Just for the record: Carol Sumner talking about Mr B.

Nov 2

Nov 2 Just for the record: Carol Sumner talking about Mr B.

Ricardo Leitner

... Oh my!2

Keith Lee expressed his very precise description of Carol in just one sentence:

„Carol Sumner always exemplifies true Balanchine style and interpretation“

And how right he is.

Arts journalist Debra Levine wrote about her:

“Relatively short torso astride a dauntingly long set of legs. A straight, strong, vertically held back. A house style of aggressive physical attack. All are in evidence in photos of Carol Sumner, a former soloist with New York City Ballet. She danced for Mr Balanchine from 1958 to 1978, twenty years that she calls “the best of my life.”

Miss Sumner was born in Brooklyn and began her professional ballet training in Manhattan with Eileen O’Connor on 56th Street. At age fourteen she auditioned for the School of American Ballet and was accepted. There she studied with Antonina Tumkovsky, Helene Dudin, Felia Doubrovska, Pierre Vladimiroff, Anatol Ouboukoff and Muriel Stuart. After three years of study, she was invited to join the New York City Ballet. The corps de ballets member was immediately given demi-solo and solo roles to dance. When the Company moved from City Center to its present home at Lincoln Center, she was promoted to soloist.

Miss Sumner’s principal roles included Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, Divertimento No. 15, Agon, Western Symphony and The Nutcracker. She danced the role of Sacred Love in Frederick Ashton’s Illuminations and leading roles in Todd Bolender’s Souvenirs and Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare. Balanchine fashioned solo roles for her in Raymonda Variations, Harlequinade, Donizetti Variations, Coppelia, Clarinade, Diamonds (in the ballet Jewels), Don Quixote (divertissement), and Pulcinella, in which she was partnered by Edward Villella”

I am lucky to call her a friend. She helps me understand and teaches me more and more of Mr B’s work, visions… Her deep knowledge of his work is fascinating! Nowadays the world is quite full of so-called “Balanchine specialists” with quite odd own interpretations of his work. But listening to this Lady’s wisdom, expressed so simply, makes all the difference. And, “by the way” she was “just” there - working with him. She KNOWS what she is talking about.

Just last month I have found a programme - on it, there was a note written by my mother: “Ricardo’s first Ballet” and guess who was in it? Carol! The New York City Ballet was on tour in London… Isn’t this absolutely amazing? Who would think back in 1965 that we would be friends someday?

Here, with her kind permission, a statement about colleagues, the company, Mr B. and what he expected - all said so simply:

„Dear Ricardo, I love that you found all those programs!! Yes, I was on that tour!! WOW! The Company was at its best in those days. Jacques, Melissa, so exciting! Thank you for appreciating those who worked closely and truthfully with Mr B.

Today's dancers are very far from knowing anything about what he meant it to be - Classical Ballet in its purest form, in the Imperial style - not having his input. No destruction of the core or heart itself. Oh my! How beautiful it was to work for him and dance his Ballets. No Balanchine specialists now. If you weren't there, even if you were, it is not that easy to understand the high level he expected from us that made his Ballets look the way they did when he was still alive. Unfortunately, many people never got it, at least not to the point of being able to produce the essence of his Ballets. I would love to see the scanned programs. So glad you found them. Love. Carol”