I was a dancer, p.48
I Was a Dancer, page 48
3. In the summer of 2010, NDI’s artistic director Ellen Weinstein and NDI teacher Kaye Gaynor flew to China to collaborate with Dou Dou Huang and dancers from the Children’s Palace in Shanghai. They invented a beautiful dance to a Chinese take, The Red Thread. The work had its premiere that summer with the Shanghai children coming to America to dance with our New York City dancers.
4. Today Ron Pundak is the general director of the Penes Center for Peace.
5. Ryszard Kapuściński, Imperium (New York: Vintage, 1994).
6. Recently, Grace told me Evgeny burned to death in his country home. A Michael Moore–type of journalist, Evgeny was a gadfly, calling governments and the powerful to transparency and accountability, and was not one to bow to the Russian version of a mafioso threat: “Desist, or we will make you very unhappy.” Grace is convinced it was arson.
Index
Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.
Abdu (Ethiopian interpreter), 19.1, 19.2
Academy Awards
Adams, Diana, 5.1, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 12.1, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4, 13.5, 19.1
Balanchine’s obsession with, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5, 12.6, 13.1, 13.2
performances missed by, 12.1, 12.2, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4
pregnancies and miscarriage of, 13.1, 13.2
as SAB director
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Adrian, Father, 18.1, 18.2
Aeschylus
Afar knife, 19.1, 19.2
Afar tribe, 19.1, 19.2, 19.3
Africa, 12.1, 12.2
Afternoon of a Faun (ballet), 5.1, 5.2, 10.1, 15.1
Age of Anxiety (ballet), 17.1
Agon (ballet), 4.1, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 12.1, 13.1, 13.2
Ahearn, Andrew Patrick, see d’Amboise, André “Pop”
Ahearn, Georgiana, see d’Amboise, Georgette “Boss”
Ahearn, John, see d’Amboise, Jean
Ahearn, Joseph, see d’Amboise, Jacques
Ahearn, Joseph (Jacques’s grandfather)
Ahearn, Madeleine, see d’Amboise, Ninette
Ahearn, Mary Gavin
Ahearn, Patrick, see d’Amboise, Paul
Ailey, Alvin
Alaska, purchase of
Alexander, Cris, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 20.1, 23.1
Alexander, John
Alexander, Shana, n
Alfredo (Italian stagehand), 8.1, 8.2, 8.3
Alicia Alonso Company
Alonso, Alicia, 3.1, 13.1
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
American Academy of Arts and Letters
American Ballet, 3.1, 6.1, 14.1
American Ballet Theatre, 8.1, 8.2, 12.1, 13.1, 13.2, 21.1
American Revolution
America’s Most Wanted, 16.1
Amram, David, 19.1, 19.2
Amsterdam
Amsterdam Avenue, as racial dividing line
Ana (nurse)
Annau, Tamara, 19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 19.4, 19.5
Apollo (Apollon Musagète; ballet), 4.1, 4.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 15.1, 23.1
Apollo (Stravinsky), 19.1, 19.2
Appalachian Trail, xv
Applegate, Christina
Arabian Nights, The, 12.1
Ardolino, Emile, 19.1, 19.2
Armenians
Arshansky, Misha, 3.1, 10.1
Ashley, Merrill, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4, 15.1, 18.1, 23.1
Ashton, Frederick, 3.1, 5.1, 10.1, 12.1, 13.1
Asian Cultural Council
Associated Press
Astor, John Jacob
Astoria Hotel, Leningrad, 12.1, 12.2
Atacama Desert
At Mother’s Request (Coleman), 18.1
Auden, W. H.
