June 10-15 in the Opera House
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This weeklong celebration presented by the Kennedy Center is a unique way to explore, under one roof, some of the work being done by flourishing companies throughout the United States. Some of the ballets are relatively new, while others are considered modern classics. Three different programs will be presented throughout the week; each one highlights a company from the East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast. The first program features Pennsylvania Ballet, Houston Ballet, and Salt Lake City's Ballet West. The second features The Washington Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, and Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet. The third features Boston Ballet, Chicago's The Joffrey Ballet, and Oregon Ballet Theater.

Of the ballets on the first program, I've performed two. One is George Balanchine's Serenade, to be danced by Ballet West. Click here to read my Notes on Serenade, which I wrote earlier this year for another Kennedy Center presentation. The other is Jerome Robbins's In the Night, to be performed by Pennsylvania Ballet.

I first danced In the Night upon my return to NYC Ballet in 1975. Created five years earlier, the ballet was choreographed to nocturnes by Chopin. Robbins mentioned to me that he initially intended the music to be part of Dances at a Gathering, but later decided to create a separate ballet. There are three couples in all, each representing a different mood in separate movements before coming together for the finale. My personal interpretation is that the first couple is new and peaceful, the middle couple is more mature and independent – but still a harmonious unit – and the final couple depicts emotions at odds. I was cast in the couple from the middle movement; my role had originally been made on the wonderfully musical Violette Verdy.

Robbins spent much of his early days in the world of Broadway, where choreographers typically rehearse with dancers for only a few weeks and then move on once the show premieres. Thus, he was known for having somewhat of a gypsy-like relationship with many dancers in the ballet company. He loved to make movement look spontaneous and enjoyed experimenting, though it was a kick to observe the times he'd wind up circling back to the instinctive ideas he started with. I had great pleasure working with Jerry on In the Night and some of his other ballets. (In 1985, he made a powerful ballet on me called In Memory of…). Robbins was still very energetic at the time and we shared a harmonious, respectful friendship both on and off the stage.

From the second Ballet Across America program, though I've never seen it, I've heard much about Todd Bolender's The Still Point, to be performed by Kansas City Ballet. Jacques d'Amboise and Melissa Hayden – both originals from the 1956 NYC Ballet premiere of the work – would frequently talk about it. Bolender, who passed away in 2006, was also a NYC Ballet company member from its earliest beginnings. I never had the opportunity to see him perform, though we often came together at galas and other functions and I enjoyed our talks. He was an original interpreter of roles in The Four Temperaments and Agon, so if you know those works, that might give you some insight into the kind of dancer he was and the artistic integrity he had.

Bolender choreographed The Still Point for a modern dance company a year before putting it on point for NYC Ballet. The work begins with three women and two men, but then four members pair off in couples. The final woman is left to ponder why she's been left behind, until she meets another male dancer. The music, by Debussy, is characteristically lyrical, so it will be interesting to see how the music's flowing sensibilities juxtapose with the final woman's anxieties of not fitting in.

Of the three ballets on the final program, Antony Tudor's Lilac Garden has the longest history. The Joffrey Ballet will be dancing it for this engagement. Lilac Garden follows a distinct narrative story about Caroline, a young woman engaged to marry someone she does not love. Tragically, she has feelings for another man. Tudor created several of these psychological ballets, filled with tension and secrecy, flowing period costumes, and themes of marriage by arrangement and impossible love. In 1964 at NYC Ballet, Tudor's Dim Lustre entered the repertoire. Originally choreographed for American Ballet Theatre, this ballet also offered great dance drama. Observing Tudor rehearse the dancers, I regarded the very tall, statuesque, and proper-looking English choreographer a formidable presence.

June 6-8 in the Opera House
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The Kennedy Center’s international ballet academy festival returns, this time with students from the Royal Ballet School, the Paris Opera Ballet School, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, and the School of American Ballet, which I attended for one year. I’m pleased that my former school will be performing Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco (more about that later in this article). The program enables us to see different training styles from around the world, and it appeals whether you’re a ballet fan, a young aspiring dance student, or just culturally curious.

I’ve staged ballets for the Bolshoi (Mozartiana and Agon), danced at the Paris Opera (Meditation, Liebeslieder Walzer, and Agon) and also staged Tzigane there, and earlier this year taught Tzigane to London’s Royal Ballet. Each summer, I also provide two educational programs for students – “Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell” (EBSF) for three weeks at the Kennedy Center, and a workshop at my Cedar Islands retreat in upstate New York. In just a few short weeks, I will be surrounded by many young dancers with stars in their eyes, just as I had at the School of American Ballet.

The return of Protégés makes me reflect on some of the similarities and differences between my training and some academies today. When I joined the School of American Ballet at 15, we didn’t have many resources beyond ourselves, and we didn’t have workshops or many chances to visit other companies. So all of us aspired to become a company member, in order to finally see and learn all the ballets we dreamed of dancing. In the meantime, we could only go home, close our eyes, and let our imaginations run wild.

Today, students have more access to visual content regarding a ballet, whether it’s a video, the Internet, or touring ballet companies. While it’s important for performances to be archived, learning ballets by these visual assets alone could make a dancer become comfortable with imitating, versus cultivating their own self. It is a great experience to learn a ballet from the original creator of the role, or even a ballet that’s never been done before, so that everything has to come from within. As a ballet student, it’s also enlightening to view other art forms – such as painting, sculpture, and even nature – in the world. Each summer, I do this with my EBSF students.

Some ballet schools provide their own academics in addition to ballet training. There were no dormitories while I was at the School of American Ballet, and I took separate courses at Professional Children’s School, which generously worked in tandem with my ballet schedule. At the end of the day, it was grounding to hop on the bus and go home across town, to my mother and sister and a life that seemed “normal.”

Which brings me to Concerto Barocco – a ballet I know from many different angles, because I’ve performed both of its solo roles at different times in my life. Originally created in 1941, the ballet was ornately costumed initially. In 1962, as a first-year corps member, I was thrown into the role of the second solo girl. I had never seen the ballet and now it was being revived with white leotards and skirts as costumes. Diana Adams was having knee trouble so she could not dance. Mr. Balanchine had me stand next to her and Pat Neary to determine whose height went best with Allegra Kent, who was replacing Diana in the first soloist’s role. At the time, I wasn’t sure whether being the shortest of the three (but still tall in my own right) was advantageous or not!

The second movement evokes a mood of peace and purity, while the two outer movements are fast and wonderfully energetic. The music is Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, and one fascinating element to Balanchine’s choreography is that each solo girl, at times, represents one of the two solo violins, while the eight corps girls are the remaining strings. Once while rehearsing the ballet, I glanced down in the pit and saw the two solo violinists playing very close together, almost as though one bow might collide with the other if the musicians didn’t remain completely in sync with one another. Balanchine’s choreography has that same sense of precision/precariousness and action/reaction tension to it.

A year later, in 1963, I made my debut as the first soloist – the adagio girl – in Concerto Barocco, this time partnered by Jacques d’Amboise. Learning the other role was an adventure, as I had to keep my body from instinctively moving to the counts I knew from the second soloist role. But in the end it was heaven to learn both parts, and that made it easier for me to stage the ballet later in life. I’ve taught it several times to other companies, including Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem.