CHAPTER 22Butler University They flew me out to Indianapolis for a day,
fully scheduled and squeezed with introductions; lunch with the
Dean, dinner with the dance faculty, meetings, interviews plus
teaching a one-shot ballet class. It was all clearly designed to
look me over before considering hiring me. A Summer Intensive In
Canada Character Dance
Oddly enough, for some reason I had brought a
pair of Russian character boots with me from New York, but what
about music? I rushed to the Toronto Public Library and somehow
managed to take out a book of Bulgarian folk dances for my pianist.
The class was an unexpected success, in fact the students told
around that they enjoyed my class far better than that of Zhuralyeva,
who had been far too serious and strict. So that was the
extemporaneous beginning of my second career as a character dance
teacher. The Jordan College of Fine Arts at Butler
University Although Butler’s dance department was
considered to be one of the best in the country, it had an insular,
provincial atmosphere. My colleagues, it seemed to me, had been
there forever. For one thing, they didn’t want to hear or know
anything about how ballet technique had advanced or what was being
done in New York City, the very Capitol of the dance world. Betty Gour’s claim to fame was that she had
once danced in the original “Oklahoma” on Broadway, way back in
1942, but her figure had somehow morphed into a tub. The story went
around that Agnes de Mille didn’t even recognize her when she once
visited Butler. Peggy Dorsey, had actually started the dance department and was the most approachable. She was Swedish by birth but grew up in England, therefore had English manners and friendliness. With her I felt right at home. Bud Kerwin, taught jazz as well as ballet. He
had a friendly air about him and went to Paris every summer to teach
jazz dance. He was very popular with the students and was the last
to remain at Butler after the rest had either left or had died. Mr. Glenn had an envied accomplishment that few other ballet teachers had; he was able to teach while playing the piano, and played it very well too and I think he enjoyed that more than the actual teaching. I envied him this accomplishment, but his teaching methods were extremely old fashioned. Once he was showing me a film of a Nutcracker that Butler had done in the past. Suddenly the principal male dancer appeared on screen, rushing to center stage. The figure and movements were so comic I burst out laughing and asked who on earth could it be. I thought it must be a first year student and cringed when he said it was himself. Mr. Glenn was basically a kind man but possibly resented me replacing his long time friend Mr. Verdak. Their houses were so close beside each other that they could literally step from one window into the other, and did. It’s not a good idea, as I was to later find out, to be the first to step into a position long occupied by anyone of long standing. A good example is Marcie Haydee who, to be head of the Stuttgart Ballet was wise not to be the first one to replace John Cranko after his death, but to be the second. George Verdak had in the past been the most influential member of the dance faculty and had produced some very interesting ballets. Mr. V, as he was called, was also a scholar, spoke Russian and had a collection of ballet music scores that was so large he had to construct a special building behind his house to contain it. Ballet Russe Sets and
Costumes Somehow, and I never did learn all the reasons behind it, George Verdak had managed to end up with all the scenery and costumes from the defunct Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo company which he stored at the University. It had accumulated over the span of several years during the mid-sixties through his diligence. This vast collection was housed in various storage locations – basements of other buildings where humidity conditions were not controlled, Quonset huts, unused storage rooms. It was really a mess. Confusion reigned too, ending in battles as to who owned all of this massive collection, Verdak or Butler University. . (Thankfully, I think this collection of Ballet Russe scenery has now finally all been identified.) Classes
Photo: Clowes Hall interior, Butler University The well attended performances were given next door at Clowes Hall, where the Indianapolis Symphony performed as well as visiting companies. The Symphony Orchestra played for our ballets as well. Graduation Ball in Memphis I had danced in Memphis once before as it was one of the stops on the Metropolitan Opera tour. This time, being there such a short time, I only saw the dance studio and the hotel where I was more or less quarantined with rock groups on every floor who kept me awake all night with their racket and utter destruction of everything in sight. The Memphis Ballet was run by the Tevlins, a
nice young married couple and former students at Butler. I never got
to see the performance but heard it was a tremendous success.
