Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Anna Kisselgoff [sound recording].

Author

Kisselgoff, Anna.

Publication

2007.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Reynolds, Nancy, 1938-
• National Endowment for the Arts, 2006-2007.
• New York State Council on the Arts, 2006-2007.

Description

7 sound discs (ca. 270 min.): digital; 4 3/4 in. + transcript (171 leaves)

Summary

• 04/20/07 (ca. 40 min.) Anna Kisselgoff speaks with Nancy Reynolds about her family background, including her grandparents in Russia at the time of the Russian revolution and each of their departures to France; her family's Menshavik associations and relations with Russian and European modernist artists; the influence of this social environment; more on her family, their national identities and immigration history; attending her first dance performances; early influences; first ballet classes and teachers including Jan Yavinsky; later a ballet class taught for critics organized by Rebekah Harkness; more on Kisselgoff's ballet training and its relation to her work as a critic; attending a rehearsal conducted by George Balanchine and how it affected her viewing of the work in performance (there is a ca. 10 min. gap between the end of this section and the beginning of the next).
• 04/20/07 (ca. 40 min.). Anna Kisselgoff speaks with Nancy Reynolds about the prerequisites of being a critic, particularly abundant exposure to performance; dance performances she attended while growing up; ballets for child audiences; seeing Rudolf Nureyev perform in Paris in1961 and his walking off the stage in that performance and others; New York City Ballet performances and the strong impressions that remain from performances viewed as a child; experiences interviewing Balanchine; her desire to be a constructive critic; her early interest in writing and journalism; attending Bryn Mawr College.
• 04/20/07 (ca. 45 min.). Anna Kisselgoff speaks with Nancy Reynolds further about her dance education and influences; hearing first hand accounts of Serge Diaghilev as well as the temporary waning of his influence; more on her family and education; her cultural exchange visit to Russia; her study and knowedge of the Russian and French languages; her first journalism jobs, with Agence France-presse and then the International edition of The New York Times while living in Paris; returning to New York City; the development of dance coverage in The New York Times, Clive Barnes' role and her own beginnings there; the benefits of her education at Columbia University's School of Journalism.
• 04/20/07 (ca. 45 min.). Anna Kisselgoff speaks with Nancy Reynolds further about Clives Barnes, more on her beginnings at The New York Times; her interest in describing the historical context of dance; becoming chief dance critic and what that role has meant to her work; the lack of opportunity for women at the Times during her early years there; the early history of dance criticism at The Times; the practice (now changed) of filing reviews on the night of the performance; her ongoing education through books and other sources; influences on her critical thinking including the writings of André Levinson; thoughts on Balanchine's work Apollo; other influences on her work; ballets with Americana themes including Eugene Loring's Billy the Kid.
• 04/20/07 (ca. 45 min.). Anna Kisselgoff speaks with Nancy Reynolds further about Billy the Kid; Madeleine Lytton and Isadora Duncan technique; thoughts on her own writing and intentions; particular columns she has written, including one on Helgi Tomasson in Baiser de la fée and one on Balanchine's Orpheus; memorable performances; teaching a course on Merce Cunningham; interviewing him over the years; her three most amazing interview subjects as Balanchine, Lincoln Kirstein and Martha Graham; experiences while interviewing Balanchine including getting to know him and his ideas more authentically through speaking Russian with him; Balanchine's family and early letters from his parents.
• 04/20/07 (ca. 45 min.). Anna Kisselgoff speaks with Nancy Reynolds about the rift that occurred between Graham and Lincoln Kirstein regarding the ballet Episodes; first seeing Graham perform in the mid 1960s; Graham and Merce Cunningham as older performers; interviewing chorographers; Mikhail Baryshnikov's departure from New York City Ballet; Baryshnikov's background and political affiliations; various Soviet artists and their relationship to the Communist party and its youth organization the Komsomol; the limited life span of private ballet companies; challenges currently facing companies and the creation of new choreography; changing audiences.
• 04/20/07 (ca. 10 min.). Anna Kisselgoff speaks with Nancy Reynolds about audiences as well as young critics and students and their changing tastes; Balanchine's, Graham's and Cunningham's attitudes toward the fate of their works after their deaths; the structure of the dance reporting staff at The New York Times and how articles are assigned; awards she has received in her career.

Alternative Title

• Dance Oral History Project.
• Dance Audio Archive.

Subjects

• Nureyev, Rudolf, 1938-1993
• Episodes (Choreographic work : Balanchine and Graham)
• New York Times Company
• Cunningham, Merce
• Baryshnikov, Mikhail, 1948-
• Billy the Kid (Choreographic work : Loring)
• Levinson, André, 1887-1933
• Dance criticism
• Kisselgoff, Anna
• Lytton, Madeleine
• Balanchine, George > Apollo
• Arts audiences
• Graham, Martha
• Dance critics
• Kirstein, Lincoln, 1907-1996
• Rossiĭskiĭ leninskiĭ kommunisticheskiĭ so︠i︡uz molodezhi
• Interviewing
• Audiotapes > Kisselgoff, A
• Barnes, Clive, 1927-2008

Note

• Interview with Anna Kisselgoff conducted by Nancy Reynolds on April 20, 2007 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City as part of the Oral History Project.
• For transcript see: *MGZMT 3-2478.

Access (note)

• Permission required until Jan. 1, 2017.
• Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Funding (note)

• The assistance of the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts is gratefully acknowledged.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-2478

OCLC

325000460

Author

Kisselgoff, Anna. Interviewee

Title

Interview with Anna Kisselgoff [sound recording].

Imprint

2007.

Access

Permission required until Jan. 1, 2017.

Funding

The assistance of the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts is gratefully acknowledged.

Restricted Access

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Connect to:

Request Access to Special Collections (Dance Division) material

Added Author

Reynolds, Nancy, 1938- Interviewer

National Endowment for the Arts, 2006-2007.

New York State Council on the Arts, 2006-2007.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-2478 [sound disc]

*MGZMT 3-2478 [transcript]