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Interview with Barbara Walczak

Title: Interview with Barbara Walczak [sound recording].
Author: Walczak, Barbara.
Publication: 1979.

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Status	Vol/Date	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	discs 1-4	Audio	Use in library	*MGZTL 4-653 discs 1-4	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance

Details

Additional Authors

Description

4 sound discs (ca. 192 min.): digital; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

Disc 1, Apr. 16, 1979 (ca. 47 min.). Barbara Walczak speaks with Peter Conway about her early training; Balanchine's concept of the dancer as an instrument; studying at the School of American Ballet, including her teachers Felia Doubrovska, Pierre Vladimiroff, and Anatole Oboukhoff; classes with Balanchine and the lack of personal attention; dancing with the New York City Ballet, including her relationship with Balanchine; more on his conception of dancers as tools [trails off and continues directly on disc 2].
Disc 2, Apr. 16, 1979 (ca. 47 min.). Barbara Walczak speaks with Peter Conway about her time dancing with Alicia Alonso's company, including as compared with dancing for New York City Ballet; New York City Ballet's early years; the style of the Cecchetti-trained dancers such as Marie-Jeanne compared with the new generation, beginning with Allegra Kent; Balanchine's view on the adding of any personal style to the movements; Violette Verdy; an anecdote concerning Walczak's role in Balanchine's work Agon; working with Antony Tudor and dancing in his works, including La gloire; Hugh Laing's and Nora Kaye's time with New York City Ballet; other choreographers who worked with New York City Ballet including Lew Christensen, John Cranko, and Frederick Ashton; her views on Tudor's choreography; working with Ruthanna Boris; touring in Europe with New York City Ballet.
Disc 3, Apr. 19, 1979 (ca. 47 min.). Barbara Walczak speaks with Peter Conway about Ruthanna Boris; Todd Bolender; Balanchine's work Orpheus, including its notation by Ann Hutchinson; her feelings about choreographing herself; William Dollar, including his works Ondine and Duel; dancing with André Eglevsky's company on tour, including learning dances from films; Eglevsky's wife, Leyda [Anchutina]; Dollar's work Five gifts; more on Duel; Jerome Robbins, including his works Age of anxiety and Pied piper; his working methods; Balanchine's style of directing, including his focus on timing and musicality [trails off and continues directly on disc 4].
Disc 4, Apr. 19, 1979 (ca. 51 min.). Barbara Walczak speaks with Peter Conway further about George Balanchine, including his continously changing aesthetic; compares Tudor, Balanchine, and Robbins in terms of their style of directing and musicality; Robbins' work Ballade; his work Interplay, including an anecdote about Allegra Kent; his works Fanfare, The concert, and Afternoon of a faun; Irene Larsson; Robbins' work The guest; Robbins as a dancer at New York City Ballet; Francisco Moncion as a choreographer; more on Balanchine's choreography and working methods; his The nutcracker; his work Ivesiana; Sallie Wilson's time at New York City Ballet; the Balanchine, Martha Graham, and Paul Taylor collaboration, Episodes; more on Ivesiana.

Alternative Title

Dance Oral History Project
Dance Audio Archive

Subjects

Note

Interview with Barbara Walczak conducted by Peter Conway on Apr. 16 and 19, 1979 in New York City for the New York Public Library Dance Collection Oral History Project.
Sound quality is good. The recording is marred by occasional extraneous noise from the street.

Funding (note)

Preservation was funded in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, 2007-2008 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2007-2008.

System Details (note)

Transferred from 1 sound tape reel (ca. 3 hours, 12 min.; 1 7/8 in. per sec.; 5 in.; originally recorded on Apr. 16 and 19, 1979) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2008.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-653

OCLC

78945878

Author

Walczak, Barbara. Interviewee

Title

Interview with Barbara Walczak [sound recording].

Imprint

1979.

Funding

Preservation was funded in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, 2007-2008 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2007-2008.

System Details

Transferred from 1 sound tape reel (ca. 3 hours, 12 min.; 1 7/8 in. per sec.; 5 in.; originally recorded on Apr. 16 and 19, 1979) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2008.

Local Note

For transcript of interview, see *MGZMT 5-653.

Dubbing master: *MGZTD 4-653 nos. 1-4

Archival original: *MGZTO 5-653. Restored and rehoused following water damage in 2015.

Former call number: *MGZT 5-653

Added Author

Conway, Peter, 1929 July 18- Interviewer

National Endowment for the Arts, 2007-2008.

New York State Council on the Arts, 2007-2008.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-653

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