Real Estate Magazine Editorial 474for Printing

VICTOR M. MORENO Master of Grace at the Helm of Ballet North

Story by Denice Breaux

Since September 2003, dancers on the Mendocino Coast have enjoyed the rare privilege of working with Ballet Master Victor Moreno at Second Story Studios in Fort Bragg. Former soloist with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and founding artistic director of numerous companies, Victor’s credits span many regions and decades. His high caliber of teaching has already made an impact on this coast’s dance scene, offering students of all ages and abilities a solid classical foundation while imbuing a sheer joy of dancing.

Typical in Victor Moreno’s classes is a wide range of ages, with even the tiniest of tots occasionally at the barre amid older children, teenagers, and adults. Seventeen-year-old Elyse Bailey comes from Gualala several days a week to class and, although she’s had other teachers, she has made the most progress in the least amount of time while working with Victor. “He’s the most enjoyable teacher I’ve had, but he works you hard so you can’t slack off,” says Elyse who performed en pointe in this year’s Spring Dance Concert.

Victor’s warm manner and sense of fun may keep the young ones coming back, but, as a septuagenarian, he inspires those of us past our balletic prime to take up “the dance” either for the first time or once again. Now we have the chance to benefit from his keen insights and personally developed technique—subtle adjustments in placement and timing that make a world of difference in balance, form and stamina. Voice teacher Ana Lucas, who joined Victor’s class just three months ago, finds him to be very reassuring to beginners, keeping his classes nurturing yet challenging. He’ll single out students for correction only when to do otherwise would hinder their development, says Ana. “His personality allows me to explore ballet at this point in my life. Victor’s made of love.”

It is no wonder that his career as teacher, choreographer, and artistic director has endured. Besides being an incredible technician with boundless talent and decades of experience, Victor Moreno has a winning personality. He exudes old-world charm, always using refreshingly courtly manners; when walking on the sidewalk with a female companion, he automatically places himself between the street and the lady. At the same time, people are instantly drawn to his easy-going, up-beat manner, and his unassuming demeanor belies the enormity of his very full, almost regal past.

Born seventy-seven years ago in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Victor Moreno began dancing when he was fourteen. His older sister was a ballerina, and his family thought dance lessons would help the smallish boy gain strength. His studies began in 1942 with Francisco Gago, a former mime at the Buenos Aires Opera House who was to become a second papa to Victor. A mere seven months later, young Victor auditioned for the school of Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires, joining its corps du ballet, and by 1944 he was doing solo work. Besides being a young dancer of enormous talent, his knack for teaching was also recognized early, so he taught while he learned, learning while he worked.

For political reasons Victor left Argentina for New York in 1950 where he eventually danced with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as , partnering with such notable ballerinas as Nathalie Krassovska and . In the following decades, Victor Moreno founded and directed many dance companies in this country and performed throughout the world collaborating with such distinguished choreographers as Leonid Massine and . He has danced, staged, and choreographed a huge body of work including , Coppelia, , , Peter and the Wolf and, of course, Nutcracker. He appeared in the Broadway musical Wonderful Town and on television with Steve Allen. A true master of his craft, Victor Moreno in 1948 became the youngest man in the history of his country to achieve the title of Premier Danseur.

And in 2005, those on California’s North Coast can dance with him!

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Camille Parsons, owner/director of Second Story Studios and producer of the Spring Dance Concert, had the great fortune to have worked with Victor Moreno when she was a teenager. Both she and Serafina Andrews, another of Second Story Studios’ instructors, danced with Victor in Southern California at the Starlight Bowl and the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in full-length ballets as well as excerpts. Although she went on to become a professional jazz dancer, Camille continued ballet, maintaining an appreciation and affection for Victor Moreno. When she happened to telephone him two years ago just to convey her long-standing gratitude for his invaluable training, she learned that he was bored and dissatisfied with the unenthusiastic dance scene where he was living in Hesperia, California. Serendipitously, Camille was in need of a new ballet teacher for Second Story Studios and invited Victor to come investigate Fort Bragg for a possible next move. Luckily for dancers on the coast, the arrangement suited him fine. Besides being an “awesome teacher, Victor is a sweet person, a real gentleman whom people instantly like—just what I was looking for in a teacher,” says Camille. “He works his students hard, but is always helpful, kind and supportive.”

Lily Parsons, Camille’s daughter, began dancing with her mom at a very early age but quit as a young adult after becoming disenchanted at the competitiveness common among dancers. She grew up hearing about the legendary Victor Moreno, so was thrilled when he arrived to teach at her mom’s studio. Says Lily, “We in Fort Bragg may be way beneath the caliber of dancer that Victor is used to, but what a treat for us! Besides being an incredible teacher who always thinks the best of what each individual can do, he is an archive full of rare information about classical ballet.” Lily is once again enjoying ballet.

Also realizing Victor’s trove of first-hand knowledge is Albion resident Emily Tincher, a vocational rehabilitation counselor with a strong modern dance background. Although new to his classes, Emily instantly recognized Victor as a “national treasure who still embodies the original Ballet Russe that has been all but lost in American ballet.” This now rare vernacular is being passed on to a lucky next generation.

