Favorite tales of the harder side of ballet?
So Ashley's exit interview with the NYT alluded to an incident where another dancer destroyed her pointe shoes and cut up her ribbons. These stories are unfortunately pretty common, as ballet is known to be an extremely tough business and only the thick-skinned need apply.
What are your favorite stories about the hard side of ballet?
I have a few:
- In Suzanne's autobiography she says that Patricia Neary was once ordered to not only give up her role in Concerto Barocco, she had to teach Suzanne the role. Suzanne said "I learned the ballet but lost a friend." Years later, after Suzanne had married Paul Mejia, she was ordered to teach "her" roles to Kay Mazzo. She thus knew that her status at NYCB was in danger.
- Romeo and Juliet was originally set on Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable. But TPTB wanted to capitalize on Fonteyn and Nureyev, so Seymour and Gable had to teach their roles to Fonteyn and Nureyev. Years later Margot was apparently still apologizing to Lynn about it.
- When Johan Kobborg left the Royal Ballet, it was on tour in Japan. Relations between him and the company were so acrimonious that the RB refused to let the Tokyo producers give him a cab to the airport. They just gave him tickets for a public bus. Ouch.
- Gelsey Kirkland was known to shove her sister Johanna out of the way in NYCB. But Gelsey was younger, the star, and Johanna had to take it.