Episodes: Jennifer Kronenberg and Reyneris Reyes in the Ricercata from Bach’s Musical Offering; Jovani Furlan in the Op. 30 Variations. (Photos: Daniel Azoulay, ) 12 ballet review A Conversation with very serious. We had this pianist, Carl, and he had this crazy sense of humor. During class Lourdes Lopez he would be playing along and then suddenly he would throw this fake plastic hand across the room and Edward would laugh. We were Michael Langlois working, but we talked and joked around a lot. It was really easygoing. And then toward When I walked into Lourdes Lopez’s office at the end Edward kind of lost his sense of hu- Miami City Ballet on a Wednesday afternoon mor.” in October 2013, the dancers were sixteen days In my conversations with the company away from opening their season, the first members at Miami City Ballet it was clear that in the company’s twenty-seven-year history they appreciated all Villella had done for them that Edward Villella would not command. and for the company, in spite of his idiosyn- In April 2012 Lopez was chosen to take over cratic teaching style. One dancer told me, “He the directorship of Miami City Ballet from loved the company, but it was difficult for Villella, the former star him dealing with the board. So for him to be who started MCB in 1985 in a storefront space with the company for ninety minutes every on Lincoln Road that now houses a Victoria’s day and teach class was really important. It Secret emporium. Over the course of nearly gave him a reason to get up in the morning.” threedecadesVillellatransformedMiamiCity, The battles Villella reportedly waged with with an annual operating budget of nearly $15 the board and the fact that his artistic objec- million, into the eighth largest ballet compa- tives continually put the company in finan- ny in the United States. cial distress were excused to a great degree by In spite of this remarkable achievement, the dancers because, as one put it, “Without Villella was seen as a polarizing figure. His Edward’s vision and his constantly pushing, company classes, which he insisted on teach- what sort of company would we have become? ing,werenot,accordingtosomedancers,well- We would have been like any other regional rounded affairs that warmed you up and pre- company. He pushed us beyond our budget. pared you for a long day of rehearsals. “He Beyond our artistic limitations.” might make the girls do fifty million hops on And so he did until 2012, when the compa- pointe. Meanwhile, the boys would sit around ny announced that Villella had agreed to step getting cold for half an hour and then he’d give down at the end of the upcoming season. Five us double tours to grand plié. Okay, maybe it months later, however, he left. Almost over- wasn’t that extreme, but you definitely need- night, Lopez was asked to leave her position ed to warm up for it.” as executive director of Morphoses in New On the other hand, another dancer said, York and guide Miami City Ballet through a “They were difficult, but also really light- year that was Villella’s creation, a terrifically hearted. Edward would dance around the diverse season that would include Alexei Rat- room. He wasn’t giving corrections. When I mansky’s Symphonic Dances; Euphotic, a world first joined the company people were throw- premiere by Liam Scarlett; Ashton’s Les Pati- ing things and laughing. It was fun. It wasn’t neurs; Paul Taylor’s Piazzolla Caldera; Robbins’ Michael Langlois studied ballet at the North Caro- ; and the usual supply of lina School of the Arts, School of American Ballet, Balanchine that Miami City Ballet has become andwithDavidHoward;dancedwith,amongothers, known for: , Divertimento No. 15, La Valse, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet du Nord, and The and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. Feld Ballet; was graduated from Brown University At fifty-five, Lourdes Lopez appears little in 1996; and is a massage therapist, ballet teacher, changed from the lithe, nineteen-year-old I and writer presently living in Miami. remember when I first arrived at the School ©2014 LourdesLopez,MichaelLanglois 13 of American Ballet in 1977. She seems at home teachers from all over the United States. He in her new job and evidence of this is the fact invited Kyra Nichols, Maria Calegari, and me that she meets regularly with her dancers, tothisclass.Thismusthavebeen1972,because something Villella apparently rarely did. “In Iwasfourteenatthetime.Thethreeofuswere fifteen years with the company,” one dancer inthetoplevelattheschoolthen.IthinkMaria confessed, “I met with Edward three times. might have just joined the company. In fact, one of the things he told me he liked Anyway, we went into the classroom and about me, when we did finally speak, was that there were Merrill [Ashley], Colleen [Neary], I didn’t cry [laughing]. ‘Sometimes when peo- and Karin [von Aroldingen]. It was fascinat- ple come in here,’ he said to me, ‘I have to have ing because Mr. B broke down everything. a whole box of tissues waiting.’” She paused Why do we do tendus? How do we do tendus? for a moment, then added, “He wanted people All of it. Somebody took a picture of him to be happy, and I think it was hard for him correcting me and sent it to my teacher in to listen to dancers complain. I understood Miami, Martha Mahr. Ms. Mahr had a local that, so I never complained.” Cuban artist do this painting from the grainy, MiamiCityBalletresidesina63,000square- not-particularly-good photograph. My moth- foot space a five-minute walk from the beach er sent it to me and said, “You should have that made Miami famous. Designed