1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,040 Speaker 1: When Elizabeth Kendall was in her early twenties, she didn't 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: think there would be anything for her in a balancing ballet. 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:09,720 Speaker 1: And I thought it would be old fashioned because it 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: was ballet in the ballet in my childhood was old fashioned. 5 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: So I resisted going to the New York City Ballet 6 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: for quite some time, a sort of a decent amount 7 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: of time. It was the nineteen seventies. Elizabeth was a 8 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,480 Speaker 1: dance writer in New York. She was young, ballet was old. 9 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: She loved postmodern, avant garde dance. She believed art should 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 1: be challenging, angry, Even good art questioned what came before 11 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 1: it exposed hypocrisy. She hadn't been in New York long, 12 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: and she was still finding her way as a writer 13 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,160 Speaker 1: and as a person. She was trying to move past 14 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: a family tragedy. Her mother had recently died in a 15 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:57,080 Speaker 1: car accident. I was the driver of the car that 16 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: killed my mother. There so a lot of stuff to bear, 17 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: a lot of healing that had to go on. But 18 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,680 Speaker 1: I think a healthy psyche hills itself by numbing as 19 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: self as much as possible. Now, two years later, she 20 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: was in New York writing about dance another critic told 21 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: her she had to see balancing, so she finally dragged 22 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,319 Speaker 1: herself to the New York State Theater to see Balancing's 23 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:40,119 Speaker 1: Raimonda variations. Elizabeth had a press seat and a perfect view. 24 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: The lights went down and the music began. M h 25 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: and I just remember a unique kind of orchestral sound, 26 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: harps and flutes and strings mingling its so it sounds 27 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: a little like Heaven might sound. At first glance, it 28 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: was classic traditional ballet, a man and a woman dancing 29 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: a pot of da many women on point wearing pink 30 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: and blue tuttoos that flounced like clouds as they moved. 31 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: But what I saw on the stage wasn't anything like 32 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:32,519 Speaker 1: the ballet from my young childhood. This wasn't about old manners. 33 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: There were these people jumping and leaping and whirling around 34 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 1: in formation that animated the stage as a sort of 35 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 1: magic box that manufactured volume and excitement. The music and 36 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 1: the ballet steps gloamed together to make us fear in 37 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: which everything was alive, and the effect it was of 38 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,639 Speaker 1: three D music, music that surrounded you and you were 39 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: inside it. And I remember very distinctly feeling in the 40 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: audience this is a party, and I'm a guest. I've 41 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: been invited, and for some reason that thought was terribly 42 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: moving and terribly inclusive, and the thing came over me. 43 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,359 Speaker 1: This is a gift, this is joy, this is celebration. 44 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: I suddenly realized not only that this was worth returning 45 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: to again and again because something had reached me in 46 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: the soul, but it also let me know that art 47 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: did not have to be stern and challenging. Art could 48 00:03:55,400 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: be something that was purely nourishing and purely exhilarating, that 49 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: was ecstatic and tragic at the same time. After that night, 50 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: Elizabeth started going to balancing ballets a lot, but I 51 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: would go back and I would experiment a little. I 52 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: would go to the theater and the lights would go down, 53 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: and I would say, Okay, I'm going to give you 54 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: my mood. I'm going to give you all these troubles 55 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 1: and you do something with it, said I to the stage, 56 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,160 Speaker 1: and then I would walk out and I felt like 57 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: somebody had rinsed me. That sounds suspiciously like baptism talk, 58 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:41,000 Speaker 1: but it's all to say that I was, in fact 59 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: receiving something that I deeply needed, and I hadn't known 60 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 1: what form I needed it in some kind of a ceremony, 61 00:04:48,400 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 1: some kind of a ritual, kind of healing from my 62 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:05,200 Speaker 1: heart podcasts and Rocco Punch. This is the Turning Room 63 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:24,839 Speaker 1: of Mirrors America Lance Part two, Ritual Healing. Balancing was 64 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: not a guy who put on airs. So when I 65 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: began to see the