American ballet theatre

The American Ballet Theatre is an American ballet company founded by Oliver Smith and Lucia Chase in 1940.

Ballet Theatre, an outgrowth of the Mordkin Ballet which started in 1937 as an outlet for the students from Mikhail Mordkin's school, was inaugarated with Richard Pleasant as director in the fall of 1939. Its stated goal was to have a company capable of performing ballets of all periods and styles. Among the dancers were Adolph Bolm, Patricia Bowman, Edward Caton, Leon Danielian, Vladimir Dokoudovsky, Anton Dolin, William Dollar, Viola Essen, Miriam Golden, Nana Gollner, Maria Karnilova, Nora Kaye, Andrée Howard, Hugh Laing, Annabelle Lyon, Donald Saddler, Nina Stroganova, and Yurek Shabalevski. Its first season opened January 11, 1940 at the Center Theatre and lasted four weeks. The repertory included Michel Fokine's Les Sylphides and Carnaval, Adolph Bolm's Ballet Mécanique and Peter and the Wolf, Mordkin's Voices of Spring, Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies, Lilac Garden, and Judgement of Paris, Agnes de Mille's Black Ritual (performed by the company's Negro Wing), Eugene Loring's The Great American Goof, and Bronislava Nijinska's La Fille mal Gardée. Audiences for ballet in the company's first years, even in major cities, were limited, so the goal of continuous performing had to be met with tours of one-night stands, initially under the management of Sol Hurok. In the spring of 1947, Ballet Theatre Foundation was established as a taxexempt, non-profit corporation for the purpose of supporting Ballet Theatre. After its 1957 tour of Europe and the Near East, the company changed its name to American Ballet Theatre. In its first 25 years, in addition to its annual New York City seasons, American Ballet Theatre had appeared in more than 350 cities in 44 countries throughout the world.

Mikhail Mordkin was born in Moscow in 1881. He was a graduate of the Imperial Ballet School there and eventually became a leading dancer at the Bolshoi Theatre. In 1910, he partnered Anna Pavlova at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and on a tour of the United States. He left Russia in 1923, settled in New York, and in 1927, opened a ballet school in Carnegie Hall. By 1936, according to an advertisement of the time, his school offered “complete ballet training, mimo-drama classes, [and a] rehearsal group [that would] prepare ballets for performances.” This group, the Mikhail Mordkin Ballet, was an outlet for advanced students (with Mordkin himself dancing main character parts). On December 19, 1936, the company presented Sleeping Beauty, sponsored by the Woman's Club of Waterbury, Connecticut, with Lucia Chase and Dimitri Romanoff in the leading roles.

Plans for the student company became more ambitious. Advance Productions, with Lucia Chase as the major stockholder, was incorporated in March, 1937, to sponsor the company. The Mordkin Ballet began to tour nationwide with a small repertory of ballets choreographed by Mordkin. In 1938, the company was reorganized under Advanced Arts, Inc., with Rudolf Orthwine as president. Richard Pleasant managed the school and was later made secretary of the organization. A more professional Mordkin Ballet emerged, and dancers the calibre of Patricia Bowman, Nina Stroganova, Karen Conrad, Edward Caton, and Vladimir Dokoudovsky were hired. The company continued to tour with Mordkin's ballets, however, many new ideas were developing. Chase and Pleasant began to plan for a larger company, with more choreographers and dancers, and different artistic goals. In September of 1939, the nucleus of the Mordkin Ballet was reorganized into Ballet Theatre. Mikhail Mordkin was informed that he was no longer needed to teach or choreograph for the company, and only one of his ballets was ever produced by Ballet Theatre.

Mordkin returned to teaching at his Carnegie Hall studio. It is as a teacher that he is best remembered. He possessed a “vivid personality” with the ability to “transmit something of the true spirit of the dance,” and he tried to bring out special qualities in each of his students. He died in 1944.