by one of Balanchine sign it.” the city’s most illustrious architectural firms, By then it was a couple years later and I had Arquitectonica, the enormous space on the just gotten into the company. I was so embar- ground floor where the company takes class rassed, but I went to Mr. B with the painting has a bank of windows that look directly onto and a box of paints of different colors so he the sidewalk, affording passersby a kneecap could sign it. And what does he do? He keeps viewofthedancerswithin.Thiskindofshow- it for the entire season. Finally, he comes up casewassomethingVillellachampionedwhen to me in class one day and says [she imitates heopenedthecompany’soriginalLincolnRoad Balanchine],“Youknow,dear,Isignedit.”And home, keeping the windows exactly as they I said, “Oh, great. Thank you.” And then he hadbeensoanyoneonthestreetcouldobserve said, “It’s a horrible painting of you. You have the dancers within. short legs and a long torso and that’s not what The office that Lopez inhabits is about the you are. But I look very handsome. I look like size of your average New York City two-bed- I’m thirty-five.” room apartment. It’s up on the third floor BR: The inscription on the left side of the and it, like the main studio, is full of windows painting says, “To Mona Lisa Lourdes, From and natural light. One of the first things I no- Leonardo Balanchine.” tice as I enter is a large oil painting hanging Lopez: He never called me Mona Lisa. He over the gigantic Apple computer atop her was just being funny, I guess. The creator of desk. The painting is done in medium tones . . . who knows? Of course, I’m unbelievably and depicts a young ballet dancer (Lopez) grateful that I have this painting signed by standinginfourthpositioninavirtuallyemp- him. ty ballet studio. Just behind her, adjusting BR: Let’s talk about your background in her port de bras, is the sixty-eight-year-old Miami. looking quite a bit younger Lopez: I was born in May 1958 in Cuba. Cas- than that. tro came into power in January 1959. My fa- * therleftinMarchandmymotherafewmonths Lourdes Lopez: Yes, that’s me and Mr. B. In later. I joined them here in Miami in August. those days he would invite certain dancers to I was one-and-a-half years old. I have two participate in his demonstration classes. He older sisters who came with me: Teri is the would teach and talk about his technique to middle one, and Barbara is the oldest. Barbara 14 ballet review Lourdez Lopez with Nathalia Arja and Renan Cerdeiro. (Photo: Daniel Azoulay, MCB) lives here in Miami. Teri has moved up to New BR: When they came to Florida, your par- York. My parents have passed away. ents had to start from scratch, I assume. BR: A lot has been made of this Cuban con- Lopez: Yes, it’s very much the immigrant nection of yours. story. My dad was in the military in Cuba, Lopez: I think it’s less a Cuban connection and he was quite high-ranking. Not a gener- now. When I left in 1972 to go to New York, al, but we had some social status as a result of Miami was still very Cuban. I think my con- that. It was all taken away completely. nection with Miami is that I grew up here. When my dad came here he got a job as a People have often said that there is no culture bus boy at The Red Coach Grill. He was edu- here. Even I said that at one point. I thought I cated and could read and write English very had to leave because I couldn’t dance here. I well. My mom was a manicurist at The Eden could only get to a certain point and then it Roc Hotel and she also did massages. I was too was clear I had to get out. youngtorememberhowbaditwas,butIheard But this is the city that introduced me to the stories later on. When I was four or five, ballet, so there was something going on then. I knew we didn’t have much money. I always came back to Miami, for holidays and It was almost impossible for my parents to tovisitmyparents,andthenthereistheSpan- afford to put me into ballet, which came about ish language. I think ballet companies take on becauseIwassomewhatflat-footedatagefive. the DNA of the city that they’re in. I thought I had very skinny legs and flat feet and had about this job for a while and it seemed that to wear orthopedic shoes. I had no muscles. coming back was very organic. It almost felt The doctor said I needed to do something more as if I’d never left. physical, so my mom put me into this dance summer 2014 15 Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra in Agon. (Photo: Joe Gato, MCB) class where I learned a little bit about ballet. we got there we heard about this teacher, I even got up on pointe, at six years old. When Irina Kosmovska. Los Angeles at that time I was eight I was done with my special shoes was the place where David Lichine and his and my father said, “We really can’t afford the wife, Tatiana Riabouchinska, had settled and lessons, so unless you tell me that you really taught, along with other Russians, Vera Nem- like it you won’t be going anymore.” And I told chinova, I think. Irina saw me in class and him,“Yes,Ireallylikeit.”Mymomsaid,“Okay, called the School of American Ballet and told now we have to find you a real teacher.” them they had to accept me, even though I was So they moved me over to Alexander Nigo- only eleven. doff, who was on Coral Way. He was Russian. The following summer I went to SAB. They I think he was from the Bolshoi. Did he dance gave me a scholarship and even paid for my there? I have no idea, but he was tall, blond, classes when I went back to Miami. One of the and blue-eyed with curly hair. He was the one requirementsofthescholarship,however,was who really taught me