Gelsey Kirkland

Last updated

Gelsey Kirkland
Born
Gelsey Kirkland

(1952-12-29) December 29, 1952 (age 71)
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Spouses
  • Greg Lawrence (div.)
  • Michael Chernov
Parents

Gelsey Kirkland (born December 29, 1952) is an American ballerina. She received early ballet training at the School of American Ballet. [1] Kirkland joined the New York City Ballet in 1968 at age 15, at the invitation of George Balanchine. She was promoted to soloist in 1969, and principal in 1972. She went on to create leading roles in many of the great twentieth century ballets by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor, including Balanchine's revival of The Firebird , Robbins' Goldberg Variations , and Tudor's The Leaves are Fading.

Contents

Balanchine re-choreographed his version of Stravinsky's The Firebird specifically for her. [2] She left the New York City Ballet to join the American Ballet Theatre in 1974 as a principal dancer.[ citation needed ]

Kirkland appeared in the dance role of Clara Stahlbaum in Mikhail Baryshnikov's 1977 televised production of The Nutcracker , which Baryshnikov also acted in as the titular Nutcracker/Prince. She left the American Ballet Theatre in 1984.[ citation needed ]

Early life and education

Kirkland was born December 29, 1952, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. [3] Her father, Jack Kirkland, was a playwright who penned the Broadway adaptations of Tobacco Road and Tortilla Flat . [4] [5] Her mother, Nancy Hoardley, was an actress. Her sister, Johnna Kirkland, also studied at the School of American Ballet and danced with the New York City Ballet. [6]

While with the New York City Ballet from 1968 to 1974, Kirkland performed as a soloist and principal dancer in several ballets including Concerto Barocco , The Cage , Irish Fantasy, Symphony in C , La Source , Theme and Variations, Tarantella , Harlequinade, The Nutcracker , and Dances at a Gathering . [1]

Career

Kirkland joined the American Ballet Theatre in 1974, and performed as a principal dancer in a number of classical ballets including the title role in Giselle, Kitri in Don Quixote, Clara in The Nutcracker, Swanilda in Coppélia, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, the Sylph in La Sylphide, Lise in La Fille Mal Gardée, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Nikiya in The Kingdom of the Shades, the Mazurka and pas de deux in Les Sylphides, and the Sleepwalker in La Sonnambula. [1]

Kirkland was repeatedly fired (but always rehired) by American Ballet Theatre for drug abuse and erratic behavior. It was her partner Patrick Bissell who had introduced her to cocaine, which the two did together. Kirkland said many of the dancers in the company were doing all kinds of drugs to cope with the pressures of dancing. In spite of her substance abuse, she became a prima ballerina.[ citation needed ]

Kirkland was featured on the May 1, 1978, cover of Time . [7]

In 1986, Kirkland retired from performing, becoming a ballet teacher, choreographer, and coach. [1]

In 2006, she was awarded the Dance Magazine Award. [8]

In 2007, Kirkland, Michael Chernov, and American Ballet Theatre artistic director Kevin McKenzie choreographed a new production of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty , in which, after an absence from the stage of more than 20 years, she danced the role of "Carabosse, the Wicked Fairy". [9]

In 2010, Kirkland and Chernov established the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet (GKACB), where they served as co-Artistic Directors. [10] The Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet was accompanied by the Gelsey Kirkland Ballet company. The ballet company presented classical ballets in New York City. [11] The company eventually closed.