New York City Ballet, I would 66 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,919 Speaker 1: sometimes run into Balancing at a fruit stand on the 67 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,919 Speaker 1: street in the Upper West Side where he lived, and 68 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,159 Speaker 1: I would like to give a little bow, and he 69 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: would give an exaggeratedly courteous bow because he was a 70 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: admirer of women. That was the extent of their interaction 71 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: until she was on assignment for the Ford Foundation. She 72 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:59,840 Speaker 1: got the chance to interview him one on one. And 73 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: I dressed up to look nice, and there I was 74 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,479 Speaker 1: presenting myself at his office at the New York State Theater, 75 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,239 Speaker 1: and he was very courtly. He was casually but beautifully dressed, 76 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: a gentleman, and you could see that he moved well. 77 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 1: He was light on his feet. Elizabeth sat down with 78 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 1: Balancing in his office. He was interested in just having 79 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: a young, attractively dressed, bursting with nerves and vitality, person 80 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:35,840 Speaker 1: of the female presentation in front of him, and he 81 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: just talked. And the first thing he said was, so, 82 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: what we have to talk about is boring, yes, And 83 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:45,600 Speaker 1: I said, oh, Mr Balanchin, I agree, it's going to 84 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:47,920 Speaker 1: be boring. And I don't really want to even take 85 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: your time. I don't need this interview horribly, and I 86 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: can leave. And he said, no, no, no, He said, 87 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: we do interview and then we talk. He really thought 88 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:02,679 Speaker 1: about questions and answered I'd gotten to the end. I said, okay, 89 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: that's the last question. And he said, do you know 90 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: what I did in the revolution? And I said no, no, 91 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:13,559 Speaker 1: I don't. And he said what I did to eat? 92 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: He said, I sewed saddles and he showed me the 93 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: sewing gestures. He sewed leather saddles together for horses. Balancine 94 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 1: started to tell Elizabeth the story of his life. He 95 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:44,239 Speaker 1: told a tale that felt like folklore from a place 96 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: and time far from the man sitting with her in 97 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: his office in New York. In. This encounter would launch 98 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: Elizabeth down a path of deep exploration into Balancine's life. 99 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: She learned to write fluently in Russian and travel to St. 100 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 1: Pete Ersburg to piece together a picture of How this 101 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 1: man came to popularize ballet in America. How he created 102 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: work that would so deeply move her in a theater 103 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: in New York that it helped her heal after trauma. 104 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: This is that story. Balancine was born in nineteen o four. 105 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: His name was Georgie Meltanovich Balancavazza. Georgie lived in St. Petersburg, Russia. 106 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 1: From the beginning, he was steeped in music. His mom 107 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:39,119 Speaker 1: played piano, his dad was a Georgian opera singer and composer. 108 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: But they had limited resources. Then the extraordinary event happened 109 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: that they won a lot of money, a fortune in 110 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:52,679 Speaker 1: a lottery. Or that's the story. It can't exactly reproved. 111 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: Balancine's family rose to a sort of merchant skilled class, 112 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: one that required a certain level of wealth. So Balancin's 113 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:05,679 Speaker 1: childhood was privileged. She had a nanny, and then the father, 114 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:08,199 Speaker 1: who didn't have any idea what to do with all 115 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: this money, lost it all because he listened to people. 116 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:13,640 Speaker 1: He gave him bad advice, and which meant that the 117 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:17,679 Speaker 1: Balancians gave up their city apartment and had no more money. 118 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:20,680 Speaker 1: They moved to the forests of Finland, and they settled 119 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,720 Speaker 1: in a dacha or a summer house. They started to 120 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,320 Speaker 1: live in the summer house year round, even through the 121 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: harsh winters. In this remote area. Balancin's mother worried about 122 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: her kids education. That's when she thought of the Imperial 123 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:38,440 Speaker 1: Theater School, which included the Czar School of Ballet. It 124 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: would be a chance that a free education. The Imperial 125 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:45,600 Speaker 1: Theater School was directly managed as part of the Tsar's household, 126 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: and the students had some contact with the rural family, 127 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: you know, with teas, and they would sometimes visit backstage 128 