Audubon, John James, 2.1, 2.2
Australia, 10.1, 10.2
Avildsen, John
Babi Yar
Baku, Azerbaijan, 12.1, 12.2
Balanchine, Andrei, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3
Balanchine, George, 3.1, 3.2, 6.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 10.1, 11.1, 12.1, 12.2, 13.1, 13.2, 15.1, 16.1, 23.1, 23.2
Adams as obsession of, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5, 12.6, 13.1, 13.2
Agon staged by, 4.1, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 12.1, 13.1, 13.2
Apollo stagings by, 4.1, 4.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 15.1, 23.1
ballerinas as muses for, 3.1, 4.1, 6.1, 13.1
Ballets 1933 and, 6.1, 12.1
Ballet Society and, 3.1, 6.1
choreographic method of, 5.1, 10.1, 10.2, 15.1
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease contracted by, 15.1, 15.2
critics and
Danilova’s marriage to, 3.1, 6.1, 13.1
death of, 17.1, 17.2
defection of
Don Quixote staged by, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4
Episodes staged by (with Graham), 10.1, 10.2, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 13.1, 13.2
European career of
failing health of, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 17.1, 17.2, 17.3, 17.4
Figure in the Carpet staged by, 10.1, 13.1, 13.2
Firebird stagings by, 4.1, 10.1, 18.1
food as passion of, 8.1, 13.1
funeral and burial of
Geva’s marriage to, 6.1, 13.1
hospitalizations of, 15.1, 15.2, 17.1, 17.2
humanity of
and Jacques’s joining of NYCB
Kirstein’s relationship with, 4.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 14.1, 14.2, 15.1, 17.1
LeClercq’s divorce from
LeClercq’s marriage to, 8.1, 10.1, 12.1, 12.2, 13.1, 13.2
LeClercq’s polio and, 9.1, 12.1, 13.1
legacy of, 18.1, 19.1, 20.1, 23.1
lured to U.S. by Kirstein, 4.1, 6.1, 6.2
male dancers as surrogates for
as mentor, 10.1, 10.2
NDI and, 15.1, 17.1, 17.2, 19.1, 19.2
Nutcracker staging by, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 11.1, 12.1, 13.1, 15.1, 17.1
on Oboukhoff
at SAB, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3
self-confidence of, 3.1, 6.1
in Soviet tour, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8
and succession issue
success of dancers and other choreographers resented by, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 12.1, 12.2, 13.1, 17.1
Tallchief’s marriage to, 3.1, 8.1, 9.1, 13.1, 13.2
Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux staged by, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4
technique as taught by, 8.1, 13.1, 15.1
on translating Pushkin
on Vladimiroff, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3
Zorina’s marriage to, 3.1, 9.1, 13.1, 13.2
Balanchine: A Biography (Taper), 3.1, 10.1
ballet
origins of
physical damage done by
see also dance
Ballet Arts
Ballet Caravan, 6.1, 6.2, 8.1, 14.1
Ballet Imperial (ballet), 12.1
Ballets 1933, Les, 6.1, 12.1
Ballet de San Juan
Ballet Society, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 6.1, 10.1, 12.1, 12.2, 18.1
Ballets Russes, 3.1, 6.1, 8.1, 10.1, 16.1
Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo
Ballet Theatre, 4.1, 13.1
see also American Ballet Theater
Ballet West, 6.1, 15.1
Ballo della Regina (ballet), 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4
“Barbara Frietchie” (Whittier)
Barber, Samuel
Bardyguine, Yuri
Baronova, Irina
Bartók, Béla
Baryshnikov, Mikhail
Barzin, Eleanor
Barzin, Leon, 3.1, 8.1
Bates, Georgina
Bates, Ronnie, 4.1, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 14.1, 15.1, 15.2, 17.1, 17.2, 17.3
Baum, Morton
Beaton, Cecil
Bei, Deputy Mayor, 19.1, 19.2
Beijing
Beijing in the Mist (Chou), 19.1
Béjart, Maurice
Bennett, Michael
Berlin
Bernadette Soubirous, Saint
Bernstein, Aline, n
Bernstein, Leonard
Bigelow, Eddie, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 8.1, 12.1, 12.2, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 17.1, 18.1, 20.1
Birds of America (ballet; unproduced), 15.1
Bishop, Annette
Bishop, Bradford, Jr.
Bishop, Bradford, Sr.
Bishop, Lobelia
Bishop Dubois High School, 3.1, 3.2
Bishop family, murder of, 16.1, 23.1
Bizet, Georges
Black Majesty: The Life of Christophe, King of Haiti, 9.1
Blanck, Kyra, 3.1, 3.2, 6.1, 20.1, 20.2
Bliss, Herbert
Bloch, Julia Chang
Bloomer Girl (musical), 8.1
Blum, Réne
Blum, Tony, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3
Bocher, Barbara
Boehm, Dick, 11.1, 12.1
Boelzner, Gordon
Bolender, Todd, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 6.1, 8.1, 8.2, 12.1
Bolm, Adolph
Bolshevik Revolution, 12.1, 12.2
Bolshoi Ballet, 3.1, 8.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 19.1
Bolshoi Theater, Moscow, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3
Bondi Beach, Australia
Bordeaux, France
borscht, Robert Indiana’s recipe for
Borzhomi
Boston, Mass.
Boulder, Colo.
Bournonville, August
Bourrée Fantasque, 8.1
Bourscheidt, Randy
Bowler, James V.
Bowles, Paul, n
Braden, John
Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (ballet), 16.1, 23.1
Brill, Peter
Brill, Sam, 23.1, 23.2
Brill, Shane, 23.1, 23.2
Brockway, Merrill
Bronk, Pam
Bronx Zoo
Brooklyn Academy of Music, Majestic Theater at, 19.1, 19.2
Brown, Isabel, n
Brown, Kelly
Brown, Vida
Bruhn, Eric, 3.1, 12.1
Brussels
Buele, Dr.
bullfights
Bulnes, Madame
Burkhardt, Tom
Burr, Aaron
Burton, Richard
Cabaret (musical), 23.1
Cabin in the Sky (musical), 9.1
Cadmus, Paul, 8.1, 8.2, 20.1
Cage, Betty, 6.1, 8.1, 10.1, 10.2, 12.1, 12.2, 15.1, 15.2, 18.1
Cage, John, 3.1, 3.2
Cage, The (ballet), 5.1, 13.1, 23.1
Caldwell, Sarah
Calhoun School
California, University of, Santa Barbara
Call Me Madame (musical), 8.1
Campbell, Joseph, 19.1, 19.2
Candy (Southern and Hoffenberg), 8.1
Cap-Haitien, 9.1, 9.2
Cara, Irene
Carmelita, Sister, 3.1, 3.2
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Tavern
Carolina Ballet, n
“Carrie’s Mob”
Carter Barron Theatre, Washington, D.C.
Case, Arlouine
Castro, Inês de
Cats (musical), 23.1
Celanese Corporation
Celebration (ballet), 15.1, 17.1
Cenerentola, La (Rossini), 8.1
Chabukiani, Vakhtang
Chagall, Marc, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4
character class
Charnin, Martin, 15.1, 19.1
Chase, Lucia, n
Chauviré, Yvette
Chicago (musical), 23.1
Chicago City Ballet
China, NDI exchanges with
China Dig (NDI event), 19.1
Choreography by George Balanchine, 17.1
Chorus Line, A (musical), 23.1, 23.2
Chou Wen-Chung
Christensen, Harold, 6.1, 6.2
Christensen, Lew, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 6.1, 6.2, 8.1, 10.1, 10.2
and Ballet Caravan
in Ballet Society
Kirstein and, 6.1, 6.2, 13.1, 14.1
in World War II, 6.1, 6.2
Christensen, William, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 9.1, 20.1
Christensen Brothers, 6.1, 6.2
Christensen Brothers, The (Sowell), 3.1, 6.1
Christophe, Henri, 9.1, 9.2
Chujoy, Anatole, n
Cid, El
Cinderella (ballet), 13.1
City Center, 3.1, 4.1, 8.1, 8.2, 13.1
City Opera
Classic Ballet, The (Kirstein and Stuart), 3.1
Clearwater, Fla.
Clifford, John, 15.1, 23.1
Cloisters
Cold War
Cole, Jack
Coleman, Don, 21.1, 21.2
Coleman, Jennifer, 10.1, 21.1, 21.2
Coleman, Jonathan, n
Coleman, Stuart, 10.1, 21.1
Colette, n
Collins, Janet
Collins, Judy, 15.1, 19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 19.4, 19.5
Cologne, Germany, 9.1, 23.1
Colt, Alvin, n
Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 7.1
Comiskey, Jimmy, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2, 12.1
as NYCB fan
Company (musical), 23.1
Concert, The (ballet), 5.1, 15.1
Concerto Barocco (ballet), 9.1, 10.1, 10.2, 12.1
Connolly, Joseph
Contact (musical), 23.1
Cooke, Hope
Copeland, Leslie
Copenhagen, 9.1, 12.1, 23.1
Coppélia (ballet), 10.1, 12.1, 12.2, 13.1, 13.2
Corsaire, Le (ballet), 12.1
Cortège Hongrois (ballet), 13.1
costumes, of male dancers
Cragun, Richard
Crandall, Kelly
Cranko, John, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 10.1
Crete, ancient, bull dancers in
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, 15.1, 15.2
Crowell, Ann
Croydon, England
Cuba
Cuban missile crisis, 12.1, 23.1
Cullberg, Birgit, 10.1, 10.2
Cummings, Jack, 8.1, 8.2
Cunningham, Merce, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3
Dalai Lama
Dalí, Salvador
d’Amboise, Adèle
d’Amboise, Alexina
d’Amboise, André “Pop” (Andrew Patrick Ahearn), 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.1, 23.1
adopted name deliberately mispronounced by
background of
in Clearwater
death of
divorce of Boss and
as elevator operator, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 7.1
and Jacques’s performances
as Joe Kennedy’s telegraph operator, 1.1, 1.2
