Research Catalog

Interview with Donald Mahler

Title: Interview with Donald Mahler, 2020 / Conducted remotely by Marina Harss on September 17, 2020; Producer: Dance Oral History Project and the Cecchetti Heritage Project.
Author: Mahler, Donald
Publication: 2020

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections Dance to submit a request in person.	Moving image	Supervised use	*MGZMT 3-3548	Performing Arts Research Collections Dance

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Description

1 streaming video file (approximately one hour and 23 minutes) : sound, color. +

Summary

Streaming file, September 17, 2020 (approximately one hour and 23 minutes). Donald Mahler speaks with Marina Harss about how he started taking ballet classes in 1950 with Mattlyn Gavers at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet school; being promoted to Margaret Craske's intermediate class; his impressions of Craske; his other classes, including partnering with Antony Tudor and character dancing with Yurek Lazowski; Tudor's arranging for him to audition for the National Ballet of Canada; Craske's teaching of Cecchetti's principles rather than his method; the essence of the Cecchetti principles as taught to him, namely achieving maximum results with a minimum of visible effort; Craske's method of "physical psychoanalysis," that is her ability to get individual dancers to understand what they were [as dancers] and how to accomplish what she was teaching; her spiritual background as a disciple of Meher Baba; at Baba's urging, leaving India for London where she taught at the Royal Ballet; anecdotes about Craske and Frederick Ashton; his own interest in Baba, which led Mahler to speak with Craske about him; Craske's focus on her students' understanding of the purpose and method of each movement; Craske's physical ability to demonstrate; Craske's description of Cecchetti in the role of the Magician in [Michel Fokine's] Petrouchka; the stage floor at the Metropolitan Opera House (in its former location at Broadway and 39th Street); her approach to correcting her students, including her sense of humor; his characterization of her classes as difficult (rather than "grueling" as described in Jennifer Homans' book Apollo's angels [Apollo's angels: a history of ballet, 2010]); his (successful) audition for the National Ballet of Canada for Betty Oliphant including a related anecdote about Tudor; his five years with the National Ballet of Canada where he became a principal; studying Cecchetti with Oliphant, who, in contrast with Craske, taught by rote; continuing to take class with Craske when he could; leaving Canada to perform with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet; taking class with Craske at her studio and reasons he stayed with Craske for so many years; an anecdote about William Dollar's comment on Mahler's arabesque; reminiscences of the "old Met" and his many wonderful experiences there; Tudor and Craske's relationship including his role in bringing her to the United States to teach; Tudor as a teacher; how Tudor's personality and his Cecchetti training were reflected in his ballets; Celia Franca and how fortunate he was to work with her; Craske's willingness to work with dancers who did not have good turnout or feet including an anecdote about Craske and a dancer whose turnout she thought unsatisfactory; the tendency of the National Ballet of Canada to discourage virtuosity; Craske's preference for Alicia Alonso's Giselle over that of Alicia Markova's; reasons Craske did not like her students to use mirrors; the importance of the position of the head in Cecchetti technique; reasons modern dancers took her class; an anecdote about Margot Fonteyn and Craske's class for children; the visible changes over time in the bodies and technique of the dancers in Craske's class; the atmosphere of her classes including the students' love for her; Craske's refusal to talk to him about [Vaslaw] Nijinsky; Tudor's class on acting (his "production class") including an anecdote about Craske's comment on Mahler's being asked to portray a "young girl in love"; observations regarding the carriage of the torso and placement of the back in Cecchetti technique, in [George] Balanchine's work, and as taught at the Vaganova school in St. Petersburg [Akademii︠a︡ russkogo baleta im. A.I︠A︡. Vaganovoĭ]; how impressed he was by [Galina Sergeyevna] Ulanova and other Russian dancers he has seen including the depth of their training; the structure of Craske's class; reminiscences of Hans Brenner, a guest teacher at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet school; Craske's barre; her class exercises and quasi-floor barre including the possible influence of Pilates and yoga; her putting well-known dancers who came to her class in front to act as leaders; her straightforward approach to teaching and eschewal of flattery including an anecdote about Tanaquil Le Clercq; her most important lesson as "get over yourself"; more on the unique magic of the "old Met" due to all the great artists who had performed there; Craske's generosity with her time; the qualities that he most admired in her; Craske as the person who made it possible for him to dance in and later stage Tudor's ballets.

Alternative Title

Dance Oral History Project.
Dance Audio Archive.
Cecchetti Heritage Project

Subject

Genre/Form

Video recordings.
Oral histories.

Note

Interview with Donald Mahler (in New York, N.Y.) conducted remotely by Marina Harss (in New York, N.Y. ) on September 17, 2020 for the Dance Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and the Cecchetti Heritage Project..
This interview is part of the Cecchetti Heritage Project, a collaboration between Diana Byer, Jean Volpe, and Matthew Nash, and the Dance Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. For the Cecchetti Heritage Project, selected dancers recounted their memories of studying with ballet teacher Margaret Craske. A student of Enrico Cecchetti, Miss Craske taught Cecchetti's technique to generations of dancers at American Ballet Theater (late 1940s), Metropolitan Opera Ballet School (1950-1966), the Juilliard School, Jacob's Pillow, and the Manhattan School of Dance (1968-1983).
For transcript see *MGZMT 3-3548
Sound quality is good overall.
The video recording of this interview can be made available at the Library for the Performing Arts by advanced request to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, dance@nypl.org. The video files for this interview are undergoing processing and eventually will be available for streaming.
Title supplied by cataloger.

Access (note)

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3548

OCLC

1395561675

Author

Mahler, Donald, Interviewee.

Title

Interview with Donald Mahler, 2020 / Conducted remotely by Marina Harss on September 17, 2020; Producer: Dance Oral History Project and the Cecchetti Heritage Project.

Imprint

2020

Playing Time

012300

Type of Content

spoken word

two-dimensional moving image

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

video

computer

Type of Carrier

online resource

volume

Digital File Characteristics

video file

Restricted Access

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Event

Recorded for for the Dance Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Cecchetti Heritage Project 2022, September 17 New York (N.Y.)

Connect to:

Added Author

Harss, Marina, Interviewer.

New York Theatre Ballet.

Research Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3548

*MGZDOH 3548

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