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: or whatever. At the time, being a ballerina often meant 129 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:01,720 Speaker 1: more than just being a dance. Ballet was a very 130 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: strange beast in Imperial St. Petersburg because it was both 131 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 1: an art form and an erotic market for the grandees 132 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 1: and the nobles who attended the show and would pick 133 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:27,679 Speaker 1: out their mistresses from the dancers on the stage. St. Petersburg, 134 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:33,440 Speaker 1: in terms of its social organization, was much like Paris, 135 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:38,559 Speaker 1: so it had a demi monde, which in Russian is 136 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 1: called half existence are half light, which means that a 137 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:48,360 Speaker 1: wealthy man or a nobleman well born might have two households, 138 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 1: two lives, two sets of restaurants, two sets of clothing, 139 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: two banks. It was accepted to have another shadow wife. 140 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:04,120 Speaker 1: Being a shadow wife could give a dancer status or 141 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: financial security. So Balancin's mother wanted her eldest daughter to 142 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: become a ballet star. It's funny to think of a 143 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:15,560 Speaker 1: mother wanting her daughter to enter into this illicit other world. 144 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: But this world offered its own rewards. To enter this world, 145 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:33,000 Speaker 1: dancer started training as children. Balancie's sister went into audition, 146 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: and Balancine tagged along. When they got there, though, he 147 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 1: was pulled into the audition process, and something about him 148 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:42,840 Speaker 1: stood out to the judges. When he was walking in 149 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 1: a line of boys, a judge singled him out and 150 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: had him walk alone. The sister did not get accepted 151 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:54,200 Speaker 1: into the school, but balancing did. He was only nine 152 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: years old, which was very confusing, no doubt for a 153 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: nine year old, because he knew how much his older 154 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: sister wanted the post and he got it, and he 155 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:10,600 Speaker 1: didn't want it at all. He hated dancing, and just 156 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:14,679 Speaker 1: like that, George Balancine was dropped into the world of ballet. 157 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:19,320 Speaker 1: His mother dealing with her own disappointment about the daughter, 158 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 1: and the daughter's disappointment left him there because it was 159 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 1: a week before the school year started and he didn't 160 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:28,840 Speaker 1: expect to be left, and I think that marked his 161 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: entire life. Balancane wasn't happy. He even ran away to 162 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,600 Speaker 1: his aunt's house during his first weeks at the boarding school, 163 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:52,800 Speaker 1: but he was returned to the school and all the 164 00:12:52,840 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 1: intensity that their ballet training required. The students woke early 165 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,000 Speaker 1: every morning to the sound of a bell. They were 166 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 1: rushed out of bed. They didn't even take the time 167 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,600 Speaker 1: to make their beds. That was left for the servants. 168 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:11,600 Speaker 1: They'd have a quick wash and cold water, put on 169 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: their uniforms, and add another bell. Line up for inspection. 170 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:19,120 Speaker 1: They never went out except for one hour a day. 171 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: They walked around the block. They took the walk in 172 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 1: two lines. There one chance to see the outside world. 173 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 1: From ten to eleven thirty, Balanciine started the day with 174 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: ballet class. Boys and girls were separated, boys on the 175 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: higher floor in front of a long wall of mirrors 176 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,959 Speaker 1: opposite the bar. Balanciin said he spent a year learning 177 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,280 Speaker 1: how the foot touches the floor after a jump like 178 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:51,960 Speaker 1: a bird landing. He said After his spaty lunch, students 179 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: did their academic study, then dinner, followed by evening classes 180 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,960 Speaker 1: ballroom dance, pantomime, posture, and fencing for the older boys, 181 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:04,600 Speaker 1: and then after that they take music lessons. The students 182 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:13,719 Speaker 1: could pick violin or piano. Balancine show's piano. With all 183 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 1: this work and skill building, Balancine's world now revolved around 184 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 1: the theater. His family had been blotted out in his 185 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:25,760 Speaker 1: own mind. The curtain was closed on the family and 186 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: the curtain was open on the world of the theater. 