When IU Opera and Ballet Theater picked the program for the Spring Ballet “Four Faces of Balanchine,” they had no idea that Friday and Saturday’s performances would carry such meaning for the dancers and faculty alike.
The four pieces in the program were choreographed by George Balanchine, co-founder of the New York City Ballet.
Violette Verdy, who taught and coached IU ballet for the last 20 years, danced under Balanchine for nearly the same amount of time from 1958 until her stage retirement in 1975.
She and Balanchine remained lifelong friends.
Junior Imani Sailers, who dances the role of Russian soloist in “Serenade,” said the program has become a tribute to Verdy, who died Feb. 8.
“You definitely see her in the steps,” Sailers said. “You can feel her energy in the studios when we’re rehearsing.”
Verdy danced the same role as Sailers in 1960 for the NYCB. Sailers said Verdy always told the dancers that in ballet, their legs were the horse and their tops were the rider. No matter how hard the steps were, they had to present it like it was easy.
For the role of Russian soloist, it’s difficult to make it look easy, Sailers said. As in all of Balanchine’s choreography, intricate footwork has to look light and effortless, all while maintaining slow and elegant arm movements.
“She wanted us to be able to speak and emote using our whole bodies,” Sailers said. “I learned how to be a more mature dancer working with her.”
Another of Verdy’s former students, Allison Perhatch, is also dancing a role Verdy performed. In the Spring Ballet, Perhatch will be dancing the lead soloist in “Raymonda Variations,” which Verdy danced in 1969 for the NYCB.
Verdy’s knowledge and love of the pieces to be performed would have been invaluable, ballet department chair Michael Vernon said. In New York, dance changes quickly with fashion, and each performance of the same ballet will be different because of dancers’ individual styles.
Vernon said they want to keep each piece as true to the original choreography as possible to preserve the style. Balanchine pioneered the genre of neoclassical plotless ballets. Each piece has a pas de deux, or male and female lead pair, at its core. Balanchine believed that when a man and woman are onstage, the ballet is no longer abstract.
“He takes classical variations and modernizes them with really interesting steps and intricate, tiny details,” Vernon said.
“Elegie,” for example, is an unusual ballet, Vernon said. The dancers have their hair down, out of the classic ballerina bun, and are barefoot and in long sheer dresses. “Tarantella” has only two dancers onstage, each with a tambourine they must play on beat with the music using different parts of their body.
Vernon said that even though these ballets were choreographed as much as 80 years ago, they haven’t aged at all because of their musicality.
In order to remain true to Balanchine’s original vision, many of the dancers investigate their roles deeply. Sailers said she has found videos of Verdy dancing during her research. She wanted to make sure she was looking at the greats.
“She gave so much of herself and was really invested in us,” Sailers said. “Especially during this coaching process, we miss her.”
