Word: dancers
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...also a tartar and grew up in kind, gobbling up ballet lessons, putting her tiny foot down whenever anyone dared to nudge her from her chosen path. Her purpose was clear. Says Dancer Robert Weiss, an old friend: "She wanted to have the extension of the greatest dancer, the jump of the best jumper, the turns of the best turner, the dramatic possibilities of the best dramatic ballerina and the comic possibilities of a comedienne. She wanted to be perfect...
...pure dancer in Gelsey could be seen last week when A.B.T. opened its New York season with a new production of Balanchine's Theme and Variations, a ballet as precise as Don Q is broad. David Howard, one of Gelsey's two current instructors, describes the challenge: "Theme requires diamond sharpness, tremendous speed, a glittering technique. The Balanchine style is small, sharp, quick footwork." Gelsey's performance was in the way of a reprise. When she first conquered the ballet's fiendish demands at 17, she gave notice that she could do anything. Nothing she does now suggests otherwise...
...forced her to have aspirations. All accounts agree, including hers: she did it to herself. John Clifford, director of the Los Angeles Ballet company, knew the young Gelsey and was not entirely charmed. "Gelsey was born mad at the world," he says. "She was born ready to kill." Former Dancer Meg Gordon, one of Gelsey's few close friends, remembers the same thing in softer focus: "Even when we were little, her mother used to joke about it, saying, 'You must have come out of your mother's womb marching...
...most promising students in the School of American Ballet were tapped to join the corps of Balanchine's New York City Ballet, and the hope of catching Mr. B's eye spurred every young dancer on. "You cared more than anything in the world how you were impressing him," says Gelsey. When she was 15, Gelsey danced in a school production of Bournonville's Flower Festival. Dancer Villella was among the many who were impressed: "Already she was capable of making her own comment on the choreography, which usually takes many years to do." She joined Balanchine's company...
Johnna was already there. Jack Kirkland's death two months after Gelsey's 16th birthday momentarily brought the sisters together but did not dampen a long-simmering rivalry between the two. Gelsey's determination to be a better dancer than anyone else definitely included Johnna. Soon the sisters did not speak. Balanchine apparently did not help matters. Johnna remembers him asking Gelsey, "Why can't you do an adagio like your sister? Go home with your sister and have her teach you how to do an adagio." Johnna was told to learn jumping from Gelsey. The result was predictable. Says...