187 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 1: Elizabeth believes he would carry this hurt from being abandoned 188 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: for the rest of his life. He himself said that 189 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:38,760 Speaker 1: he felt like someone had abandoned a dog. I think 190 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:43,840 Speaker 1: he was incredibly furious, but a child of nine can't 191 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:48,640 Speaker 1: distinguish grief from anger. I imagine that his psyche shut 192 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: down or closed off to his family, and therefore had 193 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 1: to open itself to his new world, the theater and 194 00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:02,720 Speaker 1: the theater people. And also, in an extraordinary letter, he wrote, 195 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: I hope you understand how alone I am. Ever, since 196 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:10,080 Speaker 1: my family left me in the school at age nine, 197 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: I've been alone. When I found that letter recently, I 198 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: realized that that feeling of having only the theater for 199 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 1: a family and a world and a tribe was deeply 200 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 1: at the center of him. The only connection he had 201 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:33,480 Speaker 1: left to his family was music. That was the one constant, 202 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:36,840 Speaker 1: that was his link to the past. He couldn't emotionally 203 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: connect anymore. They've done this horrible thing, They'd abandon him. 204 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:45,480 Speaker 1: But music could somehow connect his whole self. I imagine 205 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: that that's why he had this eerie facility with matching 206 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: steps to music, because he lived those steps. They were 207 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: his language in his innermost dialogue with himself. It was 208 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 1: ballet steps, not words and music. Elizabeth says. Balanchine's teachers 209 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: saw him as an independent boy who was courteous, detached, 210 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 1: and eerily self confident. Although Balancing initially disliked the school, 211 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 1: he grew to love ballet. He had a revelation on stage, 212 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: dancing and sleeping beauty. With all of the music, the lights, 213 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 1: the costumes. He realized he was in the middle of 214 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:36,560 Speaker 1: a thing of beauty. And then, Elizabeth says, Ballet almost 215 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: died in nine a bullet burst through the theater school 216 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: window and almost hit a student. Days later, a crowd 217 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 1: in military uniforms rushed through the school halls. It was 218 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:56,200 Speaker 1: late at night. They were searching for monarchists in the dormitories, 219 00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 1: peering under beds. The Russian Revolution had been gun in October. 220 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, took control of the country. 221 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: The Bolsheviks envisioned a world where workers would hold the power. 222 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: The Czar and his family were murdered, nobility was abolished, 223 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:19,680 Speaker 1: Aristocrats fled or were killed. The Bolshevik Party would eventually 224 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:23,640 Speaker 1: become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Sarist 225 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 1: Romanov dynasty was over. The Bolsheviks wanted to wipe out 226 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: any whiff of the old aristocracy, and no one knew 227 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:37,680 Speaker 1: what that meant for Ballet. Valancine was thirteen years old. 228 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:42,159 Speaker 1: His school closed, and life in St. Petersburg changed dramatically. 229 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,359 Speaker 1: The city of St. Petersburg suffered after the revolution. St 230 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: Petersburg had been the capital of the Russian Empire under 231 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,600 Speaker 1: the Tsar. Now, with Lenin in power, the government moved 232 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: to Moscow, essentially abandoning St. Petersburg and the resources, which 233 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:02,440 Speaker 1: were very few after the revel Lucian all flowed to Moscow, 234 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,920 Speaker 1: leaving St. Petersburg to starve and freeze. There was no heat, 235 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:10,440 Speaker 1: there was no fuel, very little food. All rationed balancing 236 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: school was turned into barracks for guards. That winner in 237 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen and nineteen, it was hard to even find 238 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 1: bread in a shop. Thirteen year old Balanciing and his 239 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: friends stole fish at night from local barges before he 240 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:27,159 Speaker 1: could find a job. But then came some hope for ballet. 241 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:30,880 Speaker 1: It had to do with Lennon's Minister of Education, who 242 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:36,120 Speaker 1: also oversaw culture and arts. Lennon's Minister of Culture had 243 00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:39,159 Speaker 1: a vision of all the arts existing simultaneously and the 244 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 1: people learning all about the high arts that they've been 245 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:46,240 Speaker 1: deprived of, and Ballet's new meaning was up for grabs. 246 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: Balancin's ballet school reopened with a new mission, which is 247 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:55,439 Speaker 1: to make dances for Utopia, the Bolshevik Utopia. Now, the 248 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:58,880 Speaker 1: theater would welcome laborers, soldiers and sailors and to the audience. 