Kenneth Melville, a former dancer with Britain’s Royal Ballet danced
the comic, drag role of the Head Mistress. Not too long afterwards
he died. It begins with twenty-four girls progressing one by one down a ramp, symbolizing the Himalayan mountains. Their step, [a slow arabesque penchée followed by a temps lié back], takes about ten minutes before they all reach their positions on stage to continue this very effective scene. The leading ballerina, Nikia that I chose was
one of the best in the student body and matched the muscular boy who
could manage the one arm lifts as Solor. Also three solo girls. The
other professors thought I must be out of my mind to stage something
as challenging as this during only my second term, but it worked out
splendidly and even the dour Betty Gour commented afterwards that,
contrary to her first concern, it had worked out beautifully. Photo: La Sylphide hovers over a sleeping James An old witch, Madge comes in to tell fortunes. She predicts that Effie will not marry James but his rival Gurn instead. Furiously, James sends her from the house and she vows vengeance. During a Highland fling the Sylphide appears again, but is visible only to James. She snatches the wedding ring from him and disappears into the forest. He follows her, abandoning the heart-broken Effie. The second act is in the forest, home of the Sylphs. Madge and her witches are dancing around a giant cauldron into which a magic scarf is stirred. James enters, exhausted and forlorn, unable to find the Sylphide. She soon comes with other Sylphs. He accepts the magic scarf from the witch because she tells him it will bind his love. When the Sylphide returns, he drapes it around her shoulders. Her wings drop off and she falls lifeless. She is carried away into the tree-tops by her mourning companions while the distraught James sees in the distance the wedding procession of Effie and Gurn.
Photo: The first La Sylphide, Marie Taglioni The original music score by Herman Lovenskjold had been wonderfully re-orchestrated for ABT by John Lanchbury, a conductor/composer and a wonderful arranger of music especially for dance. Among other things he arranged and composed parts of the music for Ashton’s ever popular ‘La Fille Mal Gardée”. He wrote the score for “Tales Of Beatrix Potter" and many other ballets, plus music for films. He instinctively understood dance and his orchestration for “La Sylphide” had not been published or available, only to ABT, but when I called him to ask for the orchestral parts he was delighted to let me have them on loan. So it was not only the authentic choreography of this famous romantic ballet I was able to offer, but also the means for the Indianapolis Symphony to be able to play it. Being completely unaware of the value of this boon, these remarkable assets all went by entirely un-recognized by those at Butler, as if it was just another, every-day passing event. Technical Aspects of La Sylphide Then there was the fireplace in Act One that had to have a specially built chimney that the Sylphide could fly up. This is done by two stage-hands standing on a scaffold behind the fireplace, reaching down and taking her hands and simply pulling her up. To the audience it looks exactly as if she were flying upwards. However, stage-hands at Clowes Hall for some reason, possibly union rules, refused to do this, so the Sylphide had to merely run into the fireplace and off with no flying effect. The chair into which the Sylphide has to disappear through a false back had to be constructed. This was done by some senior boys but I had to first design it. The cauldron at the beginning of Act Two had to be huge so that Madge could stand above it while the eight witches could dance around it. What I got was a series of larger and larger pots that eventually resulted in me having to construct a giant one out of papier mâché. Scenery, including a tree that the Sylphide had to ascend, was not a problem as there were plenty of Ballet Russe back-drops available to choose from, if one was willing to do the search. For Act Two I found what was really the second act from the Ballet Russe “Swan Lake”. My Slip-Up
Of the three major productions I did that first year, the casting of La Sylphide became my biggest mistake in that I trusted the advice of Mr. Glenn. In my classes was a girl who seemed just made
for the role of La Sylphide. The only problem: she was not a member
of the regular student body but only came in for classes now and
then. Who I should have cast in this leading role
was a particular Senior girl about to graduate, the one I had
already cast in the role of Effie. She happened to be perfect as
Effie but really had her heart set on the Sylphide role and that it
should have rightly been hers. Of course it should have. Glenn had
steered me wrong, either thoughtlessly or underhandedly, I never
knew which. Putting on the production required first
trying out 200 children with widely divergent skills, altering the
ballet to include as many of these students as possible and working
with the masses of mothers that accompany such children. It was a
night of try-outs that lasted until 1 AM. For one thing, I thought that Lewis Carroll, the author of “Alice”, should be the leading character and not Alice. Angelo Woodman, one of my best Senior students took the role. He opened the ballet, unlike in the book that opens with Alice and her Sister by the riverbank. The two-acter closed with him and Alice in a grand pas de deux, just before her coronation. He also danced the Mad Hatter, a role I had danced in the TV version. In fact, I had Lewis Carroll popping up in various guises throughout. It was a spectacular production on the huge stage of Clowes Hall but being basically a recital, only parents and friends saw it.
