When City Center Was Balanchine's House

[elleng]

Jacques d’Amboise, Patricia Wilde, Allegra Kent and Edward Villella talk about the roles they danced at the theater, which is celebrating George Balanchine and its 75th anniversary as a palace of the arts.

'When Lincoln Kirstein and the choreographer George Balanchine were attempting to get a company off the ground in the 1930s and ’40s, they had little more than a pickup troupe, with meager seasons and slender prospects. That began to change in 1948, when the company, the newly named New York City Ballet, found an institution willing to take it in: New York City Center.

The studios had splintery floors. The orchestra pit was cramped. There was practically no backstage space — and the stage itself was small.

“I could do a couple of jumps and be past center stage,” said Jacques d’Amboise. He danced with the company during its City Center years, as did Edward Villella, who lived a brownstone away from the theater. “They used to deliver huge blocks of ice,” Mr. Villella said, “and they would take it into the alley in the back, and that was the air-conditioning.”

Since those early days, the building, a fanciful Moorish-style structure built as a meeting place for the Shriners, a Masonic group, has been updated many times, most recently in 2011. In 1943, it became a temple for the arts, converted for that purpose by the civic-minded mayor Fiorello La Guardia. Tickets were kept affordable. In the ’40s, a prime seat went for $2.40, roughly equivalent to $35 today. . .

s part of a season celebrating the 75th anniversary of the building’s rebirth as a palace of culture, City Center is hosting a ballet festival, “Balanchine: The City Center Years,” from Oct. 31 through Nov. 4. The works included — 13 in all — were either created or performed there during City Ballet’s first decade and a half, 1948-64.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/arts/dance/george-balanchine-new-york-city-center.html?

[fleur-de-lisa]

1. Interesting, though I am much more a fan of American Ballet Theater than NYCB. n/t

[elleng]

2. I grew up with City Ballet, AT the City Center!

[fleur-de-lisa]

3. I enjoy the more traditional and fluid style of ABT.

I like some NYCB pieces, especially those that are more modern, but to me, they tend to be more athletic dancers and not as graceful as those at ABT.

And my daughter trained with ABT as a teenager, so I am probably biased!

[elleng]

4. Such great training!

LUCKY her! 'Bias' well deserved!

[Tree-Hugger]

5. Same

If I am choosing between NYCB and ABT then ABT is my #1. I do appreciate NYCB and their brand of ballet. I do have some fab dancers from there, such as former Principal dancer, Kathryn Morgan. But, NYCB tends to be a little too sharp for my taste sometimes. I am also not Balanchine's biggest fan by a long shot, for many reasons. On that note, I'm so tired of nearly every local version of the Nutcracker being the Balanchine version.