Ballet Theatre, launched in New York City in the fall of 1939, was an outgrowth of the Mordkin Ballet, which began in 1937 as an outlet for the talents of the students of Mikhail Mordkin's school. In the Mordkin Ballet the soloists were Lucia Chase, Viola Essen, Leon Varkas. Dimitri Romanoff, George Chaffee, and Leon Danielian. The repertoire included Giselle, La Fille Mal Gardée, Dionysius (to Glazounov's music), and The Goldfish, all choreographed by Mordkin who also appeared in some of the ballets.

The second season of the Mordkin Ballet (1938) brought many additions and a number of changes in the personnel. Richard Pleasant was appointed general manager of the company; Patricia Bowman was engaged as prima ballerina; Nina Stroganova, Karen Conrad, Edward Caton. Vladimir Dokoudovsky, Kari Karnakoski, and Savva Andreeff were new soloists. The repertoire was augmented by Voices of Spring, Trepak (Alexander Tcherepnine's music) and what was called a symphonic version of Swan Lake (Act 2). It was an open secret that the Mordkin Ballet was financed by Lucia Chase.

By the summer of 1939 Miss Chase and Mr. Pleasant had decided that the Mordkin Ballet was too small an undertaking and they began to formulate plans for a full-fledged company, to be called Ballet Theatre. Pleasant was appointed director of the organization. Only one of Mordkin's ballets, Voices of Spring, was retained.

The repertoire of the first season of Ballet Theatre listed Michel Fokine's Les Sylphides and Carnaval; Adolph Bolm's Ballet Mécanique and Peter and the Wolf; Mordkin's Voices of Spring; Anton Dolin's Quintet and his versions of Giselle and Swan Lake; Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies, Lilac Garden, and Judgment of Paris; Andrée Howard's Lady into Fox and Death and the Maiden; Agnes de Mille's Black Ritual; Eugene Loring's The Great American Goof; José Fernandez' Goyescas; Bronislava Nijinska's La Fille Mal Gardée; Yurek Shabelevski's Ode to Glory.

Among the dancers were Adolph Bolm, Patricia Bowman, Edward Caton, Lucia Chase, Karen Conrad, Leon Danielian, Vladimir Dokoudovsky, Anton Dolin, William Dollar, Viola Essen, Miriam Golden, Nana Gollner (who was announced but did not dance during the first N.Y. season), Kari Karnakoski, Maria Karnilova, Nora Kaye, Andrée Howard, Eugene Loring, Hugh Laing, Annabelle Lyon, Dimitri Romanoff, Donald Saddler, Nina Stroganova, Yurek Shabelevski, Antony Tudor, Leon Varkas.

The first Ballet Theatre season opened Jan. 11, 1940, at the Center Theatre, N.Y., and lasted four weeks. Between Feb. and Nov. the company gave scattered performances in Philadelphia and at Lewisohn Stadium in N.Y. In Nov. and Dec. it danced in Chicago as the official ballet of the Chicago Opera, giving twelve ballet evenings and appearing in opera ballets.

The second season opened in N.Y. at the Majestic Theatre on Feb. 11, 1941. The company announced some innovations. There would be no division in ranks of the dancers; all were to be divided into two groups: principals and company. The roster of principals included Chase, Conrad, Gollner, Lyon, Katharine Sergava, Stroganova, Caton, Danielian, Dolin, Laing, Loring, Romanoff, and Tudor. Alicia Alonso, Miriam Golden, Nora Kaye, John Kriza, and Jerome Robbins were among “the company.”

Another innovation was the absence of a regisseur-general. In lieu of one, Ballet Theatre had choreographers-in-residence, who were regisseurs for separate “wings” of the repertoire. Dolin was regisseur of the Classical wing, Eugene Loring of the American wing, and Antony Tudor of the new English wing. Five ballets new for the company were presented: Dolin's Capriccioso and Pas de Quatre, Loring's Billy the Kid; Tudor's Gala Performance, and de Mille's Three Virgins and a Devil.

At the close of the four-week season, Richard Pleasant resigned as director of the company. Shortly thereafter, Ballet Theatre began to reorganize. German Sevastianov was invited as director; Charles Payne became executive managing director; Antal Dorati was appointed musical director. Alicia Markova and Irina Baronova were signed as ballerinas.

