Violette Verdy
Tuesday 28th November 2006
Brockway Room, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1

We were honoured tonight to welcome the celebrated French ballerina Mme. Violette Verdy, who is on a visit to London to work with the Royal Ballet, and who kindly agreed to come and meet us this evening. Michael Broderick welcomed her to the LBC, where she is not a stranger, having met members at the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars and on a previous visit to London with the Roland Petit Ballets des Champs Elysees when LBC gave a party for that company.

Michael began the interview by asking Mme. Verdy about the relationship between George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins at the New York City Ballet. Mme. Verdy pointed out that there was no competition between the two choreographers, as Mr B. gave Jerry Robbins carte blanche. The company welcomed the opportunity to work with Jerry Robbins, although it was very hard work for the dancers, because he was a perfectionist for ever in search of an ideal. She felt that Mr B saw the company in a new light when they were working for Robbins, who revealed other aspects of their personalities. Creating ballets for Jerry Robbins was a different experience for the dancers and just as inspiring as working with Mr B.

Introducing the film by Dominique Delouche "Violette et Mr. B", Michael asked about the elegant ensembles created for Violette by Pierre Cardin, in a different colour for each scene. Violette told us it was Mr Delouche's suggestion to provide a contrast between herself and what the dancers would wear, to create a different atmosphere for each section. Violette suggested the dancers for the film and told us how they came together and how she had got to know them. The film was made very quickly with each scene taking only one day. To keep it spontaneous there was no rehearsal and it was filmed in one take. Mme. Verdy had appeared on screen early in her career in a film called "Ballerina" in 1949 with Nicholas Orloff and Oleg Briansky, and which featured well known French actors of that time. Pierre Cardin designed the street clothes and Marcel Escoffier designed the dance costumes in this film. Also in the 1940s Violette danced with Ballet Rambert in London in "Coppélia" and "Giselle" and gave us her memories of Marie Rambert, who got on very well with Violette's mother. Violette enjoyed Marie Rambert's classes and meeting her dancers and choreographers including Walter Gore, who created many beautiful ballets. Violette also got to know Andrée Howard when dancing in her ballet "Masque of the Red Death".

Talking about Roland Petit, Violette had danced Carmen with him and he told her she was the best Carmen - after Zizi! She danced with Roland Petit's company in New York and was noticed by Sol Hurok. The Petit Company went on to Hollywood where they were filming with Leslie Caron in "The Glass Slipper" and "Daddy Longlegs". During her time there, she was invited to partner John Gilpin in London Festival Ballet, as Belinda Wright was pregnant. She toured the USA with London Festival Ballet and greatly enjoyed dancing with John Gilpin who was such a perfect partner and dancer. A "pirate" film was made of her dancing with John and we would all very much like to see this.

While she was in the USA she was approached by Lucia Chase to join American Ballet Theatre and it was while she was dancing with ABT that Mr B. saw her. Maria Tallchief was leaving NYCB and when Violette finished her time with ABT she was able to accept a contract with NYCB, although she was surprised because she did not consider herself to be a typical Balanchine dancer. However, Mr B told her "everybody is a Balanchine dancer, - you are small, but well proportioned", so she was very happy to become a Balanchine dancer! NYCB was quite a small company at that time with about 45 dancers so Balanchine knew them all. Violette had already attended classes at the company school and mentioned people she met there, who included Vera Nemtchinova and her husband Anatole Oboukhoff, Felia Doubrovska, Muriel Stuart (who danced in the Pavlova Company), and Alexandra Danilova who was still dancing and teaching.

Violette talked about Lincoln Kirstein, who remained in the background during his lifetime, but now books are being written about him as his vast contribution to ballet and the arts in the US is becoming known and appreciated. He was an intellectual and at Harvard published a magazine called "Horn and Hound" with interviews of many writers and artists who became famous. He broke with his family tradition of supporting medical research, education, museums and the fine arts. Ballet was not one of the arts the family charity supported, and it was the one he chose to support.

Violette described Balanchine's way of working with dancers and his wonderful musicality which inspired him to create exactly the right steps. He was able to create a huge range of ballets and helped the dancers because he knew so many steps and could suggest alternatives for any step they might have a problem with. His musicality was phenomenal and he was able to produce a piano reduction for the rehearsal pianist of Webern's Opus 21 - a very difficult score full of rest bars and odd time signatures. This piano score is now at Harvard. She told us about the many ballets she danced for Balanchine and as they were such a small company the dancers had to appear in several ballets at each performance. She created many roles for Balanchine, including "Emeralds” and remarked that the ballets created for her were mostly to French music. We were sorry that not many of these roles are preserved on film, but Violette told us that there are "pirate" versions which are a record, and even though not perfect they give an idea of her dancing. Nora Kaye had seen a "pirate" film, and told Lucia Chase about Violette, which is how she was invited to join ABT. She spoke about the Tchaikowsky pas de deux and slight changes that have occurred to the steps over the years, due to dancers learning from videos.

Michael asked Violette to tell us about her work at the University of Indiana, where she teaches, choreographs, does assessments and auditions, puts on shows, and helps the students in every way who are majoring in dance as well as academic studies. She described a typical working day at the University which starts at 8.00 am for academic classes and from 11.30 am to 6.00 pm for dance. The students work non stop throughout the day and often at weekends taking children's classes, for the very young pre-college children. The standard of dance students is very high and comparable to students from full time dance schools. Modern dance was dominant in universities and now ballet is becoming appreciated. Ballet used to be considered as a part of physical education but universities have come to realise it should be classed as an arts subject, with the famous music departments. Violette also teaches at summer schools during university holidays and has got to know all the good schools and teachers around the USA.

Now Violette is working with the Royal Ballet and is impressed with the high standards and the wide-ranging repertoire which is a challenge for the dancers. She also loves the wonderlul studios which are such a luxury for the dancers as compared to what they were used to in the past.

Violette visits India regularly and practices meditation. She pointed out that she has learnt to make her life a meditation and does not have to be in a particular place to do this, as long as she can make the time in her busy life, and she plans to return to India soon. Michael thanked Mme. Verdy for telling us about her very full life and work, and we all look forward to her next visit to London. He passed on to her the kind regards of Sir Peter Wright, our President, and also very best wishes from Galina Samsova. The meeting ended with the customary presentation of champagne and many photographs, with grateful thanks from all members to Mme Verdy for a fascinating evening.