Photos: Left, Alice encounters the Mock Turtle This assignment came about through the Dance Notation Bureau. Bruce Marks, a former star of ABT was running Ballet West, a first-rate company. He wanted the old Maryinsky version of Paquita and asked the Bureau if they had it available. They had. I was the one who notated it. When I arrived in Salt Lake, Frederic Franklin, the long-time star of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, was just finished staging “Raymonda”. Also, Danny Levens, who had just finished a starring role in “The Turning Point” was also staging one of his own ballets. We all were staying at the same hotel, near the Mormon Tabernacle Square and usually had breakfasts together. Ballet West had its own theater, a gorgeous former movie palace
that had been re-modeled, with rehearsal studios on the top floors. The sets were designed and executed by Karl Kaufman, using my suggestion of a lavender motif. It made a lot of money yet I never received one thank-you, not one picture or video. Bob Joffrey had promised to fly in to see the production but I didn’t dare have him meet Dr. Cornick who would only put me down.
He was then somewhere in his eighties and, oddly enough, teaching at the Indiana University in Bloomington, just a few miles South of Indianapolis. I had driven down there often to see his work; His productions of “Petrushka” and “L’Épreuve D’Amour” were masterpieces. Even Robert Joffrey flew in to see them. Papa also came to my performances and we spoke together often, in Russian. When I told him I would not be coming back to Butler he said that he was also not returning to Bloomington and suggested, rather emphatically, that I should “go to Europe, where you will be more appreciated.” It was a suggestion I certainly should have followed. Instead, I rented a U-Haul and, a bit disheartened, drove back to New York. |
Trying
to remedy this, I gave one pianist some proper music for a ballet
class, to take home and practice. The next day she played it
perfectly, but rather than understanding that it was only to be an
indication of how a variety of music should be available, she
continued playing the very same music for every single class
throughout the entire semester until we were all sick of it!
The
curtain rises on a large room in a gloomy Scottish homestead. James,
a young Highlander is to wed Effie. He is dozing in an armchair by
the fire when a Sylphide [a nymph] appears, dances around him and
wakes him with a kiss. Enamored, he tries to pursue her but she
eludes his grasp and disappears into the fireplace and up the
chimney.
This Bournonville version, first mounted in Copenhagen in 1836
still retains the French style of the nineteenth century and is the
most perfect survival of a ballet from the Romantic period to be
seen today. 
The only picture I managed to find was many years later, among a
collection of the Ballet Russe scenery on Butler’s internet site.
Butler had finally managed to identify and put in order its
collection. It’s the third act backdrop of my own “Cinderella”, but
with no credit.
An
old car belonging to a man across the street had been sitting in his
driveway for months, possibly for years. I bought it for $200: a
Ford Fairlane, circa 1950. It may have been a classic but surely no
bargain, stalling at every stoplight and constantly needed repairs.
While driving along I could even see the street passing beneath
through a hole in the floor! Once, after parking all day on campus,
it decided to only move backwards so I had to drive it all the way
home on back streets, in reverse! I surely could have bought a new
one but somehow in the back of my mind I kept wondering if I was
quite honestly going to stay in Indianapolis. I didn’t. My contract
was not renewed.
Most
of the students wrote letters to the Dean insisting my classes were
a quantum leap ahead of the others, that the productions I had
mounted were of truly professional quality, that I had introduced
the windfall of Benesh Notation. I had written numerous articles and
reviews for The Indiana Arts Insight magazine - writing being a
scholarly and advantageous thing for a professor to do - but it was
all to no avail. Despite the jealousies and disparagements I endured
while there, I had thought I at last had found my niche and would
spend the rest of my days in Indianapolis. It was not to be.