thumb|Farrell in 1965

Suzanne Farrell (born August 16, 1945) is a former American ballerina and the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Farrell began her ballet training as a child in Cincinnati. In 1960, she received a scholarship to the School of American Ballet. Her first leading roles in ballets came in the early 1960s. A muse of George Balanchine, she left the New York City Ballet in 1969 and subsequently moved to Brussels to dance for Maurice Bejart's Ballet of the 20th Century.

In 1975, Farrell moved back to the United States, where she collaborated with Balanchine until his death in 1983; she retired from ballet six years later after a hip surgery she had due to arthritis. Farrell had an unusually long career as a ballet performer, and since her retirement in 1989 has acted as a teacher in numerous ballet schools. She held a teaching position with the New York City Ballet until 1993, and has been a professor of dance at Florida State University since 2000; the same year, she founded her own company, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, which disbanded at the end of 2017.

The recipient of several honorary degrees, Farrell remains well-known and respected in the world of ballet and has been recognized for her influence on dance with several awards and honors, including Kennedy Center Honors and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the latter being the highest civilian honor in the United States. She was presented in 1987 with the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement at a ceremony in Scottsdale, Arizona. She was also elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.

Early life

Farrell was born Roberta Sue Ficker in Cincinnati, Ohio. She received her early training at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. In 1960, she was selected to study at choreographer George Balanchine's School of American Ballet with a Ford Foundation scholarship. In 1961, she joined the New York City Ballet (NYCB) and became Balanchine's muse for many of his ballets. In 1965, she was promoted to principal dancer. Her first role in her new title was Agon with Arthur Mitchell at the Paris Opera. George Balanchine quickly fell in love with his "alabaster princess" and created many roles for her. Farrell described learning choreography from Balanchine as a collaborative process, saying, "When Mr. B was working on a ballet, something would just spill out of his body; he could rarely duplicate it, so I tried to see precisely what he wanted the first time."

Balanchine was married to the polio-stricken former ballerina Tanaquil Le Clercq, however, and Farrell was a Catholic. Though Balanchine divorced LeClercq to pursue Farrell, she instead married fellow dancer Paul Mejia. This caused the relationship of Farrell and Balanchine to fracture. There was enormous tension between them, which caused Farrell and husband Mejia to leave the company. Mejia and Farrell were married from 1969 to 1997.

thumb|Farrell and George Balanchine in [[Don Quixote (ballet)|Don Quixote]]

She and her husband later joined the European company Ballet of the 20th Century of the French choreographer Maurice Béjart, based in Brussels. With this company she danced leading roles, some created for her, for four years, exploring a style of choreography completely different from Balanchine's. During this time, Farrell found herself often paired with the Argentine dancer, Jorge Donn. She eventually returned to Balanchine and the New York City Ballet in 1975. Balanchine continued to create new ballets for her, such as Chaconne, Mozartiana, Tzigane and Robert Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze. While living in New York City, she appeared in the 1979-1980 season of the children's television show Sesame Street.

Farrell's partnership with Balanchine lasted until his death in April 1983; his last works were solos for her. She retired from the New York City Ballet at age 44 on November 26, 1989, after being fired by Martins due to her three-year long absence from the stage, which was caused by her arthritis.

In 2000, Farrell began teaching in the Dance Department at Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida).

Despite positive reviews and an annual budget ranging from $1-$1.4 million, the center announced in September 2016 that the company would be disbanding at the end of the 2017 performance season. Deborah Rutter, President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, noted that the center would be undergoing a new expansion project to include additional performance and rehearsal space. Farrell's new role in the organization remained unclear, however, Rutter emphasized that Farrell would continue to be an "artistic partner" at the center.

See also

  • Women in dance

References

Further reading and viewing

  • Suzanne Farrell, Toni Bentley, Holding on to the Air (Summit Books, New York, 1990)
  • Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse, 1996 documentary film
  • The Suzanne Farrell Ballet
  • Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell
  • Archival footage of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet performing Clarinade in 2006 at Jacob's Pillow.
  • Photos of Suzanne Farrell, Getty Images
  • The Ballerina Gallery – Suzanne Farrell
  • Capezio Dance Award – Suzanne Farrell 2005
  • 2003 BOMB Magazine interview of Suzanne Farrell by Emily Fragos