the steps, the vocabu- that I study with Martha Mahr. Her training lary of ballet. He showed me what the world wasreallymyfoundation,inspiteofthemany, of ballet was. Before, I just liked dancing. I many teachers I would go on to study with. had no idea there was this whole other fanta- Her approach was very clean. I don’t know if sy that I could live. I moved over to his school it was Vaganova. I don’t know what it was. at eight, and when I was ten, we all went to She taught us that turnout comes from the New York for my dad’s work. hip and fifth position is fifth position. It was After that first summer in New York, dur- strong and clear and when I went to SAB that’s ing which I danced at the Joffrey, I went back the kind of technique I had. Ms. Mahr was to Miami and then out to Los Angeles where continually learning as well. She would go to my oldest sister was getting married. When New York and watch Stanley Williams’ class. 16 ballet review She would go to London and and watch I would study with a number of different teachers there. So I had this really clean, sol- teachers: David Howard, Kim Abel, Maggie id foundation, but I could not move fast. I just Black, Balanchine, Stanley Williams, Suki couldn’t.ThatwasthebighurdleIhadtoover- Schorer. There wasn’t one teacher where I come. thought to myself, Wow, this person is a real- When I was fourteen I moved to New York ly bad teacher or I can’t believe I have to take for good with my older sister, who was nine- this class. I always loved class. teenatthetime.Wesharedalittlestudioapart- I still love class. It’s where I learned every- ment on 57th Street between Ninth and Tenth thing. It’s where you work at what you have Avenues. As I said, this was 1972 and that area to work at without any pressure on you. You was one of the worst places in New York. You’d don’t have to finish that variation or get walk down the street and see heroin needles through your pas de deux. That hour and a everywhere. I went to Professional Children’s half is where you hone what it is you need, School, which was on 60th Street, right near and it comes from teachers who are watching my apartment. By then SAB was in the Juil- and correcting you. That’s one of the things I liard Building at 66th and Broadway so every- don’t understand about the way some teach- thing was really close by. My sister worked as ers teach nowadays. How can you teach a class an usher at State Theater to make extra mon- without correcting the dancers? Whether ey and SAB paid for my apartment and gave you’re Makarova or Joe Schmo, the fact is you me a living stipend. They paid for half of PCS, need corrections in class. too. I can honestly say I became a dancer be- I think with the way Mr. B taught, you felt cause of the School of American Ballet. as if he wasn’t trying to teach you everything Even though I ended up at SAB, eventually atonce.Hisapproachwas,Ihavealltheseyears

TriciaAlbertsonandRenatoPenteadoinJustinPeck’sChutesandLadders.(Photo:DanielAzoulay,MCB) summer 2014 17 so it’s not essential that you figure everything improved. With both the men and women out in this class. So sometimes, yes, it was just there’s better use of the upper body. a focus on tendus and it was very specific BR: Given all that your job entails, do you and very clean and sometimes he would just find it a burden to teach? hound you in class about doing things exact- Lopez:Itdependsontheday[laughing].And ly right. you know why? Because I take my classes se- Never in rehearsal, though. In rehearsals riously. I prepare. If there’s a lot going on I’m he was a dreamboat. At that point it’s too late. thinking, Oh, my God, I can’t believe I have to Yes, there was a sense of experimentation in do this. But I’ve learned. I’ve learned not to his classes, but it was really about teaching freakmyselfout.I’velearnedtofocusonsome- you how to do a movement. I’m going to teach thing for that particular class, pirouettes, for you how to do bourrées, for example, or I’m example. So I will make sure they jump and going to teach you how to do ronds de jambe. do what they need to do, but the focus of the So even though his classes were hard and center work will be pirouettes. not fun, and painful, you were learning. You In the girls class today I really wanted to weren’t going through the motions. You were work on the articulation of the foot and how actuallylearning,andthat’swhatIlovedabout the foot comes up from fifth position into a my career. I had interesting teachers and they retiré, let’s say, so I really worked on that and didn’t let you get away with stuff. As a dancer I’ve learned that it’s okay if the class is used and as a teacher you’re always learning. Even in that way. They have other teachers. This is now, I’ll watch Roma Sosenko, one of our bal- not the only class they’re going to take for the let mistresses, teach class and I’ll say to my- restoftheyear.I’veremovedthatburdenfrom self, Wow, I forgot that. myself. I don’t feel as if I have to throw the I said to the dancers here at Miami City whole kitchen sink at them all the time. when I came, “I correct. It’s not because I like I do like teaching and class tells me a lot you or think you’re a good dancer or a bad about the dancers. I can keep my eye on them. dancer; it’s because that’s how I learned. I will Thereareforty-sevendancersandyou’dthink give you all that I have and all I have learned you wouldn’t be able to take all that in, but and you can take it or leave it. Maybe it will you can. If you spend ninety minutes teach- work and maybe it won’t, but I am not going ing class you can look at a girl and see right to sit