The move to Fort Bragg has been a good one for Victor who enjoys the area and its dedicated, hard-working dancers whom he can help develop. One needn’t be “company” material or even a serious classical ballet dancer to benefit immensely from the master teacher’s tutelage. Jeff Kraut, a Fort Bragg physician and competitive ballroom dancer, appreciates Victor Moreno’s ability and willingness to tailor each class to accommodate the varied participants. His attention is given equally among beginning and advanced dancers alike. “He never leaves anyone behind,” says Jeff.

Invaluable is Victor’s ability to convey to his students “exactly what to do to make the body work well without damaging it.” A weak spot for many dancers is the plié, a grounded movement in which the knees are bent outwards over the feet while the back is held straight. Fundamental to all dance technique, a proper plié goes a long way in preventing injury, especially when coming out of any jump. Victor says of the plié, “Many dancers don’t do it and they get hurt. Once you’re down, you must stay down and feel the floor before you leave it—a law of Ballet Physics.”

Victor observes that many instructors do not teach dancers how to improve, instead taking the view that a dancer is either good or not good, with no further development possible. Besides seeking out great teachers and classes, dancers should study their own movements and bodies to determine why, for example, they can sometimes do triple pirouettes, yet at other times do only a single. By observing one’s own body and how it moves, one can achieve consistency and nail the multiple turn every time. (Victor’s own personal record is an eighteen-revolution pirouette without touching down—that’s nailing a pirouette.) He also stresses the importance of coordination in understanding technique, but not just ordinary coordination. “There are three balances in ballet: that which is in favor, that which is against, and that which is flat. To know how the body balances is to know coordination.”

Victor’s barre exercises, inventive little dances in themselves, noticeably lack the notorious drudgery that often plague more mediocre classes. Having taught for sixty years, Victor has no need to plan out class in advance, but rather pulls out of his vast repertoire what is appropriate for each class and its particular students. He imparts decades of experience, gleaned from “the best teachers in the world.” He says, “Companies came from other countries like France and Cuba, and we learned from their techniques. After analyzing every movement, file:///Users/chuckhathaway/Documents/WebSites/real%20estate%20mendocino/editorial_474print.htm (2 of 4) [12/31/07 4:04:18 PM] Real Estate Magazine Editorial 474for Printing we of Teatro Colon added our own technique based on observing our own selves while dancing.” They were also experimental, coming up with inventions such as the entrechat huit, a leap straight up while crossing the legs many times, in this case eight (four is more usual); and the double tour jeté in which two turns are executed mid-air while leaping outward. (Most professional dancers can manage a single turn per leap.) A good plié is essential.

While Victor loves to watch good dancers no matter what the piece, his favorite to perform was Prince Igor in which he danced with the Buenos Aires Opera Company, doing those inventive double tours jetés. To dance amid the high drama and chorus-filled stage of the opera was one of the highlights of his long career. Does he find today’s dancers different from those of earlier times? “Now they go for performing tricks without creative expression. In Ballet Russe, all the dancers were artists in their own right. That’s the beauty of good technique—to know what you are doing with feeling and expression.” To today’s aspiring dancers he advocates to “understand what your body is doing and be well trained by an experienced teacher who knows how the body works.”

At age seventy-seven, Victor’s primary aspiration is to provide dancers on the coast the opportunity to develop and grow artistically and technically; to that end, he is forming yet another company, Ballet North. The nascent troupe has formed a divine alliance with Mendocino County’s Opera Fresca, a genuine honor and a great boon. Says Opera Fresca’s Clare Barca, “This is an artistic and educational partnership, and Hansel and Gretel is an Opera Fresca Mendocino Holiday Production which will officially present the debut of Ballet North, showcasing the choreography of Victor Moreno.”

As Ballet North’s artistic director, Victor offers that he has a “vast repertoire of classical ballet materials gathered over many years of a fruitful career, and I even have all the costumes to go with them.” Now he just needs to flesh out the company with the usual financial contributions (non-profit status has been obtained under the generous umbrella of Opera Fresca), more board members, enthusiasts of all kinds, and of course, dancers. “It is a great feeling when I can train and develop our own talent,” says Victor. “I would like this community to become aware of my dancers by name and by their performing skills, to treat them not as students but as artists of great abilities in their own right.”

Besides receiving high-caliber training, promising dancers of Ballet North will have the chance to perform leading roles, an opportunity otherwise unavailable in larger metropolitan companies. The education in choreography and dance and participating in public performances provide the company’s members invaluable tools that can later be parlayed into the paid world of dance.

Victor Moreno invites dancers of all ages and abilities to Ballet North’s auditions at 12 noon, Saturday, September 10, at Second Story Studios, 307 East Redwood Street in Fort Bragg. Victor’s fall session of regular classes begins September 7, offering more then ten classes throughout each week for beginners through advanced, ages nine through adult. To register, phone Camille Parsons at 964-4016.

Victor Moreno’s wonderful Website (victormmoreno.com) is well worth the visit. The gallery offers footage of the master himself performing Coppelia with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo circa 1950. The sputtering film is tiny and a bit blurry, but there’s no doubt it is Victor who is flying elegantly back and forth, leaping heavenward, effortlessly carrying a partner with single-handed poise. He may no longer be able to execute eighteen- revolution pirouettes or the entrechats huit of his own invention, but with a master’s grace and a legacy to pass on, Victor Moreno will always be dancing.

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