found herself 0:23:59.880 --> 0:24:03.800 in classes with dancers she admired, including some of Balantiein's 0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:08.480 former and future wives, who danced side by side. When 0:24:08.480 --> 0:24:12.520 a Laker was an apprentice, tannekill Leclair was on the rise. Tanny, 0:24:12.600 --> 0:24:15.200 she was called. She was eight years older than Allegra 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:19.919 and looked like modern art. Allegra says one day Tanny 0:24:19.960 --> 0:24:22.359 came in with a bandage on her nose. Apparently she 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:24.359 had kicked so high to the front during a grand 0:24:24.400 --> 0:24:28.320 batma exercise that she need herself in the face. Allegra 0:24:28.440 --> 0:24:32.160 was impressed. Allegra's mother and the other mothers talked about 0:24:32.200 --> 0:24:37.320 balancing constantly, and that included his romantic pursuits. They became experts. 0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:40.399 They said, Tanny had caught Balantiein's eye when she was 0:24:40.440 --> 0:24:44.119 eleven years old. Later, when they went on tour, Tanny 0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:46.320 and her mother stayed in a suite with Mr. B. 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:52.119 In nineteen fifty two, Balancien married Tanaquielle. She was twenty 0:24:52.119 --> 0:24:55.240 three and he was forty eight. He'd found his new 0:24:55.320 --> 0:25:00.320 mus Allegra's mother didn't like this pattern of women, Allegra 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:04.000 rights in her autobiography. In my mother's mind, there was 0:25:04.040 --> 0:25:06.680 only one type of pain that could be truly serious, 0:25:07.600 --> 0:25:10.960 and that would occur if Balanchine got me. Nothing was 0:25:11.000 --> 0:25:14.119 as terrible as his making me another Lolita in his 0:25:14.200 --> 0:25:24.320 ballerina gallery m hm In Allegra was still an apprentice, 0:25:24.960 --> 0:25:28.080 and then she got the news I was invited into 0:25:28.119 --> 0:25:34.240 the company. I was fifty. She said, yes, what would 0:25:34.240 --> 0:25:37.639 you say were some of the like pivotal moments or 0:25:37.680 --> 0:25:43.720 turning points as a dancer? Definitely the unanswered question that 0:25:43.880 --> 0:25:47.600 launched you as a star. That was the first peace 0:25:47.720 --> 0:25:53.560 Balentine did for me. The first ballet. I was seventeen, 0:25:55.680 --> 0:25:59.480 Balanchine was fifty. Allegra had been in the company two years, 0:25:59.560 --> 0:26:03.560 dancing in the core. This rehearsal was different, just her 0:26:03.680 --> 0:26:07.000 and four men balancing. Told the leger to take her 0:26:07.040 --> 0:26:10.480 point shoes off. She would do this piece barefoot, but 0:26:10.560 --> 0:26:14.439 her feet would never touch the floor. Balancing had her 0:26:14.440 --> 0:26:17.359 climb on top of the ballet bar. He placed the 0:26:17.400 --> 0:26:21.320 four men in front of her, and then he said, now, Allegra, 0:26:21.800 --> 0:26:27.160 step on the men's shoulders. The men gripped her ankles 0:26:27.240 --> 0:26:32.880 and she stepped up. Eventually, on stage, the men would 0:26:32.880 --> 0:26:37.240 wear all black. Their costumes dissolved them into the dark backdrop. 0:26:38.960 --> 0:26:43.639 I'm wearing all white leotard. Nothing ill tearried down. The 0:26:43.680 --> 0:26:48.959 piece was called The Unanswered Question. It began with one man, 0:26:49.240 --> 0:26:52.640 bear skinned, the only one not in black, backing onto 0:26:52.720 --> 0:26:59.400 the stage looking up. A man comes out, searching, seeking 0:27:00.000 --> 0:27:05.000 mine too feel the truth of what this images. And 0:27:05.119 --> 0:27:11.680 a woman is being held totally upright and progressing slowly 0:27:14.440 --> 0:27:17.159 while the visible man reaches for her. The men in 0:27:17.240 --> 0:27:21.760 black carry her forward. She's loading above them all standing 0:27:22.240 --> 0:27:25.679 then sitting in mid air, then dipping backwards into somersault, 0:27:25.720 --> 0:27:28.639 threaded through the men's legs and looked back up in 0:27:28.720 --> 0:27:32.520 a slow motion dive. It's like watching someone's wim in 0:27:32.520 --> 0:27:37.119 a watery black void. And the bear skin man the 0:27:37.160 --> 0:27:41.639 seeker reaches for her. Is she an image? She on 0:27:41.760 --> 0:27:48.200 the unobtainable, She is everything, but he can't. She's out 0:27:48.200 --> 0:27:53.680 of reach, and at one point she sort of curls 0:27:53.920 --> 0:27:59.359 into his arm, but immediately the men take her away 0:28:01.359 --> 0:28:05.159 and she's threaded in. At one point she's held on 0:28:05.359 --> 0:28:13.080 high and I slowly tilted backwards and fell fell straight 0:28:13.080 --> 0:28:16.080 back from standing on their shoulders. You could hear the 0:28:16.200 --> 0:28:21.520 terror from the audience. It sounded like a gas. Of course, 0:28:21.560 --> 0:28:24.760 the men caught me as I did every time, but 0:28:25.040 --> 0:28:33.679 I realized that bouncing love to create fear, dramatic fear 0:28:34.640 --> 0:28:39.280 and the audience, and that was definitely one of those moments. 0:28:43.120 --> 0:28:48.680 And then the ballet progresses. I'm threaded through their legs, 0:28:48.920 --> 0:28:53.480 I'm hauled around like rope around their waist. I'm held 0:28:53.600 --> 0:28:58.080 on high and I do at arabisk and and then 0:28:58.120 --> 0:29:04.280 I at leave. I'm taking way, and the man the 0:29:04.400 --> 0:29:08.600 seeker is still following me, But this time he's him back, 0:29:09.280 --> 0:29:13.560 He's not in front. She has moved past him, and 0:29:14.920 --> 0:29:23.760 I'm man obtainable. It was the beginning of her life 0:29:23.760 --> 0:29:29.320 as a balancing news During rehearsals of The Unanswered Question, 0:29:30.080 --> 0:29:34.080 Allegro felt Balancing was in love with her. The question 0:29:34.200 --> 0:29:38.160 hung there. What did Mr Be ultimately want from her? 0:29:38.840 --> 0:29:42.480 She thinks at that point, neither of them knew what 0:29:42.560 --> 0:29:47.520 was your relationship with balancing? Like he Corey graphed, he 0:29:47.720 --> 0:29:57.400 chose me. I danced and very warm, not personal, very warm. 0:29:57.440 --> 0:30:01.960 He asked how I was, and things like out. Allegra 0:30:02.040 --> 0:30:05.800 and Mr B's connection felt close and unspoken. It would 0:30:05.800 --> 0:30:10.560 never turn romantic. And the Unanswered Question, Allegra says she 0:30:10.720 --> 0:30:13.880 was a sensual, spiritual object sought by a man who 0:30:13.960 --> 0:30:17.880 could never possess her, the object of a quest, but 0:30:18.000 --> 0:30:22.680 she eludes the man. The mystery is never solved, the 0:30:22.800 --> 0:30:47.480 question never answered. That's the dynamic of all the roles 0:30:47.520 --> 0:30:50.720 balance she would make for her. She writes, a suppressed 0:30:50.760 --> 0:31:27.840 in her life and unanswered questions. Yeah, everyone knew Balancing 0:31:27.960 --> 0:31:31.440 thought his dancers shouldn't have children. He say to them, 0:31:31.480 --> 0:31:33.880 anyone can be a mother, but how many could be 0:31:33.920 --> 0:31:38.840 a ballerina. How many could dance Balancin's choreography. But a 0:31:38.920 --> 0:31:43.160 lager got married, she had a baby, despite Balancine's wishes. 0:31:43.920 --> 0:31:46.760 I did what I wanted to do. That was part 0:31:46.840 --> 0:31:53.720 of my nature. Allegra speaks highly of balancing. She doesn't 0:31:53.720 --> 0:31:55.400 seem to want to get into the nitty gritty of 0:31:55.440 --> 0:32:00.680 relationships or company dynamics, but in her autobiography, Allegra writes 0:32:00.760 --> 0:32:03.600 that leaving the company for any reason was a dangerous thing. 0:32:04.520 --> 0:32:08.880 Balancine might not want you back. Disloyalty hurt him. He 0:32:09.000 --> 0:32:14.400 expected allegiance. Allegra writes that although he didn't overtly encourage 0:32:14.440 --> 0:32:17.760 awe or worship, in a subtle way, he used the 0:32:17.800 --> 0:32:22.040 idolatry of the dancers to keep the company together. I 0:32:22.120 --> 0:32:25.120 think the first baby balance she thought was an accident, 0:32:25.400 --> 0:32:30.400 But the second one he thought. Wait a minute. When 0:32:30.400 --> 0:32:34.040 Allegra came back from childbirth the second time, she writes 0:32:34.080 --> 0:32:37.680