Violette Verdy’s international career is examined here for the first time. Composed of 2 parts that complement and answer one another, this book gives a lively description of the memories of a dancer and teacher.
Dance Historian Florence Poudru first recalls Violette Verdy’s career: ‘Les Ballets des Champs-Élysées’ with Roland Petit, the American Ballet Theatre, the prestigious New York City Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet, where she was Artistic Director. This book features some of the great pieces of the repertoire such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, and 2 of the greatest choreographers of the 20th century: George Balanchine – Verdy would become his muse – and Jerome Robbins.
Filmmaker Dominique Delouche, who directed Violette and Mr B., showed her as a teacher, passing on some of her greatest roles to the dancers of Paris Opera Ballet Isabelle Guérin, Margaret Illman, Lucia Lacarra, Nicolas Le Riche, Monique Loudières, Vladimir Malakhov, Élisabeth Maurin, Cyril Pierre and Élisabeth Platel.
This book is an opportunity to discover the smart language and mischievous side of that exceptional artist, performer and transmitter of knowledge.
Excerpts from the book
“Balanchine would give Jerry [Jerome Robbins] free reign so that he could create freely. Balanchine would come to see us dance on Robbins’ productions to discover a different side of us, to see if Robbins had identified something in us that he hadn’t, to figure us out through Jerry. It was a subtle game that they played, with a sort of voyeurism in Balanchine. We can talk about Jerry’s demons… […] Jerry was the exact opposite of Balanchine, who did things right, and quickly. They had very different personalities but respected each other. Robbins was Balanchine’s best student because he thought there was always something to learn from Balanchine. He was the only one he thought that way about!”