in Maine, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3
marriage of Boss and, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 11.1, 11.2, 20.1
as nurse’s aide, 7.1, 7.2, 11.1
separation of Boss and, 7.1, 11.1
as storyteller
as telegraph operator, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
as unemployed, 1.1, 1.2
work ethic of, 1.1, 1.2
in World War, II
d’Amboise, Carolyn, see George, Carolyn “Carrie”
d’Amboise, Catherine, 11.1, 17.1, 23.1, 23.2, 23.3
birth of
d’Amboise, Charlotte, 11.1, 19.1, 23.1, 23.2
birth of
as dancer, 13.1, 15.1, 15.2, 17.1, 19.1, 19.2, 23.1
d’Amboise, Christopher, 10.1, 12.1, 15.1, 15.2, 17.1, 17.2, 17.3, 18.1, 18.2, 23.1
ballet career of, 10.1, 12.1, 13.1, 13.2, 15.1, 15.2, 17.1, 17.2, 19.1, 23.1
birth of
childhood of, 11.1, 11.2, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 13.1, 13.2
d’Amboise, David Bergeron, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5
d’Amboise, Emélia
d’Amboise, George, xv, 11.1, 17.1, 23.1
birth of
as cancer-free
cancer of, 11.1, 23.1
childhood of, 3.1, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 11.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3
d’Amboise, Georgette “Boss” (Georgiana Ahearn), 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 3.2, 6.1, 11.1, 12.1, 15.1, 19.1, 23.1
childhood of, 1.1, 1.2
Clearwater home of
combined charm and determination of
death of
divorce of Pop and
family name change engineered by, 3.1, 8.1
frugality of
investments of, 11.1, 11.2
Jacques’s and Ninette’s music and performance lessons arranged by, 3.1, 3.2
and Jacques’s fight with Farel
Jacques urged to study ballet by, 2.1, 11.1
and marriage of Jacques and Carrie
marriage of Pop and, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 11.1, 11.2, 20.1
Novena and
as nurse’s aide, 7.1, 7.2, 11.1
separation of Pop and, 7.1, 11.1
in Staten Island
stories told by, 1.1, 1.2
as terrible driver
will of
d’Amboise, Jacques, 3.1, 3.2, 8.1, 11.1, 13.1, 15.1, 16.1, 19.1, 19.2, 23.1, 23.2
in Ballet Society, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3
boys’ ballet class started by, 13.1, 13.2, 15.1
Carrie and, see George, Carolyn “Carrie”
in Hamburg streetcar accident, 12.1, 12.2, 23.1
knee problems of, 12.1, 16.1, 16.2, 23.1
NDI and, see National Dance Institute
in NYCB, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 9.1, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5, 12.6, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4, 14.1, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 16.1, 16.2, 16.3, 17.1, 23.1, 23.2, 23.3
in retirement from dancing, 19.1, 19.2
at SAB, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 20.1, 23.1
in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3
16 mm camera of, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5
as surrogate for Balanchine
television performances of, 2.1, 8.1, 13.1, 16.1, 19.1
d’Amboise, Jacques, childhood and adolescence of, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1
acting lessons of, 3.1, 3.2
birth of
in Catholic schools, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6
and desire to fly
at King-Coit School
music in
Novena and
in Paris, 5.1, 5.2
with Paul in Chicago
piano lessons of
in Staten Island, 1.1, 1.2, 23.1
in Washington Heights, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 5.1, 18.1
d’Amboise, Jean (John Ahearn), 7.1, 8.1, 11.1, 23.1
childhood of, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
in World War, II, 3.1, 3.2
d’Amboise, Jeanne
d’Amboise, Kathleen, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 23.1
d’Amboise, Marie Pelletier, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
d’Amboise, Mary Cruthers, 7.1, 11.1, 23.1
d’Amboise, Maureen
d’Amboise, Ninette (Madeleine Ahearn), 11.1, 19.1, 23.1