here and clap to the music and then walk away that something’s going on with her or out of class.” realize that a boy has really improved. BR: You’ve been here for a little over a year BR: When you see a dancer who’s having now. Do the dancers look different from what issues what do you do? you recall seeing when you first arrived? Lopez: I believe in communication. It was Lopez: They look more unified, and I don’t not something I grew up with. Mr. B didn’t meanthattheylookalike.Theylookmoreuni- communicate, really. was a bit fied in their execution of the steps. The syn- better.Youknow,ourcareersaresoshortthat, copationisstillthere.Theenergyisstillthere. as a dancer, I would rather have heard earli- But there’s an awareness of their bodies as eraboutwhatIneededtoworkon.Mr.Bwould they move through space that I think is differ- come up to me in class and say,“Lourd, lourd,” ent. They have more of an awareness of their which means heavy in French, “your legs are body placement. heavy.” That was always my trouble; I could It’s difficult, but you teach what you like not move quickly. and you teach what you know. They had an And what did Mr. B’s comment tell me? It attackthatwasveryEdward,veryBalanchine, told me that if I wanted to get ahead, I had to if you will. But now, with the women, there’s figure it out. Mr. B didn’t look at me and say an articulation of the pointe work that has to himself, I’m not going to worry about her, 18 ballet review Jeanette Delgado and Reyneris Reyes at center in . (Photo: Daniel Azoulay, MCB) she doesn’t have what it takes or she’s not BR: When you were dancing did you watch going to work. Peter was another one; he said yourself on film very often? to me once that when I was up on pointe, my Lopez:Notreally.Atthattimewedidn’thave line has to start from down at my second toe much. It began to become more common after and come all the way up through the leg and Mr. B died. When I did see myself on film I hat- Iwasn’talwaysthere,itwasn’tdefinedenough. ed it. Really hated it. I probably would have After he said that, I thought, Okay, I get it. been a better dancer if I had used tape more. Those comments from both Mr. B and Pe- All I could see were my faults. I couldn’t do it. ter gave me something to work on. But to get The dancers here at Miami City watch them- back to your question about what I do with selves all the time on video. Right after a per- these dancers, I’m very proactive. I noticed formance they’ll be watching. I could never some things with a few of the dancers so I have done that. But everybody’s different. brought them into my office and I said, “This BR: You were, in some ways, a wunderkind. is what I’m seeing, and this is what I’d like to You were noticed by SAB at eleven, moved to see. What are your thoughts?” Some of them New Yorkand into the school full time at four- said, “You know, you’re right, that’s exactly teen, and joined the company at sixteen. You how I feel.” And for some it was a big surprise. had to have felt special. Yet you once said that But at least I said something to them. Because you never thought of yourself as a Balanchine with forty-seven dancers I don’t have the lux- dancer and that you didn’t really believe you ury of being able to say, “I don’t want to use were going to make it until Balanchine pro- thispersonorthatperson.”Ineedtouseevery- moted you to soloist after you’d been in the one and I want to use everyone. company for seven years. Did you lack self- summer 2014 19 confidence? Why did you have so little faith in sibility and it all has to be tied to some aes- yourself? thetic, to some value, to some taste. What I feel Lopez: I always felt that the only way to now is very much what I feel for my own fam- achieve anything was through hard work. I’ve ily.With my daughters when they were young alwayshadaverystrongworkethic–mywhole I was thinking about their future, and with life.WherethatcamefromIhavenoidea. my dancers now I’m thinking, What’s going to BR: Your parents? Who came here with happen for our thirtieth anniversary? How nothing and made a life for themselves and many musicians do I have? Do I have that pi- their children? anist I wanted? The environment feels natu- Lopez: Yes, of course. But, you know, I don’t ral, but it’s all-encompassing. think I ever thought I would get into New York BR: When you came here the programming City Ballet. I never thought I’d get into SAB. for the year had already been done. Because I didn’t see myself as this gorgeous, Lopez: Yes. And in many ways that was long thing with hyperextended legs, a long great. It allowed me to walk into a machine neck, who was super flexible. I was a good that was already going and assess how it runs, dancer, a good strong dancer but not in the what it needs, what it doesn’t need, what it waythatIwouldlookatthecompanyasafour- does right and what it doesn’t do right. It al- teen-year-oldorattheadvancedclassesatSAB lowed me to settle in, whereas if I had walked as a fourteen year old. I didn’thave what I con- in and had to create all that from scratch it sidered the Balanchine “look,” if you know would have been quite hard. what I mean. The ballets that were done last year were BR: Did you ever imagine that you would dances I was extremely familiar with, Apollo, direct a ballet company? Dances at a Gathering, Divert, Nutcracker, Tschai Lopez: Never in my wildest dreams. I nev- Pas, all these ballets that I had done for years er said to myself I want to be a ballerina. I nev- and years and years or seen for many years er said to myself I want to be a mother. I nev- and, in some cases, knew from having