Suzanne Farrell

Suzanne Farrell (neé Roberta Sue Ficker; born 1945) was a versatile classical ballerina who performed with Balanchine and the Ballet of the Twentieth Century. During her almost 30-year career she performed 75 roles in 70 ballets.

Roberta Sue Ficker, who later selected the name Suzanne Farrell from a phone book, was born on August 16, 1945. She was the third of three daughters of a lower-middle-class family who lived in Mt. Healthy, a quiet town outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Her parents divorced when Farrell was nine. Her main concern was her mother's happiness, and she claims this experience taught her to be adaptable at an early age.

Farrell always dreamed of being a clown but began to dance when she was eight to overcome being an imaginative and spunky tomboy. She and her sisters frequently invited neighbors to attend carnivals held in their garage or back yard. It was not unusual for Suzanne to have choreographed a dance in which her partners were kitchen chairs. By age 10, she had organized the New York City Ballet Juniors, a group of girls from her dance classes. Her first stage experience, at age 12, was with the Cincinnati Summer Opera where she performed in various ballets.

Succeeding in the Arts

Farrell's mother recognized her daughter's talents and was determined that she succeed in the arts. She studied ballet at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music after her school day at Ursuline Academy. Her mother supported her interest in performing and in attending concerts. She once wrote an excuse for her to miss school so she could see the New York City Ballet dance in Bloomington, Indiana. After seeing "Symphony in C," Farrell decided she wanted to dance with that company, where she felt she would fit in. The company seemed more alive and energetic than other companies.

One day Diana Adams, a scout from the School of American Ballet in New York, observed Farrell and invited her to audition for entrance to the school. In 1960, at age 15, Farrell was one of 12 students to be awarded a full Ford Foundation scholarship into their preparatory program for professional dancers. Without money or housing, her family moved to New York, a strange city to them, and lived in a one-room apartment. Farrell's mother worked 20-hour shifts as a night nurse to support them.

As a "small fish in a big pond," Farrell realized that only she was in charge of her life. The program's major goal was to develop the technical strength and the unique creativity of each student. George Balanchine, head of the school, stressed that what they did with the technique was important. Having it was not enough. Within a year, Farrell joined the company while attending high school at Rhodes. She made her corps de ballet debut in Todd Bolender's "Creation of the World" and George Balanchine's "Stars and Stripes." At 19, she was the youngest principal dancer to dance a solo while in the corps. She was the Dark Angel in "Serenade." Two years later she performed in the world premiere of "Jewels," a signature work.

Balanchine

One cannot talk about Suzanne Farrell without discussing her relationship with Balanchine. Very early, he began to give her opportunities to learn ballets and parts, sometimes superseding more veteran dancers. He collaborated with her on choreography by pushing her to take risks and allowing her to express herself through the choreography. Until she left four years after becoming a star, she was central to him and he to her. Often referred to as his "muse," she attributed this to her strong belief in him and what he was doing. He trained and perhaps molded her as he wanted. Farrell embodied his ideal and this became the norm for the company. Long-legged, gorgeous, and extraordinarily musical, she became known for her backbends, high extensions, and versatility.

Balanchine had not separated his art from life in the past and Farrell, who was immature, was very focused on her dancing. Pleasing him on stage was all she thought about, and in fact she said later that it was like the child for whom time and distance do not shake the ties he has with his parents. She described him as a feminist celebrating the independence of women while he had them on a pedestal. Some say some of his choreography, such as "Don Quixote" and "Meditation," were autobiographical, reflecting the blending of their private and professional lives. Farrell was referred to as the "5th Mrs. B" since Balanchine had previously married four of his ballerinas. They never married but other company members resented their relationship and some resigned from the company. Farrell became isolated. Despite this friction, she danced with and appreciated the uniqueness of each of her many outstanding partners, claiming that each brought out something different in her dancing. They included Balanchine, Jacques d'Amboise, Peter Martins, Edward Villela, and Jean-Pierre Bonnefeux. She performed in numerous premiers, including "Tzigane," "Caconne," "Union Jack," and "Vienna Waltzes," as well as in "Meditation," "Mozartiana," "Don Quixote," "Four Temperaments," and "Apollo," to mention only a few which are considered to be some of the most dazzling ballets of this century.

Self-imposed Exile

In 1969 her marriage to Paul Mejia, a young company dancer from Peru, created some confusion for her and affected his career. (They divorced in the mid-1990s.) He felt Balanchine was not casting him appropriately and finally, in mid-season in May of that year, they left the company with their three cats, Top, Bottom, and Middle. Maurice Bejart had seen Farrell perform the first full length "Swan Lake" with the National Ballet of Canada and sent her a telegram inviting her to join his company. They joined his Brussels-based Ballet of the Twentieth Century the following year. They both enjoyed touring and the experience of working with a style and approach which in its theatrically and reputation for being avant-garde was a dramatic departure from Balanchine's classicism. Even though Farrell performed in over 30 ballets which were composed or revived for her, she referred to this time as "exile."

A series of knee and hip injuries which had begun 20 years before developed into severe and increasingly limiting arthritis. By the 1970s doctors predicted that Farrell would never again dance. After a hip replacement and the emotional, psychological, and physical struggle involved in a prolonged hospitalization and rigorous program of physical therapy, she did in fact return to perform on pointe.

Reconciliation and Return to New York

After seeing the New York City Ballet perform again in 1974, she asked to return and did so in 1975. She also reconciled with Balanchine, and from it came the late masterworks created for Farrell: "Chaconne," "Davidsbundlertanze" and "Mozartiana." Farrell demonstrated her versatility by dancing leads in ballets choreographed by Jerome Robbins, Jacques d'Amboise, and Stanley Williams and to choreographically innovative ballets with a variety of scores, such as serial music of Stravinsky and "chance" music of Xanakis.

Blanchine died in 1983 and Farrel gave her last performance six years later, at the age of 44, on November 26, 1989, in a performance of "Vienna Waltzes" and "Sophisticated Lady." Farrell made her last bow to "Mr. B" in the presence of Lincoln Kirstein and Peter Martin. She commented that it was easy to get there but difficult to stay there or to hold on to the air. She now restages Balanchine ballets all over the world. Their famously unconsummated relationship lives on in an Oscar-nominated Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse—a relationship so consuming, that she says she considered suicide.

According to Arlene Croce, she was thought of as "the supreme classicist of our time." She had a reputation for versatility, having performed 75 roles in 70 ballets, starred in three feature-length ballet films, and performed in the Dance in America series and nationally telecast concert at the Kennedy Center in honor of Balanchine. In 1965 she was the recipient of the Merit Award of Mademoiselle magazine and the Award of Merit in Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Cincinnati. In 1979 Farrell received New York City's Award of Honor for Arts and Culture for a record of distinguished achievement in the world of dance, and in 1980 Brandeis University's Creative Arts Award.

Further Reading

Holding On To The Air (1954) by Suzanne Farrell with Toni Bentley is the only book about her. Objectivity is a problem, particularly where Balanchine is involved. A sense of overwhelming debt to him pervades the book and may cloud her account. □

FARRELL, Suzanne

(b. 16 August 1945 in Cincinnati, Ohio), principal ballerina of the New York City Ballet beginning in the early 1960s.

Born Roberta Sue Ficker, Farrell was one of three daughters of Robert and Donna Ficker. Donna, a nurse, prided herself on her daughter's athletic ability and grace. Farrell began studying ballet at the age of eight, about the time her parents divorced. In 1955 she received her first opportunity to perform onstage, as Clara in a touring presentation of The Nutcracker by the Ballet Russe. Two years later she formed the New York City Ballet Juniors.

Farrell, an admirer of Jacques d'Amboise and Diana Adams, never dreamed that she would one day have the opportunity to work with both dancers. While attending Ursuline Academy in Cincinnati, Farrell also attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. In 1958 she auditioned for Diana Adams and the Ford Foundation scholarship program with the New York City Ballet, and although she did not initially receive the scholarship to study at the School of American Ballet (SAB), she did receive an invitation to meet with Adams at SAB.