In June, 1941, Markova and Dolin organized an International Dance Festival at Jacob's Pillow, where most of the company's dancers spent the summer, thus giving an opportunity to some of the choreographers to work on their new productions.

Meanwhile arrangements were made for impresario S. Hurok to book Ballet Theatre beginning Nov., 1941. The company then included, among others: Markova, Baronova, Muriel Bentley, Chase, Conrad, Rosella Hightower, Kaye, Karnilova, Jeannette Lauret, Lyon, Sono Osato, Nina Popova, Rozsika Sabo; Dolin, Charles Dickson, Ian Gibson, Frank Hobi, Kriza, Laing, Yurek Lazowski, Nicolas Orloff, Richard Reed, Jerome Robbins, Romanoff, Borislav Runanin, Donald Saddler, Simon Semenoff, George Skibine, and Tudor.

The company played a season in Mexico City, then opened in N.Y. on Nov. 12th at the 44th Street Theatre. Four new ballets were presented: Bluebeard by Fokine, Beloved by Nijinska, Princess Aurora (another title for Aurora's Wedding) by Dolin, Slavonika by Vania Psota.

After an American tour, the company returned to N.Y. opening at the Metropolitan Opera House, Apr. 6, 1942. The new works were Michel Fokine's Russian Soldier and Tudor's Pillar of Fire. Nora Kaye's performance in the latter placed her in the rank of ballerina overnight. Then there was a summer season in Mexico City with Fokine and Leonide Massine as choreographers. There the company rehearsed Aleko and Don Domingo by Massine; Romantic Age by Dolin; Petrouchka, restaged by Fokine; as well as revivals of Billy the Kid and Coppélia. Fokine began work on Helen of Troy but did not finish it due to illness. He returned to N.Y. on Aug. 12 and died Aug. 22 of double pneumonia complicated by pleurisy.

The six ballets prepared in Mexico City were presented during the fall season, which opened at the Metropolitan Opera House, Oct. 6. Adolph Bolm had been signed as regisseur-general, Leonide Massine as choreographer and dancer, André Eglevsky as guest artist; Michael Kidd joined the company. On the tour that followed, Helen of Troy was choreographed by David Lichine. Irina Baronova left the company late in 1942.

For the N.Y. season (beginning Apr. 1, 1943) at the Metropolitan, Vera Nemchinova, Vera Zorina, and Janet Reed joined the company as guest artists. Additions to the repertoire were Romeo and Juliet by Tudor; Errante and Apollo, revived by George Balanchine. This season J. Alden Talbot became director of the company, replacing Sevastianov who had joined the U.S. Army. For the fall season Zorina was again guest artist; Janet Reed joined the company as soloist, and Alicia Alonso returned as soloist after an absence of two years. The new ballets were Dim Lustre by Tudor, Mam'zelle Angot by Massine, Fair at Sorochinsk by Lichine. Alicia Alonso was given the opportunity to dance Giselle (Nov. 2, 1943), which raised her to ballerina status. During the tour that followed, Nana Gollner and Paul Petroff joined the company.

In the spring of 1944, Tally-Ho by de Mille and Fancy Free by Robbins were added to the repertoire, and in the fall Balanchine's Waltz Academy. The guest artists were Tatiana Riabouchinska, Tamara Toumanova, Eglevsky and Lichine; Markova and Dolin had left the company.

Undertow by Tudor was the only important new ballet presented in the spring of 1945. Markova, Dolin, Toumanova, and Eglevsky were back as guests. Talbot resigned as director, and Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith became co-directors, positions they have held ever since. The fall brought five new ballets: On Stage! by Kidd; Gift of the Magi by Semenoff; Graziana by John Taras; Interplay by Robbins; and a new version of Firebird by Bolm.