danced er said to myself I want to direct a company. variousrolesinthemandhavingbeencoached My life kind of led me this way and I said to by both Mr. B and Jerry [Robbins]. It was fa- myself, All right, let’s go for it. When I arrived miliar territory for me. in New York I thought, Oh my God, I’m in New BR: On the other hand, reportedly Villella’s York now. And when I got into the company I departure was not exactly smooth. It seems thought, Wow, I’m in the company now, and he left abruptly, after having agreed to stay then it was, Oh, I’m a soloist. It was weird. For through that last season. me, I always just felt that I had to keep on Lopez: I had to be careful about how to han- working. None of those things were goals I set dle that. I didn’t always know the situation I for myself. I never saw myself with a tiara and was walking into so, yes, it was very stress- crown. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but ful and, yes, I was walking on eggshells. I un- that’s just how I functioned. derstood that. Everyone had been through a BR: How different is this job from what you hellish year and a half and they didn’t know imagined it would be? me. One day they woke up and Edward was Lopez: For anyone who has spent a life in gone and I was here. As daunting as it was, I ballet, it doesn’t feel so different. It feels like said to myself, I am who I am. I can’t be any- everything I’ve known. The difference is that body else. now there are decisions that have to be made I knew that all the dancers wanted, as cli- and you’re thinking differently. I’m thinking chéd as it sounds, was to work, to dance. They much more ahead. I’m learning that every de- didn’t want to be bothered with what the cision I make, whether it’s in marketing or board was doing or if we had any money.They PR or casting or programming, is my respon- didn’t want to be bothered with any of that 20 ballet review crap. They’re all selfish. That’s how artists dous support, but I’m not going to lie, there are. They want to do their class and rehearse was some attrition. One or two board mem- and get onstage because you have a limited bers left when Edward left or soon thereafter. amount of time in your life as a dancer that It was a concern of mine because I thought, you are able do this. So I thought, let’s get to Am I walking into a situation or a company work. that is really only supporting Edward or are There was a funny moment when I thought they interested in supporting the institution to myself, When should I go into rehearsal? and the art form? That was really important On the third day, one of the ballet masters to me. Mr. B taught us to leave our ego at the called me in to watch Don Q. I said, “I barely door. And I have to say it was wonderful when know Don Q. I did it once when I was a kid.” I walked in here because I felt the communi- They said, “Come in and watch anyway.” And ty, the dancers, the city, the board, and the that broke the ice. What it taught me was that staff had had tough times, but they were here I have something to say, even in a work that I for Miami City Ballet. They said to me, “How really am not that familiar with. can we help you? What do you need?” You re- BR: Rumor had it that Villella made ene- ally can’t ask for more. mies on the board. Have there been issues for BR: When you came over from Morphoses, you as well or have they been supportive? the company you founded with the choreog- Lopez: In general, there has been tremen- rapher, Chris Wheeldon, had you been coach-

Patricia Delgado and Jeremy Cox in Paul Taylor’s Mercuric Tidings. (Photo: Lois Greenfield, MCB) summer 2014 21 Katia Carranza and Sara Esty in . (Photo: Daniel Azoulay, MCB) ing and teaching or were you primarily an ad- ferently? What are we doing in terms of the ministrator? art form to help it evolve? I enjoy thinking Lopez: I was always in an administrative about the history of dance. Why were there so position with Morphoses. I think there was many creative people working in ballet in the one year when I taught some classes, but I did 1920s, for example? The idea of where ballet not take rehearsals or work in the studio with is going – specifically the pointe shoe, this un- the dancers. This is an off year for Morphoses, believabletoolthatmakesus,asballetdancers, but they will be coming down here to Miami. different from everyone else. Art has to relate They just finished their last performance in to the people out there. It has to move them, August in Aspen. Let me backtrack a little bit and I think that as society changes, art forms about Morphoses. have to change, or sometimes it’s the other I am really a geek at heart. I love dance way around. history. I adore it. It took me months to read So, the idea of Morphoses, whether it was Jennifer Homans’ book on the history of bal- successful or not, was to ask those questions. let, Apollo’s Angels, but I did it. It sat on my It allowed artists to come in and create as they nightstand for quite a while, and every time saw fit. I asked the board of Morphoses, “We I would look at it, it seemed to get bigger have all these resources, we have a name and [laughing]. a history and a following, why end it? Is there But to get back to my comment about being a way we could bring it down to Miami and it a nerd, I’ve always loved thinking about what can be an artistic program, not a company,but could be different. How can we do things dif- an artistic arm of Miami City Ballet the same