249 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:04,880 Speaker 1: Workers got free tickets from their factories and labor units. Meanwhile, 250 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 1: half the city's population was gone. They were dead from 251 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: disease or off to villages in search of food. One 252 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 1: Russian described people who passed each other in the gray, 253 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:24,600 Speaker 1: cold city as phantoms and oblivious silence. In those conditions, 254 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: the ballet school started up again with utopian aims and visions, 255 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:34,920 Speaker 1: utopian excitement, and no heat and no food, which can 256 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: sharpen your senses to your art and impact your health. 257 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:44,359 Speaker 1: And it did both with balanchine. The children at ballet 258 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,160 Speaker 1: school had boils for malnutrition and lice that carried typhus. 259 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:52,960 Speaker 1: On cold nights, the boys and girls moved their beds 260 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:57,760 Speaker 1: from separate dormitory rooms to the old infirmary to stay warm. 261 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 1: They suffered, but they bonded and they felt immersed in art. 262 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: After the Revolution, all the social meetings of the art 263 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:15,480 Speaker 1: fell away, and they concentrated on the pure art, on ballets, 264 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:19,200 Speaker 1: just as a pure art. Since the seventeen hundreds under 265 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: the CSAR, ballets performed in Russia had been filled with 266 00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:26,679 Speaker 1: romantic storylines in royal courts or epic tales of castles, 267 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:30,359 Speaker 1: princes and maidens. But that was going away. Now. They 268 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: had a little trouble making new ballets because what were 269 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:37,160 Speaker 1: they going to be about? It was also new Now 270 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:43,680 Speaker 1: ballet could be both grand and intimate and revealed the 271 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: private emotions of people in a way that it never 272 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 1: had been before Balancing was a teenager. Now he grew 273 00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: his hair long and wore eyeliner to make his eyes 274 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:56,880 Speaker 1: look soulful. He also started to experiment with his own choreography. 275 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,679 Speaker 1: And what it did I think for Balancing was it 276 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:05,880 Speaker 1: broke any lingering narrative associations that the steps held, So 277 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:09,719 Speaker 1: you know, an Arabist didn't automatically mean a noble shape. 278 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:13,400 Speaker 1: It could mean anything that the choreographer wanted it to mean, 279 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:17,640 Speaker 1: same with all the other steps. They were severed from 280 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:21,479 Speaker 1: that art. That was the czar's family's favorite art. So 281 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:26,119 Speaker 1: it impacted him on an artistic level deeply. It was 282 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:28,760 Speaker 1: making an art knew he was in on the ground floor. 283 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:32,439 Speaker 1: But there was one tradition Balancing would never do away 284 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:37,159 Speaker 1: with worshiping the ballerina. Growing up in the school, he 285 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,720 Speaker 1: lived in the world of the ballerina, the world of 286 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,359 Speaker 1: these girls and women who men watched with awe. Those 287 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:47,320 Speaker 1: little boys in the school were conditioned to worship the 288 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:51,159 Speaker 1: presiding ballerinas of the day, just like the nobles and 289 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 1: the grandees and the businessmen in the front row worshiped them. 290 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,440 Speaker 1: Then Balancing realized when he was an adolescent that there 291 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,000 Speaker 1: were some of his own classmates who were beautiful and 292 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,880 Speaker 1: worth falling in love with, and he fell in love 293 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:09,480 Speaker 1: with a young woman in the class below him, named 294 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:14,239 Speaker 1: Tamarava also known as Tamara Jeeva. She was thirteen when 295 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,080 Speaker 1: they met. At the time, the school had a faction 296 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:20,200 Speaker 1: of traditionalists, and they warned her against balancing and his 297 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:24,280 Speaker 1: weird choreographic ideas. But when Balancine approached her and asked 298 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:26,919 Speaker 1: if she wanted to work with him, she said of course. 299 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: He started to choreograph for Tamaraw and she began to 300 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 1: dance his pieces. One of the first she danced with 301 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:37,639 Speaker 1: him was a potada. Potada means step of two in French. 302 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: It means a duet, usually between a man and a woman. 303 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: This duet ended with what Tomorrow called a revolutionary moment. 304 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:56,000 Speaker 1: Balancie knelt, she stood on one foot on point, She 305 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,719 Speaker 1: held one leg in the air behind her in an arabesque, 306 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: and she balanced herself by pressing her mouth against his. 307 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:14,440 Speaker 1: Tomorrow later said this moment was considered terribly erotic. She said, 308 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 1: every time balancing choreographed, he tried to see how much 309 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,960 Speaker 1: he could get away with. He never seemed to doubt himself. 