In August 1960 she auditioned for SAB, although not for Adams but for noted choreographer George Balanchine. Her audition was a success, and on 19 August, at the age of fifteen, she was awarded a full scholarship for the 1960–1961 school year. By the end of the year, she had been offered a position in Balanchine's company despite the fact that her left foot had been injured several years before, leaving her without the arch necessary for a ballet dancer. At the age of sixteen, with the new name Suzanne Farrell, she danced her first solo in Balanchine's Serenade.

Farrell's rise to stardom occurred quickly; by the summer of 1965, at the age of nineteen, she had been promoted to the company's highest rank, that of principal dancer. At five feet, seven inches in height, Farrell was slightly tall for a dancer, but her quick and rhythmical allegro as well as her graceful leg extensions dominated the stage. She began immediately to work on the role of Dulcinea in Balanchine's Don Quixote, a performance that was a personal triumph. She later commented, "Even with the audience, dancing has always been a very private affair."

The role was more than just a stage persona, however. On the night of the premiere, Balanchine danced as Don Quixote, a move critics feel was highly symbolic, as the tale of a romantic artist in pursuit of perfection in the form of a virtuous woman seemed to mimic Farrell and Balanchine's offstage relationship. Although Farrell was flattered by the attention Balanchine paid to her, she was not enamored with him. She wrote in her autobiography, "It broke my heart not to be able to give him everything he wanted, but I couldn't.… Even if it had been bliss, I think we would have lost something on another level." During the next two years, Farrell danced with Arthur Mitchell in Pithoprakta and in Balanchine's memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Requiem Canticles, set to a 1966 score by Stravinsky. In the 1968 season alone Farrell was cast in the leading role of forty-one ballets.

It was at the height of her career that Farrell met Paul Mejia, a Peruvian-born New York City Ballet soloist, two years her junior. Their relationship was a friendship at first, but as their bond strengthened, so did their desire to keep their romance a secret, particularly from Balanchine. Farrell and Mejia married on 21 February 1969, the first Saturday of the layoff at the end of the ballet season, a day that they knew Balanchine would not be in town. Upon his return, Balanchine virtually ignored Farrell and excluded her and Mejia from performances. Farrell and Mejia never had children, and divorced in the mid-1990s.

The two resigned from the company in May 1969, and in September Farrell temporarily joined the National Ballet of Canada. By November 1970, Farrell and Mejia had joined the Ballet of the Twentieth Century, directed by Maurice Bejart and located in Brussels, Belgium. Somewhat more avant-garde and theatrical than Balanchine's style, the Bejart style did not initially appeal to Farrell, but the four years that she and Mejia spent with Bejart strengthened her dancing. In 1974 Farrell and Mejia returned to New York City. Farrell resumed partnering with Jacques d'Amboise and began dancing with Peter Martins, and Mejia assumed the direction of the Ballet Guatemala.

In April 1983 Balanchine died in his sleep, and Farrell danced Ballet d'Isoline in his honor. Farrell's hip soon began causing her pain, and in February 1987 she underwent a hip replacement operation. Farrell danced for the New York City Ballet for almost three more years, formally retiring on 26 November 1989 with a presentation of Vienna Waltzes and Sophisticated Lady. Since her retirement Farrell has remained active, dancing in the Masters of 20th Century Ballet, a ten-city road show that opened in Washington, D.C., and closed in New York City, in 1999. She is a much-sought-after dance instructor, and joined the Florida State University dance department in the fall of 2000.

Further information about Farrell's life and career can be found in her autobiography, Holding on to the Air: An Autobiography (1990, with Toni Bentley), and in Arlene Croce, Sight Lines (1987). Details about Balanchine's influence on Farrell are in Lynn Garafola, "Suzanne Farrell, Teacher: Holding on to Balanchine," Dance Magazine 71, no. 5 (1997): 56–63.

Jennifer Harrison