Suzanne’s Blog for 1/7/2023

 

 

Blog – New York 1976

 

I remember first going out to New York City. It was so exciting to be a part of the Ford Foundation Dance Scholarships at that time. New York City Ballets Schools was called SAB, “The School of American Ballet.”

At that time, the school did not have housing facilities for the dancers (which they do now) and it was up to us to find our own places to stay before we got there.

My first year, I did not know how things worked and I also did not know that it was essential to schedule things way in advance. That could be a problem because often we did not know if we got the scholarship until around March of the year we would begin in the summer for that program.

My first year, I was unable to get the places that other dancers knew about and by the time I had any clue, the good spots where taken.
My first year, I ended up staying at the Empire hotel at Lincoln center for the whole summer.

Honestly that was not a bad option. It was very close to the school that was at 70 Lincoln Center Plaza. I was close to restaurants, all the artistic activities at Lincoln Center, and there was much excitement that surrounded Lincoln Center at that time.
It was fun to go to the plaza and dance up on the other levels that overlooked the fountain. Often many of us would be up there dancing around, in sandals or tennis shoes.
It was exciting to see the big banners announcing the companies and performances that were coming to the State Theater (I believe it is now called the David H Koch Theater) and the Metropolitan Opera House.

This area was at the cross between Columbus Ave and Broadway in Manhattan. It was close to Central Park and there was much to do all around.

As poor dancers, one of us would buy a ticket to a ballet at the State Theater. On the second floor there was a balcony and the one with the ticket would go up to that balcony and throw the ticket down to another dancer. As we would come in the first time, we would beg the usher to not tear the ticket because it was a souvenir to us being in New York. Which back then they would kindly do. That way with one ticket we could get two in. Or even more if we were really bold. (You just could not go to the same usher at the front door.)

Then one would sit in the seat and the other would go all the way to the back of the top balcony and crouch down, trying to be invisible until the lights went down. Then we would stand up and watch from the back.

On a very limited budget as a student, it was the only way to manage to see performances.

In retrospect, I can see how valuable it was to manage to see how specific dancers portrayed characters and roles, because later on at auditions, they would use certain ballets as a part of the more advanced ways to test us … performance wise.
It was amazingly valuable to have seen someone like Gelsey Kirkland, Patricia McBride, or Kyra Nichols dance certain roles. It gave one the ability to understand the subtleties that they would use to accentuate certain movements and styles.
Back in my day, photography was not very good and we had terrible video that was mostly black and white, spotty, and unclear. It was (after all) 1976-1978. Even our small cameras were not very good or clear.

I think it is so wonderful that now very good cameras are on our phones and that video is easy to do so that many things can be captured spontaneously and kept.

As I stayed in New York, I was able to secure a place at the Swiss Townhouse at 35 W. 67^th St. It was also a very close location to the Theater. Just a few blocks more away from Lincoln Center. And those Swiss ladies kept us on a tight leash, curfews, and specific times to eat. But discipline and rules were natural for any serious dancer at that time.

I quickly learned that Balanchine lived on our block closer to Central Park, and often many principal dancers would walk down our street to go meet Balanchine for some reason or another.

As a young dancer, I remember, excited girl screams started up as Peter Schaufuss walked past our building.
Little did I know that later on when I was at the Berlin Ballet that he would be coming to our company to set La Sylphide.

Back in my day, the ballet world was very small. I would continue to have many overlaps that would happen throughout my life.

I saw Bruce Marks and Toni Lander perform in Dallas when I was 5 years old, “The Moors Pavane”.

And then worked for Ballet West where Bruce was the Director and Toni occasionally taught class and set her favorite ballets.

New York City was a wild place to be from 1976-1978. On many levels it was very dangerous. Things are much safer now than when I was there.
But as a young dancer, it was the place to be. It was the center of the dance world in the United States. Everyone coveted opportunities to go to any program with any company that was doing courses over the summer and the school years.

I am grateful to those Ford Foundation scholarships at that time because I could have never done it otherwise as my father really despised my love of ballet and tried at most opportunities to point me in any other direction.

However, when something was free, he could not make any obvious argument that would stick.

Life is a kalidescope of potential doorways of color and light that we can choose to step through and into.
Sometimes our fear will stop us.
Sometimes our angels push us.
And sometimes we have enough courage to leap blindly into a dream that we pray will be strong enough to hold us.
~Suzanne Wagner~