310 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: She wondered if his religious belief made him feel he 311 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:31,280 Speaker 1: was destined for greatness, like he was channeling God. Balancing 312 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:34,959 Speaker 1: and Tamaraw decided to get married. They were young. There 313 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,640 Speaker 1: are different reports on exactly when it happened, but Balancing 314 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 1: was probably eighteen and Tamara fifteen. They performed in little 315 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:46,400 Speaker 1: theaters together. They got paid in food more than money. 316 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:53,199 Speaker 1: And then when Balancing was just twenty years old, he 317 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:57,119 Speaker 1: and Tamara had a chance to leave Russia, and it 318 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: was ballet that would let them do it. Around tomorrow, 319 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,720 Speaker 1: Jeeva and George Balancing met a croupier, a guy who 320 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 1: worked the gambling tables at a local casino. His name 321 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,119 Speaker 1: was Vladimir. Vladimir made a lot of money working at 322 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,000 Speaker 1: high stakes table and he convinced the government to let 323 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:37,480 Speaker 1: him finance a European ballet tour. They got out of 324 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:41,080 Speaker 1: Russia by asking permission to go give a tour in Germany, 325 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 1: and they got out. Jim steak In is a historian 326 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:47,840 Speaker 1: who studied balancing. Once they got to Germany, they got 327 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:52,199 Speaker 1: picked up by Saras Diogolov, the really creative impresaria that 328 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,880 Speaker 1: founded the Bally russ and Paris Diagolov had created one 329 00:24:55,880 --> 00:25:00,679 Speaker 1: of the most influential ballet companies ever, the ballet for 330 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: twenty years. The ballet roofs really defined the new face 331 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:11,600 Speaker 1: of ballet. Diagolev worked with famous composers like ravel Stravinsky, Debutsy, Prokofief, 332 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: and Sati. Painters like Matisse and Picasso made sets. Coco 333 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 1: Chanelle was one designer who created costumes. Balancine walked into 334 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: all of this as a dancer, but soon Diagolev let 335 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: him choreograph to Balancine started to play with and push 336 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: the old school Russian style he had learned growing up. 337 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:38,119 Speaker 1: Balancine took that technique and made it new. He would 338 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:43,919 Speaker 1: introduce more acrobatic moves and loved making giant daisy chains 339 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: out of his dancers, utterly untraditional moments where people look 340 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:51,439 Speaker 1: like they're swimming in midair, like they're doing somersaults, Like, 341 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:53,760 Speaker 1: oh my god, what is that. I've never seen that before. 342 00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:00,760 Speaker 1: Balancine was finding his legs as a choreographer, and then 343 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 1: came diago liv the head of the ballet. Russ died, 344 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:10,360 Speaker 1: the stock market crashed, World War two began to eventually 345 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: heat up in a very real way, Balancie needed to 346 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:16,919 Speaker 1: figure out what to do next. The answer came in 347 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: the form of a wealthy American enter Lincoln Kirstin. This 348 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:25,440 Speaker 1: young American who's really interested in art. Lincoln Kirstein came 349 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 1: from a family with money. He was in his twenties 350 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,240 Speaker 1: and obsessed with all kinds of art. So when he 351 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: met Balancing on a trip to London, he was enamored. 352 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 1: Balancie had a nickname when he was a youngster. He 353 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 1: was called the Rat. He kind of had like a 354 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,439 Speaker 1: kind of a snaggle tooth. He wasn't like a movie 355 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:48,600 Speaker 1: theater actor kind of iconic beauty that way. He was 356 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: on the shorter side, a man of few words. It 357 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: seems he was very social. He loved to cook. Even 358 00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,920 Speaker 1: in his twenties. Balancie used creativity, which Link and Kristine loved. 359 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:05,320 Speaker 1: Because he wanted to do something big, he invited Balancing 360 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,680 Speaker 1: to join him in the US to build a ballet company. 361 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,639 Speaker 1: Lincoln Kirstine decided that he was going to make it 362 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: his next big project to create a dance school and 363 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: company in America that would synthesize the best of the 364 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:30,800 Speaker 1: Russian ballet traditions. The Italian and French traditions and make 365 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: it a thoroughly American enterprise. They would start a school 366 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 1: to train American dancers. Tuition would be free so that 367 00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: students could be admitted based on quote their perfect possibilities. 