Books

Kirkland's first autobiography, Dancing on My Grave (1986), written with her then-husband Greg Lawrence, was a memoir chronicling her artistic transformation from George Balanchine's "baby ballerina" to one of the more acclaimed ballerinas of her generation. The book describes in detail her struggles with her domestic family problems, sibling rivalry, anorexia, bulimia, plastic surgeries, drug addiction, her quest for artistic perfection, and her complicated love affairs with Mikhail Baryshnikov and numerous other men, most of whom she encountered in the ballet world. Dancing on My Grave was dedicated to Joseph Duell, a dancer with the New York City Ballet who had committed suicide that same year, in 1986, in hopes "that the cry for help might yet be heard". [12]

Kirkland's second autobiography, The Shape of Love (1990), dealt with her move to England to dance with The Royal Ballet, her attempts to get a fresh start with her first husband, and her return to American Ballet Theatre with a clean slate and a renewed outlook on life.[ citation needed ] She danced Romeo and Juliet with Anthony Dowell and Sleeping Beauty with Stephen Jeffries.

In 1993, Kirkland and her husband eventually collaborated again on a children's book, The Little Ballerina and Her Dancing Horse about a little girl who loves ballet but might not be able to keep dancing if she keeps riding her horse Sugar.[ citation needed ]

Personal life

Kirkland was married to writer Greg Lawrence and they collaborated on each other's projects until they divorced. She currently lives in Maine with her second husband, dancer, choreographer, and teacher Michael Chernov, who was also with ABT.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikhail Baryshnikov</span> Latvian and American dancer (born 1948)

Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was the preeminent male classical dancer of the 1970s and 1980s. He subsequently became a noted dance director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Martins</span> Danish ballet dancer and choreographer (born 1946)

Peter Martins is a Danish former ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as balletmaster in 1981. He retired from dancing in 1983, having achieved the rank of danseur noble, becoming Co-Ballet Master-In-Chief with Robbins. From 1990 until January 2018, he was solely responsible for artistic leadership of City Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Kent (dancer)</span> American ballet dancer

Julie Kent is an American ballet dancer; she was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre from 1993 to June 2015. In 2016, she was named the artistic director of The Washington Ballet. She became co-artistic director at the Houston Ballet in July 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalia Makarova</span> Soviet and American ballet dancer

Natalia Romanovna Makarova is a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. The History of Dance, published in 1981, notes that "her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her as the finest ballerina of her generation in the West."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altynai Asylmuratova</span> Kazakh-born Ballerina, Teacher, and Artistic Director

Altynai Abduakhimkyzy Asylmuratova is a Kazakh-born former ballerina who is artistic director of the ballet company at Astana Opera. She is a former prima ballerina with the Kirov Ballet and a guest artist all over the world.

The Minnesota Ballet is a ballet company and school located in Duluth, Minnesota. Founded in 1965 by Donna Harkins and Jan Gibson as the Duluth Civic Ballet, the company has since expanded into a touring company with seventeen professional artists. From 1992 to 2007 the Artistic Executive Director of the Minnesota Ballet was Allen Fields, who retired to become Artistic Director Emirtus. Fields acquired rights to works by choreographers including Agnes de Mille, Antony Tudor, and George Balanchine. He was succeeded by Robert Gardner. In 2019 Karl von Rabenau was appointed Artistic Director. The Minnesota Ballet entered its 54th season in 2019/20.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Misa Kuranaga</span> Japanese ballerina

Misa Kuranaga is a Japanese ballerina. She is a principal dancer at the San Francisco Ballet. She was formerly a dancer at Boston Ballet, and was the first Asian person to be promoted to principal dancer there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Élisabeth Platel</span> French prima ballerina (born 1959)

Élisabeth Platel is a French prima ballerina.

Helgi Tomasson is an Icelandic choreographer, and a former professional ballet dancer. He served as artistic director and principal choreographer for San Francisco Ballet.

Gonzalo Garcia is a Spanish American ballet dancer. He joined the San Francisco Ballet in 1998, and was promoted to principal in 2002, at age 22. In 2007, he left the company and joined the New York City Ballet. He retired from performing in 2022 and remains in the company as a repertory director.