After the spring of 1946, the contract between Ballet Theatre and S. Hurok was terminated, and the directors announced a return to the company's 1940 policy of being “American in character” and of building “from within its own ranks.” Ballet Theatre played July 4-Aug. 31 at Covent Garden Royal Opera House, London. Eglevsky, Kaye and Alonso were leading soloists. While the company was in England, Keith Lester staged his version of Pas de Quatre for it, and Frederick Ashton staged Les Patineurs.

The company played a fall season at the Broadway Theatre, N.Y. Giselle was restaged by Balanchine, with new scenery and costumes by Eugene Berman, and Facsimile was choreographed by Robbins. Igor Youskevitch was invited as premier danseur; newly appointed soloists were Diana Adams, Melissa Hayden, and Ruth Ann Koesun. Tudor was artistic administrator.

The 1946-47 tour was an artistic success, but the company lost money. The N.Y. season at the City Center for Music and Drama (Apr. 28-May 18) was successful artistically and financially. An engagement in Havana, Cuba, closed the season on an optimistic note.

In the spring of 1947, Ballet Theatre Foundation was established as a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation for the purpose of supporting Ballet Theatre as a performing organization.

The fall season, also at the City Center, introduced Balanchine's Theme and Variations. Following its 1947-48 tour, the company played a season at the Metropolitan, where it premièred Tudor's Shadow of the Wind and de Mille's Fall River Legend. There was no fall season, but a short spring tour in 1948 was followed by an engagement at the Metropolitan from Apr. 17 to May 8. Maria Tallchief joined the company.

The spring 1950 season at the City Center, N.Y., was preceded by a national tour. From August 7 to December 10, the company made its first tour of Europe, traveling as the American National Ballet Theatre, sponsored by the State Department. Leading soloists seen in Europe were Alicia Alonso, Nora Kaye, John Kriza, John Taras, Mary Ellen Moylan, and Igor Youskevitch. Designs with Strings and Caprichos (Herbert Ross) were premièred this season; Rodeo was added to the repertoire. In the fall of 1950, Ballet Theatre became the ballet of the Metropolitan Opera. The association only lasted one season. Adams, Kaye, Laing, and Tudor left the company.

In the spring of 1951, the N.Y. season featured Jean Babilée, Colette Marchand, Nathalie Philippart, and Mia Slavenska as guest artists. Le Jeune Homme et la Mort, Les Demoiselles de la Nuit, and L'Amour et son Amour were given their American premières. Herbert Ross did his The Thief Who Loved a Ghost for the company, and Carmalita Maracci created Circo de España. In May and June, the company toured South America. Coinciding with a season at the Metropolitan, the Ballet Theatre School opened officially in Dec. A fall season without significant premières was followed by a national tour.

A second European tour, sponsored by the State Dept. occupied Ballet Theatre from May 4 to end of Sept., 1953. Principal soloists were Alonso, Hayden, Kriza, Moylan, and Youskevitch. The following season was devoted largely to touring the U.S. and was also marked by television appearances of the company, notably on the “Omnibus” show for which the Ford Foundation commissioned Capital of the World by Eugene Loring.

In the spring of 1955, Ballet Theatre celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with a gala season at the Metropolitan, followed by a South American tour. For the gala, a number of former soloists returned to dance their original roles in revivals of ballets associated with the company.

May 7, 1956 saw the initiation at N.Y.'s Phoenix Theatre of the Ballet Theatre Workshop, formed to provide choreographers with a showcase to try out new works. The first program was praised more for its intention than its attainment. The following year (1957) two Workshop programs featured significant new works, Kenneth MacMillan's Journey and Herbert Ross's Paean. This Workshop was preceded by a tour of Europe and the Near East. Featured soloists were Erik Bruhn, Scott Douglas, Rosella Hightower, Nora Kaye, John Kriza, and Lupe Serrano.

On the return from Europe the company changed its name from Ballet Theatre to American Ballet Theatre. In the summer of 1957, American Ballet Theatre toured the U.S. The following spring it set out for North Africa and Europe. Violette Verdy and Royes Fernandez were the new principals for this successful tour. The autumn 1958 season at the Metropolitan brought some undistinguished premières, but the addition to the repertoire of Miss Julie was an asset. With only scant bookings available for 1959, American Ballet Theatre was forced to suspend its activities for a year.

