Maria Tallchief speaks with Kyra Lynn Kaptzan about her American Indian heritage; early dance training beginning at age three; moving to California to study dance at age seven; studying with Bronislava Nijinska; training to be a concert pianist but preferring to dance; dancing with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in Europe at the invitation of Tatiana Riabouchinska; performing with the Ballet Russe in Canada and being invited to join the company; being an understudy in Agnes de Mille's Rodeo; studying Nijinska's Chopin concerto first as understudy and then performing in it; performing George Balanchine's choreography in the musical comedy Song of Norway; her favorite roles with Ballet Russe including in Balanchine's Baiser de la fée; Balanchine's influence on her technique; favorite partners, including Nicholas Magallanes, André Eglevsky and Francisco Moncion; Balanchine's Firebird as her most important role; joining Ballet Society; performing as a guest artist with Erik Bruhn with American Ballet Theatre; dancing on television, including with Rudolf Nureyev on Bell Telephone hour; training dancers in Chicago and forming a dance company with the Chicago Lyric Opera [Chicago City Ballet]; working with Jacques D'Amboise; the company's repertoire of mostly Balanchine works; her decision to retire; her daugher; her sister Marjorie Tallchief's career and work with Dallas Civic Ballet; future plans.
Content types:
Sounds
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Marianna Tcherkassky speaks with Kyra Lynn Kaptzan about her parents' backgrounds in the performing arts; studying ballet with her mother, Lilli-Ann Oka; studying with Edward Caton at the School of American Ballet; performing with the André Eglevsky Ballet; joining American Ballet Theatre; the broad repertory of American Ballet Theatre; substituting for Gelsey Kirkland in Don Quixote; originating the role of Clara in Mikhail Baryshnikov's The nutcracker; Baryshnikov's approach to creating and staging a work; her thoughts on his leaving American Ballet Theatre; the challenge of learning Twyla Tharp's different style of movement in her work Push comes to shove; her enjoyment in performing Glen Tetley's work, Voluntaries; her level of ease on stage depending on the nature of the role; diet; leisure activities.
Content types:
Sounds
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Ronald Perry speaks with Kyra Lynn Kaptzan about his introduction to ballet, on television; his school audition with Arthur Mitchell and his early training at the Harlem School of the Arts; joining Dance Theatre of Harlem as an apprentice; attending the Professional Children's School; participating in high school track; his most influential teachers, including Karel Shook and Arthur Mitchell as well as Tanaquil Le Clercq; Corsair [Le corsaire] as the most challenging ballet; the variety of dance styles he performs, including jazz, ethnic and modern; attending performances of many different companies, with special attention to watching male dancers; admiration for the dancing of Fernando Bujones; the importance of Alexandra Danilova's teaching women's classes at Dance Theatre of Harlem; working with Glen Tetley and the demanding nature of performing his dances; touring with Dance Theatre of Harlem in Europe and across the U.S.; Dance Theatre of Harlem's audience reception and the building of new audience members; partnering many different female dancers; leisure activities; the increasing opportunities for black dancers.
Content types:
Sounds
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Shaun O'Brien speaks with Kyra Lynn Kaptzan about his signature role as Drosselmeyer in The nutcracker at New York City Ballet; his use of make-up in creating character roles, for example, the father in George Balanchine's ballet Prodigal son; performing character roles such as Dr. Coppelius and Drosselmeyer; performing classical roles at Vitale Fokine's dance school concerts in Connecticut [Vitale Fokine Ballet School?]; dancing with "Alicia's company" [Ballet Alicia Alonso] and the " Marquis's company" [Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo, Marquis de Cuevas]; being selected by Janet Reed to perform character roles based on his performance as the mother in [Lew Christensen's ballet] Filling station; favorite roles, including Dr. Coppelius, the tray carrier in George Balanchine's La valse, and Von Rothbart; his long career with New York City Ballet and changes in the company during that time; touring; the company's seasons and the nature of the audiences in Saratoga [Saratoga Springs, N.Y.]; leisure activities; exercise and rehearsals; Balanchine's supervision of final rehearsals and his occasional performances, in the past, of the character roles O'Brien now performs.
Content types:
Sounds
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Virginia Johnson speaks with Kyra Lynn Kaptzan about Dance Theatre of Harlem on the occasion of the company's tenth anniversary, including Arthur Mitchell's founding of the company and its school; performing with Washington Ballet [Washington, D.C.]; coming to New York to study modern dance at the Dance Department of New York University [New York University, School of the Arts, Dance Theatre Program]; taking classes with Arthur Mitchell in Harlem; the joint performance with New York City Ballet of George Balanchine's and Mitchell's work Jazz concerto [Concerto for jazz band and orchestra]; her roles in the Dance Theatre of Harlem repertoire, including a number of ballets with Tchaikovsky scores; the mixture of dance styles in the company repertoire; the current and possible future racial makeup of Dance Theatre of Harlem; its audience and building its audience through open houses; her enjoyment in performing both strictly classical and dramatic roles; her enjoyment in watching New York City Ballet and the European companies touring the U.S.; Mary Hinkson as her ideal dancer; starting her training in Washington, D.C., at age three and subsequently studying at the Washington School of Ballet [Washington, D.C.]; touring with Dance Theatre of Harlem in the U.S. and Europe and the audience reception; future plans.
Content types:
Sounds
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Martin Bookspan interviews jazz composer and pianist John Lewis. Lewis talks about his background as a musician, about his motivation, career and life. He discusses the beginnig of the Modern Jazz Quartet, creator and musical director of which he has been since it became a permanent group in 1951, and was formally incorporated in 1952. He talks about his work with Dizzy Gillespie and other jazzmen. He also reminiscences about his years in Paris. He speaks about his music written for films such as Odds against tomorrow (1959). At the end of the interview he talks about his plans for the future. During the interview excerpts from his Three little feelings (Second movement), Vendôme, from the film Odds against tomorrow, In memoriam, and Midsömmer (1957) are played.
Content types:
Sounds
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Martin Bookspan interviews American contemporary classical music composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher Leon Kirchner. Kirchner talks about both of his careers: as a teacher and as a composer; about his students; about the performers he used to work with such as violinists Michael Spivakowsky and Isaac Stern; and about electronic tape music. The composer speaks about music by Arnold Schoenberg that influenced him, and he has composed a large quantity of music which is stylistically tied to the works of Schoenberg. He talks about his opera Lily (based on Saul Bellow's Henderson, the Rain King). The composer also discusses each of the following works, excerpts of which are then played during the interview: Music for orchestra (1970), Sonata concertante (for violin and piano, first movement) (1952), Quartet no. 3 (for strings and electronic tape).
Content types:
Sounds
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center