368 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:48,119 Speaker 1: In exchange, students would agree to appear exclusively in school 369 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,399 Speaker 1: performances for five years so they wouldn't get snapped up 370 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 1: by Broadway or Hollywood. Once they were trained and balancing 371 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:59,920 Speaker 1: could make his experimental ballets. He arrived in New York 372 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,440 Speaker 1: and started by teaching dancers his previous works or making 373 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: versions of them, but he had to make something original. 374 00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:14,560 Speaker 1: In four it was time to choreograph a new piece, 375 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:18,159 Speaker 1: his first in the United States. The music would be 376 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:22,439 Speaker 1: Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, Balanchine told Kirstine the day of 377 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:26,080 Speaker 1: the first rehearsal, his head was a blank. Pray for me, 378 00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:30,199 Speaker 1: he said. They started off with their usual dance class, 379 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,560 Speaker 1: and then Balancine gathered the dancers who were there that day, 380 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: seventeen of them. He lined them up by height, then 381 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: started to arrange them on the floor. It was a 382 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 1: sunny day, one dancer said. Balanchine started slowly to compose 383 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: a hymn to ward off the Sun. When he was 384 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:52,600 Speaker 1: done arranging, the dancers were in an unusual pattern, later 385 00:28:52,680 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: called the orange grove. Two diamonds side by side. Yeah, 386 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:19,880 Speaker 1: the opening is a magical moment in theater. The music 387 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: starts before the curtain rises. When the curtain does rise, 388 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,960 Speaker 1: you see this orange grove of dancers on stage, but 389 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:51,120 Speaker 1: they're not dancing. They're completely still, and they each have 390 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:55,479 Speaker 1: one hand raised up like they're trying to shield their 391 00:29:55,480 --> 00:30:09,960 Speaker 1: eyes from the sun. They hold that position for a 392 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 1: mysteriously long time. Through eight measures. More than a minute 393 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:21,400 Speaker 1: has passed. The music sores, but the dancers still haven't moved. 394 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:42,920 Speaker 1: Then finally they move, but just a little. They start 395 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:48,400 Speaker 1: to move one hand, almost in slow motion, as Balanchine said, 396 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 1: the wrist breaks as if the wrist were tired, and 397 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: the hand comes down, and then they move the other arm. 398 00:30:55,880 --> 00:31:01,040 Speaker 1: They bring their arms together in a circle, and that's 399 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:05,920 Speaker 1: when the feet pop open. To make first position, they 400 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,920 Speaker 1: push their feet to the side into ballet turnout the 401 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:12,680 Speaker 1: most basic position of ballet. It's almost like the first 402 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:16,920 Speaker 1: exercises of a ballet class slowed down. You would think 403 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 1: it would be boring, but instead it feels profound. It's 404 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: like you see seventeen dancers wake up their bodies to 405 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:27,560 Speaker 1: dance for the first time, like they're learning in front 406 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:32,480 Speaker 1: of you that their bodies can hold music. They start 407 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:38,000 Speaker 1: with the most basic shapes of ballet, a line, a circle, 408 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:51,760 Speaker 1: a flowing arm that's just beautiful over the daisy choreographed. 409 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: The rehearsal process was ragtag. Balancing. Didn't know how many 410 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,320 Speaker 1: dancers would show up, so he choreographed for whoever was 411 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:01,960 Speaker 1: there one day, for seven, teen, the next day, nine, 412 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:07,440 Speaker 1: then six. Historically, when you'd choreograph a ballet, there would 413 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: be a libretto or a description of what would happen 414 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,960 Speaker 1: in the ballet, the plot, and this time there wasn't anything. 415 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:17,600 Speaker 1: There was just the music the dancers. In balancing, Balancing 416 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:21,120 Speaker 1: let his dancers inspire him. He created the first pose 417 00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:23,320 Speaker 1: when he saw a dancer who shielded her eyes from 418 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:25,960 Speaker 1: the sun. When a dancer ran in late, he made 419 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 1: it a part of the ballet. When a dancer fell, 420 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:33,720 Speaker 1: he wove that into the ballet, spun off into beautiful, swift, 421 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:43,600 Speaker 1: wild dance. He has them swooping information in circles, in squares, 422 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: closing opening, rushing around You cannot see this marvelous work 423 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:54,560 Speaker 1: without falling under a spell, because the music has such 424 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:58,800 Speaker 1: a sweep and urgency, and so does the dancing. The 425 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,640 Speaker 1: dancers at rehearsal came from such varied styles and backgrounds 426 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:06,240 Speaker 1: that this was how Balancing could mold them as his dancers, 427 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:11,080 Speaker 1: making his shapes his unique style. It was a way 428 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:17,600 Speaker 1: to make dancers with disparate trainings and backgrounds all feel 429 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:22,360 Speaker 1: like they can be part of a harmonious, beautiful whole. 