The spring, 1960 season at the Metropolitan marked the temporary return to the company of Nora Kaye and the moderately successful première of Lady from the Sea. Maria Tallchief and Erik Bruhn headed the company that set off for Europe in May. In Sept. American Ballet Theatre became the first American ballet company to dance in the Soviet Union.

A spring tour in the U.S. was made in 1961 and was followed by an autumn season at N.Y.'s 54th Street Theatre with guest artists Mariane Orlando and Caj Selling joining soloists Ivan Allen, Elisabeth Carroll, Fernandez, Kriza, Koesun, Toni Lander, Serrano, Bruce Marks, and Sallie Wilson. Two European ballets were added to the repertoire: Moon Reindeer and Etudes, the latter with notable success.

In Nov., 1962, Ballet Theatre announced that it was moving its head-quarters to Washington, where it would henceforth operate under the auspices of the Washington Ballet Guild. A few performances were given in that city, but in Apr., 1963, the Guild stated that the cost of maintaining the company had run far beyond preliminary estimates. Later the Guild decided to sponsor Ballet Theatre performances in Washington. Miss Chase and Mr. Smith announced that Ballet Theatre had been disbanded for the summer, but would resume full-scale activity in the fall of 1964, which it did, ending its Washington connection and making N.Y. its home base again.

From mid-Aug. to early Nov., 1964, the company toured South America and Mexico sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of State's Cultural Presentations Program, following this with a brief tour in Texas and the South. During this tour Harald Lander's staging of August Bournonville's La Sylphide, with Toni Lander and Royes Fernandez in the principal roles had its première (San Antonio, Nov. 11). American Ballet Theatre celebrated its 25th anniversary with a season (Mar. 16 to Apr. 11, 1965) at the N.Y. State Theater, Lincoln Center. The company was in splendid form and had a resounding success. La Sylphide had its N.Y. première and other new works were Agnes de Mille's The Wind in the Mountains (Mar. 17), and The Four Marys (Mar. 23), the latter with guest artist Carmen de Lavallade in the leading role; Glen Tetley's Sargasso (the first major creation for Sallie Wilson, Mar. 24), Bentley Stone's L'Inconnue (Apr. 6) and, most importantly, the great Jerome Robbins version of Igor Stravinsky's Les Noces (Mar. 30). The season also saw the revival of Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies and three new young sailors (Eliot Feld, Edward Verso, William Glassman) in Fancy Free. In Sept. the company danced in Hawaii and Alaska. On Nov. 15, 1965, the National Council on the Arts announced an emergency grant of $100,000 to insure the company's immediate survival and an additional $250,000 towards the expenses of a projected tour of the U.S., both grants being on a matching basis. The company's second season at the N.Y. State Theater (Jan. 18 to Feb. 13, 1966) did not produce any new work as distinguished as Les Noces, but the revival of Tudor's Pillar of Fire, with Sallie Wilson or Veronika Mlakar in the role of Hagar was another triumph. New works were Glen Tetley's Ricercare with guest artist Mary Hinkson and Scott Douglas (Jan. 25), Todd Bolender's Kontraste (Jan. 28) and Enrique Martinez's Balladen der Liebe (Feb. 8). John Kriza gave his final performance with the company (Feb. 3), dancing the Minister in Fall River Legend, retiring to become assistant to the directors. During June and July the company toured the Soviet Union for the second time under the auspices of the Cultural Presentations Program and on its return, after a rehearsal period in N.Y., began its most extensive tour of the U.S. and Canada, appearing in nearly one hundred cities. Leading dancers for this tour were listed as Lupe Serrano, Royes Fernandez, Toni Lander, Scott Douglas, Ruth Ann Koesun, Bruce Marks, Sallie Wilson, Eleanor D'Antuono, Gayle Young, Paul Sutherland, Veronika Mlakar. Before the company started on this tour, its third annual season at the N.Y. State Theater was announced for May, 1967.