22 ballet review way that the school is an arm?” And they My view is, I’d rather see how it goes. I am agreed. here for the dancers and they know that, but The Miami City Ballet board then essen- if it becomes too much I would reconsider tially agreed to absorb Morphoses. It will be it. I talk a lot to my husband because this is a a choreographic component of Miami City business and we discuss strategy.I talk a great Ballet, doing what it set out to do in New York deal to Dan Hagerty, our executive director. in terms of creating multidisciplinary collab- He is really a partner to me, and this compa- orative work, but doing it down here with ny is like a child you’re trying to raise. Dan is these dancers. In a strange way, what Mor- like a father, in that respect. We, as parents, phoses never had, which was a set group of ask ourselves, where do we want this child dancers,studios,andaninfrastructure,itwill to be in five years? I would like to see the com- have here. pany tour more, especially to Latin, to South BR: Logistically, how exactly will this hap- America. pen? You will create new work with Miami BR: Isn’t touring now a huge loss-leader for City dancers and send them off to perform as ballet companies your size or bigger? Morphoses? Lopez: I have to say that I don’t know how Lopez: A choreographer or a theater direc- Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes did it. They tor will come in and create a work using our just toured like crazy. As prices for produc- dancers and this work could be performed at tions have increased and salaries have in- any number of theaters in this area, smaller creased, about the only thing we can do is in- venues that in all likelihood Miami City Bal- crease ticket prices. We can’t add seats to our let wouldn’t go into because they’re not the theater. So touring can really make money or right size for us. break even only if you have a set program or There is a huge amount of time during the two set programs and a group of cities, say year when we are dormant, usually April five, that are willing to share the cost. Then, through September, about four months, and have the company go from one to the other if you don’t have the funds yet to have longer and you can do it. But that is fairly rare. We seasons or to tour, what other options do you won’t go back to New York, for example, for a have? It could be a whole new market and a while.Thecompanydoesn’thaveanewenough wholenewaudiencewecouldreachoutto,and personality yet. the dancers would be getting an experience When I looked at the repertory of this com- they wouldn’t otherwise have. How it’s all go- pany when I came in, of course I saw the many ing to work, I have no idea, but I have until Balanchine ballets they did, but I asked my- 2015 to figure it out. self, What ballets, if I were dancing here now, BR:Whomdoyouturntowhenyou’regrap- would I love to do? And, secondly, what is the pling with a problem? audience here ready for? West Side Story was a Lopez: It depends on what it is. My husband no brainer.I remember rehearsing it with Jer- can be a good resource, yes. [Lopez’s husband, ry and it is just so joyous, so much fun to do George Skouras, is the Managing Director of as a dancer. Nacho Duato’s Jardi Tancat was a CUE Capital and a descendant of the Skouras ballet I thought would be really great for the brothers, founders of United Artists Thea- dancers as well. He choreographs for classi- ters.] I have spoken to Peter Boal at Pacific cally trained dancers and at the same time it Northwest Ballet. He has been great. He said, is movement that feels natural. Jardi has a “It’s a tough first year but you ease into it.” He Spanish flavor, a sort of folk dance air about gavemesomeadvice.Wetalkedaboutanopen- it. door policy with the dancers; should I limit Thenthere’sMr.B’s Episodes,whichisavery the access the dancers have to me. Those are interesting ballet to me. When Pat Neary set the kinds of conversations we have. it, I think I came to understand it. Not every- summer 2014 23 one does it. It is such a classical work. And some time. I used some of the final perform- there’s Chris Wheeldon’s Polyphonia, which I ances to give opportunities with casting be- think is a fantastic ballet. cause both the dancers and I had to find out I must say, though, I hate programming. It whattheycoulddo.AshleydidastunningRus- is so hard. It’s like a puzzle. You have these six sian girl. It was like another dancer onstage. ballets that you love, for example, and then It took a lot of talking to her to make her un- you realize that they all have white leotards. derstand that she could dance that way, but it So you bring in three more ballets and you was worth it. It was beautiful. realize you have six ballets, but four of them BR: It was surprising for me to watch re- are piano music. So you move on again and hearsals of Polyphonia and then to see how dif- even if you arrive at something you think is ferent the ballet and the dancers looked in a terrific program, you might finally realize performance. It was remarkable to see such a that it’s an evening with all dark lighting or transformation. it’sallbrightlightingoryou’reonlyusingyour Lopez: The dancers here are real stage an- principal dancers. Programming is truly one imals. I felt that I was the kind of dancer that of the hardest things about this job. held back onstage. I would be worried. These BR: What will MCB be dancing next year? dancers don’tget worried [laughing]. They re- Lopez:We’restarting,formanyreasonsthat ally break through when they’re onstage and have nothing to do with my choice, withRomeo they surprise me. andJuliet.We’llbedoingSymphonyinThreeMove- BR: Did you become less inhibited as a per- ments and two pieces by , Sweet former as the years went