Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Sallie Wilson [sound recording].

Author

Wilson, Sallie.

Publication

1973.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Gruen, John.

Description

3 sound discs (132 min.) : digital; (4 3/4 in.)

Summary

• Disc 1 (ca. 48 min.). Sallie Wilson speaks with John Gruen about her childhood in Fort Worth, Texas; how she first became interested in ballet; her first ballet teachers; moving to New York City to study ballet with Margaret Craske; Craske as a teacher; her initial brief tenure at American Ballet Theatre; joining the Metropolitan Opera Ballet at Antony Tudor's invitation; Tudor as a teacher; working with Tudor at Jacob's Pillow, in Lee, Mass. in 1951, including performing in Tudor's work Dark elegies; her relationship with Tudor; his work Pillar of fire; re-joining American Ballet Theatre in 1955, including her audition with Lucia Chase and Tudor; her relationship with Tudor after joining American Ballet Theatre [brief gap]; Tudor's work La ronde, in particular her initial difficulty with her role as the actress; Sono Osato's teaching her the role of Juliet, in Tudor's Romeo and Juliet; Tudor's relationship with his dancers, including Nora Kaye; more on working with Tudor; his comments on Natalia Makarova's performance of Pillar of fire [short gap; ends abruptly].
• Disc 2 (ca. 48 min.). Sallie Wilson continues to speak with John Gruen about Antony Tudor, including his working methods at rehearsals; her marriage [to Ali Pourfarrokh] and divorce; rehearsing and performing in Agnes de Mille's Fall River legend, including Lupe Serrano's help; more on Tudor's relationship with Wilson and with other dancers [recording is briefly halted]; Tudor and Hugh Laing's relationship; the meaning of the term "dramatic ballerina", including her roles in Les sylphides as an example; the direction and management at American Ballet Theatre, including her feelings about Lucia Chase; Alvin Ailey's work Sea-change; her time with New York City Ballet, including her audition; her relationship with George Balanchine, including an anecdote with respect to an argument they had about technique; meeting Martha Graham and rehearsing her and Balanchine's collaborative work Episodes [Gruen describes Wilson's physical appearance]; José Limón and his ballet The moor's pavane; the relationship between dancing a dramatic role and a dancer's private life; her private life [ends abruptly].
• Disc 3 (ca. 38 min.). Sallie Wilson continues to speak to John Gruen about her private life; her feelings about American Ballet Theatre's casting decisions, and the hiring of foreign artists, in particular Natalia Makarova; performing Pillar of fire, including Tudor's and Hugh Laing's comments on a specific performance; her feelings watching other dancers rehearse Tudor's Lilac garden [Jardin aux lilas]; briefly, Tudor and Lucia Chase; briefly, Oliver Smith; her friends in the company; Nora Kaye as a person and as a dancer; teaching; Jerome Robbins, in particular rehearsing his ballet Les noces; [in response to Gruen's question] her advice to younger dancers [brief gap followed by discussion of unidentified person]; more on advice to aspiring dancers; the state of mind necessary to dance Swan lake convincingly.

Alternative Title

Dance Audio Archive.

Subjects

• Graham, Martha
• Chase, Lucia, 1897-1986
• Balanchine, George
• Robbins, Jerome
• New York City Ballet
• Kaye, Nora, 1920-1987
• Wilson, Sallie
• Fall River legend (Choreographic work : De Mille)
• Tudor, Antony, 1909-1987
• Audiotapes > Wilson, S
• American Ballet Theatre
• Episodes (Choreographic work : Balanchine and Graham)
• Pillar of fire (Choreographic work : Tudor)
• Craske, Margaret

Note

• Interview with Sallie Wilson conducted by John Gruen on Jan. 23, 1973, in Gruen's home, in New York City. The interview was used as a basis for a chapter in John Gruen's book, The private world of ballet, c1975.
• Open as of January 1, 2018.
• Sound quality is good.

System Details (note)

• Transferred from 2 sound cassettes (ca. 137 min.; 1 7/8 in. per sec.; 2 channels; originally recorded on Jan. 23, 1973) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2010.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-206-207

OCLC

81671081

Author

Wilson, Sallie. Interviewee

Title

Interview with Sallie Wilson [sound recording].

Imprint

1973.

System Details

Transferred from 2 sound cassettes (ca. 137 min.; 1 7/8 in. per sec.; 2 channels; originally recorded on Jan. 23, 1973) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2010.

Local Note

For edited transcript of interview see: *MGZMT 3-206-207.

Former call number: *MGZTC 3-206-207.

Archive original: *MGZTCO 3-206-207 no. 1-2

Added Author

Gruen, John. Interviewee

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-206-207