Hi again.
I wasn't actually born when you took this shot but.......

That profile looks so like Peter Martins and the hair is right but the WRONG colour. Still that nose and the arrogant look means it has to be Martins.

My first reaction was that the girl is/was Suzi Farrell but now I am not sure. Patty MacBride?

In Romeo and Juliet?

1st guess; Martins and Farrell
2nd guess; Vilella (no, wrong hair and nose) and MacBride

Go on, TELL !!

Well now I feel truly old. You are right on Martins. Somehow his hair sometimes photographs dark even though it is (was) bright blonde. The woman is Kay Mazzo filling in for a sick Farrell. The young kid in the other pics is a 16 year old Edward Stierle before his Joffrey fame and sad end. I hope to start shooting some new stuff as soon as I can talk someone into letting me. Dance isn't big here and I'm not good at asking.

I was going to say Mazzo at first - the mouth should have been the give-away. But, never having seen her in the flesh, only on film, I somehow thought she was tiny - well, tiny for a Balanchine dancer anyway.

(One of my fav DVDs is of Balanchine's 'Stravinsky Violin Concerto' danced by Martins teamed up with Mazzo, and Bart Cook with my dream dancer, Karin von Aroldingen. Mazzo in that looks smaller than in your icture. That's what probably fooled me.)

So knowing how big Martins was/is (I met him in New York last year very briefly), I got fooled into thinking it was Patty MacB, escaped from Vilella for once.

I SO envy people who saw (and photographed) those dancers in their pomp when Mr B was alive. Any picture like yours is a MASSIVE bit of ballet history.

Good luck in trying to get in to photograph dancers in action again. May I make a suggestion? Send a small portfolio/selection of your work to the general manager and the ballet master/mistress of the company you're aiming at. Seeing the quality of your work should persuade them to give you free access.

J

PS. If you're wondering why I am up at 4 am; it's cos I am on my way for an audition in Moscow and am catching the milk-train flight.

That same night they danced Stravinsky's Agon. I can't find the negatives. It was amazing though. Mimi's exhusband Michael Avedon had probably the definitive record of the Balanchine years of NYCB. Incredible stuff. Last I heard it was just sitting in a closet in NC. I was a music student back then and have played in full performances of most of Stravinsky's ballets. Good luck with the audition. What is it for?

It's photos like these that make me desperately miss ballet. D: Beautiful shot!

--
_{I'm not some piece of teenage wildlife.}