on? Fields and Nine Sinatra Songs. We have Richard Lopez: A couple of things happened. First Alston’s Carmen. He’s British and this Carmen of all, when Mr. Balanchine died I was still premiered in 2009 at the Scottish Ballet. It is really young. He was just starting to give me highly musical – Mark Morris musical, Bal- stuff and there was a real comfort I felt with anchine musical. It’s a Carmen suite, in pointe the roles he was giving me and the patience shoes, but it’s a modern retelling of the story he had with me. with abstract scenery.We’ll also be doing Rob- Then, all of a sudden he passed away and bins’ The Concert and a new commission by I was caught in this strange moment. Mr. B Justin Peck of City Ballet. said he wanted someone to look out for me. * He understood that I needed some guidance. Two months after our first interview I sat But after he died I had to figure things out on down with Lopez to talk more about Balan- my own. Eventually, I think I lost some of my chine’s classes, her life, and her thoughts on reticence onstage. I had always held back, but the first performances of the season. atthatpointIhadJerryRobbinsandhepushed Lopez: The most joyous thing for me was me to break free a little bit. that every single time the curtain went up on The breakthrough for me came when I was there was this collective sigh [she away from the company for two years and gasps] and I said to myself, This is from 1934 gave birth to my daughter. I came back to the and it is still getting a reaction from an audi- company and realized I had changed but the ence. I thought the dancers really rose to the company hadn’t. It was bizarre, because I occasion. Some dancers surprised me, inas- thought, I’m going to walk back into this place much as they were not quite what I hoped they that is completely different and what am I would be onstage relative to what I see them going to do and . . . the only thing that had do in the studio. They were not quite there changed was me. yet. BR: How late into your pregnancy did you There were others, one girl in particular, dance? Ashley Knox. She had been in the company for Lopez: Two days before I gave birth I was 24 ballet review Emily Bromberg and Chase Swatosh in ’s Polyphonia. (Photo: Gio Alma, MCB) in class [laughing]. You don’t remember this? BR: That surprises me a bit. I always felt Well, before I even became pregnant I injured thatCityBalletwasthekindofplacethatwould my foot so I was out for a couple of months, never abandon a dancer, Balanchine in parti- then I tried to come back but the pain was too cular. much. People were telling me I needed sur- Lopez: Yes. But those were different times, gery, so I had surgery in January and was after Mr. B died. And who knows how Mr. B thinking I might never come back. would have felt about me having a baby? I decided to go to college and to get preg- [laughing] He may not have liked that, where- nant. Everything went fine. I had my baby in as Peter embraced it. You have to look at it November and in the spring of 1990 I tried to from those perspectives. But I was really fine come back for Barocco and tore my calf mus- with it. And then, when all was said and done clethedaybeforetheperformance.ThenIwas I came back to the company in November 1990. in a cast. At that point Peter Martins called And I wasn’t vindictive about it. I just knew and said, “We just don’t think you’re going to that I wasn’t done. come back so what do you want to do? We can’t BR: What were your expectations in col- pay you.” I said, “Okay,I understand, you don’t lege? have to pay me. Just don’t pull my name off the Lopez: I had none. I just wanted to do the roster.” things I’d never been able to do when I was BR: Was that hurtful? a dancer. And I always loved school, loved Lopez: Not really.I’m a very pragmatic per- it. I love reading and I read a lot. Fordham son. I was thirty years old then and I’d been University had something called the Excel out for two years and had had a baby. I got it. Program. I took one class a semester and I understood. even after I came back to dancing I managed summer 2014 25 the past. But what hap- pened, really, was that I started dancing for my- self. I stopped feeling as if every performance was the end of the world. It wasn’t brain surgery. It wasn’t cancer research. It was just a performance. So a big pressure was re- moved. And because I was away for so long it just felt greattobeback. There’s a lot that goes on when you have a child, every minute. What I was doing onstage did not seem as important as my daughter, who might be home with a fever. For me as a dancer it was a good thing. It’s age. It’s wisdom. There’s a phrase is Spanish that roughly translates to, “The devil knows more because he’s old and because he’s the devil.” I remember sitting in my apartment in New York for two solid weeks, crying and depressed be- cause I thought my career Renan Cerdeiro in . (Photo: Daniel Azoulay, MCB) was over when I needed to continue my classes. I never got a degree, foot surgery. I thought it was the end of my but I loved it. The only reason I can type now life, it’s over, done. Two weeks! I didn’t leave is because of Fordham [laughing]. myapartmentuntilIhadthesurgery.Butguess What it taught me was that I had the tools what? My life didn’t end. Now I have a twen- to do whatever I wanted to do. As a dancer I ty-four-year-olddaughter.Dothosetwoyears had important tools. What I didn’t have was really matter very much now? an education. That’s a completely different I think there’s a problem with dancers thing than intelligence, or dedication, or fo- who think their lives