Sallie Wilson was a ballerina who appeared with New York City Ballet where she danced opposite Martha Graham in the premiere of Graham and George Balanchine's collaboration at NYCB, Episodes in May, 1959, and subsequently with American Ballet Theatre, where she was associated with several ballets created by Antony Tudor. In 1966, she achieved a triumph as Hagar in ABT's revival of Tudor's ballet Pillar of Fire, set to the music of Arnold Schoenberg's Transfigured Night. The ballet is loosely based on the poem that inspired the Schoenberg piece rather than the Biblical story of Hagar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Bissell</span> American ballet dancer

Walter Patrick Bissell was an American danseur. He was a leading principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. On his death at age 30 from a drug overdose, he was described by the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre and personal ballet eminence Mikhail Baryshnikov as "without a doubt one of the brightest lights in American Ballet Theater's history, or, for that matter, in the entire ballet world". Bissell was noted for his height and athleticism. His most famous role was as Solor in La Bayadère. His death prompted investigations into the alleged widespread drug use within the American Ballet Theatre.

Tina LeBlanc is an American ballet dancer, teacher and ballet master. She joined the Joffrey Ballet in 1988. In 1992, she joined the San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer. She retired in 2009, then joined the faculty of the San Francisco Ballet School, before returning to the San Francisco Ballet as a ballet master in 2019.

Magali Messac, a French-American ballet dancer, was born and raised in the south of France, where she received her early training from Olga and Henry Taneeff.

Molly Smolen is an American ballet dancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Jaffe</span> American ballerina

Susan Jaffe is an American ballet dancer and arts administrator. She is currently the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre, where she had danced for 22 years and held the rank of principal dancer. She previously served as the dean of the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the artistic director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.

Manola Asensio is a former Swiss ballet dancer. She was born to a Swiss father and an English-born mother. In 1956 she began studying at the ballet school of La Scala in Milan, where she stayed until she became a professional in 1964. After a short season with the La Scala Theatre Ballet, she joined the ballet of the Grand Théâtre de Genève in Geneva, Switzerland where she was directed by Janine Charrat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jurgita Dronina</span> Russian-Lithuanian ballet dancer (born 1986)

Jurgita Dronina is a Russian-Lithuanian ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, having previously danced with Royal Swedish Ballet, Dutch National Ballet and English National Ballet.

Indiana Woodward is a French ballet dancer. She joined the New York City Ballet in 2012, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2021.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Gelsey Kirkland". American Ballet Theatre. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  2. ↑ Paul Gray (May 1, 1978). "Dance: U.S. Ballet Soars". Time. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
  3. ↑ Rodger, Liam; Bakewell, Joan (2011). Chambers Biographical Dictionary (Ninth ed.). London, UK: Chambers Harrap. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Jack Kirkland". IBDB.
  5. ↑ Christiansen, Richard (October 5, 1986). "Gelsey Kirkland's Life With Drugs, And Baryshnikov". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  6. ↑ Paul Gray (May 1, 1978). "Dance: U.S. Ballet Soars". Time. Archived from the original on January 2, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Cover". Time. May 1, 1978. Archived from the original on December 7, 2007.
  8. ↑ Hay, Bruno; Beaumont, Olivier; Fleurence, Nolwenn; Lambeng, Nora; Cataldi, Michel; Lorrette, Christophe; Knopp, Kevin; Hartmann, Jürgen; Beckstein, Fabia; Stobitzer, Dorothea; Milošević, Nenad; Stepanić, Nenad; Wu, Jiyu; Mildeova, Petra (February 4, 2023). "Inter-laboratory Comparison on Thermal Diffusivity Measurements by the Laser Flash Method at Ultra-high Temperature" . International Journal of Thermophysics. 44 (4). doi:10.1007/s10765-023-03159-5. ISSN   0195-928X.
  9. ↑ "The Sleeping Beauty - McKenzie/Kirkland/Chernov". American Ballet Theatre. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Faculty". Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet.
  11. ↑ "Home". Gelsey Kirkland Ballet. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  12. ↑ Kirkland, Gelsey (1986). Dancing on My Grave. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. pp. v. ISBN   0-385-19964-3.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.