430 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:31,520 Speaker 1: He called it Serenad. Serenad would become a pillar for 431 00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:36,080 Speaker 1: Balancing's dancers when they'd returned to again and again, that 432 00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:41,800 Speaker 1: ballet is this important symbol of his arrival in America 433 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:46,360 Speaker 1: and his starting this new chapter in his artistic life. 434 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,040 Speaker 1: And it is a gorgeous ballet. It's one of his best. 435 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 1: It's like a desert island ballet, if you could even 436 00:33:51,160 --> 00:34:03,560 Speaker 1: have a desert island. It is this beautiful ritual. It 437 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 1: does feel like a ritual. And as the ballet unfolds, 438 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:10,400 Speaker 1: it has images that feel full of meaning, like myths 439 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,560 Speaker 1: layered on top of each other, tropes and narratives you 440 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:17,080 Speaker 1: can't quite grasp. The story of the ballet doesn't really 441 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:21,120 Speaker 1: have a story. It has many stories, but I think 442 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 1: the stories are kind of buried. We have images that 443 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:30,640 Speaker 1: are very powerful. As a dance historian, len Garifola knows 444 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:34,560 Speaker 1: that Balancine is famous for making ballets without narratives. His 445 00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:38,560 Speaker 1: ballets are about movement and the music. But she sees 446 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:43,480 Speaker 1: something more, what you might call a private resonance or 447 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:48,600 Speaker 1: a personal echo. This is something deeply personal, and she 448 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:53,040 Speaker 1: sees this in Saranad. There's one moment that always moves 449 00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:58,880 Speaker 1: her in a deep, even terrible way. What happens in 450 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:00,759 Speaker 1: that moment is that there is a man with two 451 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:05,040 Speaker 1: women dancing together, and it's clear that there is a 452 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:13,160 Speaker 1: profound feeling among all of those three people love eroticism, 453 00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:17,160 Speaker 1: but that there's also danger. Someone is going to be 454 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:22,520 Speaker 1: left behind, and he's going to make a choice. They 455 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:27,720 Speaker 1: danced furiously, then one of the women falls back into 456 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:32,080 Speaker 1: his arms, but he doesn't lift her up again. Instead, 457 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:37,360 Speaker 1: he lowers her, slowly, inching downward until she's flat on 458 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:41,520 Speaker 1: the floor. She reaches up to him, but he stands 459 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:48,000 Speaker 1: up and the other dancer leads him away. He has 460 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:59,359 Speaker 1: made his choice. The moment when the man walks off, 461 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:06,680 Speaker 1: the other woman is terrible. It never ceases to touch me, 462 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:09,719 Speaker 1: with the sense that the man is very much a 463 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:13,600 Speaker 1: stand in for balancing, and also the sense of the 464 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:18,680 Speaker 1: trail and abandonment. He moves on and leaves the other 465 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:53,160 Speaker 1: weeping on the floor. Next time, on the Turning, there 466 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:56,800 Speaker 1: are no windows. We don't need windows because the outside 467 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:01,320 Speaker 1: world doesn't matter. M He was God in the theater, 468 00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:07,920 Speaker 1: ever observing, ever present. Are you a patriot? Are you 469 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 1: a citizen? Are you willing to do whatever I ask 470 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:21,560 Speaker 1: you to do? The Turning is the production of Rococo 471 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:25,080 Speaker 1: Punch and I Heeart podcasts. It's written and produced by 472 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:29,600 Speaker 1: Allen Lance, Lesser and Me. Our story editor is Emily Foreman. 473 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:33,960 Speaker 1: Fixing and sound designed by James Trout. Jessica Carissa is 474 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:38,279 Speaker 1: our assistant producer. Andrea Swahe is our digital producer. Fact 475 00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 1: checking by Andrea Lopez Crusado. Special thanks to Elizabeth Kendall, 476 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,640 Speaker 1: Jim stike In, and Lynn Garafola. Their books on this 477 00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:57,319 Speaker 1: topic are fascinating, so go check out their work. Our 478 00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:00,440 Speaker 1: executive producers are John Parratti and Jessica l Part at 479 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:05,000 Speaker 1: Prococo Punch At, Katrina Norvelle and Nikki Etre at iHeart podcasts. 480 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:08,640 Speaker 1: For photos and more details on the series, follow us 481 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:12,000 Speaker 1: on Instagram at Rococo Punch, and you can reach out 482 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:17,239 Speaker 1: via email The Turning at Rococo punch dot com. I'm 483 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:19,480 Speaker 1: Erica Lance. Thanks for listening.