*MGO The Dance Encyclopedia Compiled and edited by Anatole Chujoy and P. W. Manchester. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1967

For additional information on the history of this company, see the following references:

*MGTB (U.S.) 78-2058 American Ballet Theatre

Text and commentary by Charles Payne, with essays by Alicia Alonso, Erik Bruhn, Lucia Chase, and Nora Kaye. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1978

*MGZA Dance Perspectives #6

The American Ballet Theatre: 1940-1960 by Selma Jeanne Cohen and A. J. Pischl

*MGZB The annual souvenir books published by the company contain brief reports on each year's activities, and, occasionally during anniversary seasons, include cumulative lists and histories.

Agnes George de Mille, dancer, choreographer, writer and spokesperson for the arts, was born September 18, 1905 in New York. She was the daughter of playwright William Churchill de Mille (1879?-1955) and Anna George de Mille (1878-1947), who was in turn the daughter of writer and single-tax advocate, Henry George (1839-1897). Agnes' uncle was the film producer/director, Cecil B. de Mille (1881-1959). She had a younger sister, Margaret (1908-1978).

In 1914, the de Milles moved to Hollywood where William was joining forces with Cecil in the motion picture industry. Agnes attended the Hollywood School for Girls, graduating in 1922, and went on to graduate from University of California in 1926 with a degree in English. William and Anna separated that year, being divorced in 1927, and Agnes spent that summer after graduating traveling in western Europe with her mother and sister. William married Clara Beranger, a colleague in the movie industry, in 1928 and lived with her in California for the remainder of his life.

Agnes' formal dance training did not begin until early adolescence in California with Theodore Kosloff. She did some performing in college shows although she did not train continuously during her college years. Soon after graduating, she began to give solo recitals and later with Warren Leonard in her own works. Her mother helped her produce these and accompanied her to concerts in various cities in the United States and in Europe. During this period, she settled once again in New York, at first living with her mother and sister, and then on her own.

Agnes moved to England in 1932 where she continued her dance training in ballet with Marie Rambert. She performed in her own work and those of her peers such as Antony Tudor under the auspices of Rambert.

Upon her permanent return to New York ca. 1939, she met Walter Prude (1909-) through Martha Graham who was under Prude's management. Agnes and Walter were married on June 14, 1943, in Hobbs, New Mexico during the time when Prude was in military service. The two were separated-except for infrequent visits-due to the war until 1945. Their son, Jonathan de Mille Prude, was born in 1946.

It was in this time in the early 1940's that de Mille's work as a choreographer began to be recognized in the United States. Her ballet “Rodeo” in 1942, created for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, brought her immediate acclaim and popularity as did her choreography for the Broadway show “Oklahoma!” the following year. She worked steadily for the next two decades both on Broadway and in the ballet, creating over a dozen works in each field. She had a long-enduring relationship with Ballet Theatre (American Ballet Theatre) and The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, for whom she created many of her ballets.

In 1953 she formed the Agnes de Mille Dance Theatre (Heritage Dance Theatre), which functioned most actively in 1953-1954 and 1973-1975. She strove to represent in its repertoire indigenious American dance forms by native choreographers and composers as well as folk forms.

On the eve of a major New York performance of her company in her lecture/performance of “Conversations About the Dance,” she suffered a serious cerebral hemorrhage. From the day of the stroke, May 15, 1975, onward, she has remained partially paralyzed on the right side of her body although she recovered from some of the other initial losses of her faculties. On November 9, 1977, she went on stage to realize the performance of “Conversations About the Dance,” and resumed an active, if limited, life in dance.

Agnes de Mille has long been a dominant figure in dance and the arts-as a creator as well as a spokesperson and writer. Before and since her appointment as a founding member of the National Council for the Arts in 1965, she took the cause of dance and the arts to millions of readers and viewers, hundreds of organizations and political conventions. She continues to do so.

In 1980, Agnes de Mille received the Kennedy Center Award - the highest nonmilitary award in the United States.