are over when they stop cus. It was great to be in a place and realize, dancing. No. You have this fantastic career hey, I can figure this out. when you’re very young and you finish with BR: So you came back after two years and plenty of time to begin another. It’s a process. yourperspectivewasquitedifferent? Your life can change. It doesn’t end. That bad Lopez:Yes.Jerrywasstillthereandthatwas performance doesn’t matter. important because he was our connection to Balanchine wasn’t judging us by how we 26 ballet review did Stars and Stripes that night, he was judging andperhapsgiveyousomecorrection,butyou us by what we did in our career, in our lives; neverknewwhereyoustood.Oneofthethings not what we did that one time in our life. I loved about Jerry, even though he was a real When I speak to dancers I will tell them that taskmaster, was that there was information. I understand they are hurt by an individual He was constantly talking and that, to me, al- performance, but if they rise above it, they ways made a difference. will realize in time that it’s okay. BR: Robbins didn’t react well when a per- BR: Did that attitude change when Peter formance wasn’t to his liking. tookover?Wastheremoreofapremiumplaced Lopez: Oh, my God, no! But Peter didn’t re- on how you did in a particular show? act. I would give horrible performances and Peter would never tell me it was awful. What Jerry would tell you had very little to do with tech- nique. It was more: you didn’t get it. The inter- pretation was wrong. I remember that once we were doing maybe twelve Dances at a Gatherings in two weeks and it was the samecast. At this point we were downtoperformanceten. IwasdoingthePurpleGirl and Ben Huys was doing the Green Boy – the slide and look – and it was one of those moments when we gave one another a slightsmilebecausethere was a comfort level be- tween us. But Jerry came back, livid. Livid, livid, livid! “How dare you smile! It was completely out of character!” And he was right. But that sort of thinghelpsyou.Ididn’tgo to the dressing room and Nathalia Arja in TschaikovskyPasdeDeux. (Photo: Daniel Azoulay,MCB) pout.Ithought,Youknow, Lopez: I felt it. Even though I knew it did I should not have smiled. So at the next mati- not matter, it seemed it was more important, nee there was nothing. for example, how you did that season. Peter is BR:Whatmemorieshaveyouofthelecture- adifferentperson,buthewasquietinthesame demonstrations that Balanchine gave? way that Mr. B was. Peter taught fantastic Lopez: What I recall was Mr. B being very classes and he was a great coach one-on-one, specific about technique. His combinations but, like Mr. B, he would watch you rehearse were very simple, and very specific. Fifth po- summer 2014 27 Alexei Ratmansky’s Symphonic Dances. (Photo: Daniel Azoulay, MCB) sition was fifth position. A tendu was direct- Lopez: I know, but the specifics of what ly in front and turned out, and to the side Stanley taught were the components of grand directly to the side of your heel, and to the allegro. I remember him saying, you’re always back directly behind your back. He had no in- in fifth position. He would say, for example, terest in warming you up. He had no interest that in à la seconde, you’re always in fifth po- in making sure you got to do a grand allegro sition. What he meant was that when the leg orpirouettes.Hewasonlyinterestedinteach- comesbackin,youarriveinfifth.It’stheshape ing you how to dance. of the leg. Balanchine would make Peter Mar- That’s why I’m talking about a process, tins stand in fifth position and say that that’s because if he were interested in a moment, what it’s supposed to look like. he would have given it a full class. But when I believe that’s what the art form is. It’s not you’re interested in developing a dancer and third position. The legs are turned out. It’s an you know you have years and years, or hope aesthetic. But the body is whatever you want you have years and years, it’s a process. You it to be. So, to get back to your question about have the time. That’s a very different concept. Mr. B’s classes, he didn’t do much correcting. The class wasn’t a warm-up. You were there Of course, there were people he would correct to learn. but he didn’t talk that much. He was very BR: In Stanley Williams’ classes at SAB I re- humorous, but the classes were hard, really member that we rarely ever got to grand al- hard. You walked out of there tired, and phys- legro.Wedidscoresofpirouettecombinations ically frustrated. It was always the extremes and petit allegro but almost never went across of things. Very very fast, or very very slow. It the floor. was a commitment.

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Jay Rogoff Ballet Review 42.2 Summer 2014 48 Childhood’s End Editor and Designer: 56 Kyra Robinov Marvin Hoshino 53 Kathryn Morgan Managing Editor: Roberta Hellman Harris Green Senior Editor: 56 Balanchine’s Shakespeare Don Daniels Associate Editor: KarenGreenspan Joel Lobenthal 62 Scribbler of Tales Associate Editor: Larry Kaplan Darrell Wilkins Copy Editors: 39 69 Judson’s Legacy Barbara Palfy Naomi Mindlin Don Daniels Photographers: 87 Torchlight Tom Brazil Costas 93 London Reporter – Clement Crisp Webmaster: 94 Music on Disc – George Dorris David Weiss 100 Check It Out Associates: Peter Anastos Robert Greskovic 62 George Jackson Elizabeth Kendall Paul Parish Nancy Reynolds James Su!on David Vaughan Cover Photograph by Dominik Mentzos, The Forsythe Company: Edward Willinger Fabrice Mazliah and Christopher Roman in William Sarah C. Woodcock Forsythe’s I don’t believe in outer space. Summer 2014 Ballet Review