On the Scene at the Tudor Centennial Celebration

click on image to see it larger

This year marks the centennial of the birth of choreographer Antony Tudor (1908–1987), whose works, such as Jardin aux Lilas and Dark Elegies, are known as the first “psychological” ballets. Celebrations took place this spring and included performances by such companies as American Ballet Theatre, New York Theatre Ballet and The Joffrey Ballet.
    Among the events was a weekend-long Centennial Celebration hosted by the Antony Tudor Trust in collaboration with The Juilliard School at the end of March. DT contributing writer Elizabeth McPherson attended, and here she shares some of the highlights.

Tudor as Collaborator
On Saturday, after a welcome by Sally Brayley Bliss, trustee of the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust, Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi gave a presentation on the collaboration between Tudor and composer William Schuman (president of Juilliard 1945–1962) on the ballet Undertow. Drawing on research for his forthcoming biography of Schuman, Polisi read excerpts from letters between the two collaborators. In them, Tudor gave descriptive requests, such as asking for "four minutes of fear" in the music. He also seemed somewhat unnerved by the process, worrying that this was not Schuman's "best" composition. Although the ballet is considered one of Tudor's finest, it was the last project for which he collaborated with a living composer.

Recreating Tudor’s Teaching
In the next session, students from The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of American Ballet Theatre and dancers from New York Theatre Ballet participated in a recreation of a Tudor ballet class given at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School circa 1961. Former Tudor student Bonnie Mathis (now director of Boston Ballet II) taught from her recollections, with a few exercises contributed by other past pupils. Tudor's longtime accompanist, Elizabeth Sawyer, played for the class.
    The combinations were impressive and enlightening in their use of unusual timing and rhythmic structures. By beginning a tendu combination, for instance, with a plié on count one, or the tendu on the up count of the preparation, Tudor immediately changed the more common structure (out on one, in on two.) His center combinations were technically demanding, using quick changes of directions and often ending pirouettes in a relevé balance.

In the Words of Those Who Knew Him
Dance writer Clive Barnes moderated two panels in the Juilliard Theater. Comprising the first were dance professionals who once worked with Tudor, among them Eliot Feld, Amanda McKerrow, Kevin McKenzie and Kirk Peterson. Through comments both witty and insightful, Tudor emerged as a man with a defining vision for ballet. As McKenzie explained, "Tudor was interested in creating ballets that were about people,” as opposed to kings, queens, swans, etc. His works often explore the human condition— which can be intense to experience for both a performer and an audience member. Feld added: "Tudor's work does not reach out and say 'like me.’ He disdained the people whose ballets did.”
    When the group discussed ways to keep Tudor's legacy alive, Peterson suggested: "The way to honor Tudor is to do Tudor.”
    The second panel included The New York Times dance writer Anna Kisselgoff, Tudor biographer Judith Chazin-Bennahum, British archivist Jane Pritchard and Gerd Andersson, who was in the original cast of Tudor's Echoing of Trumpets. The group discussed the notion that the extremely small stages on which Tudor did his early choreography had a lasting impact on his work. Tudor called himself a "miniaturist," according to Kisselgoff, and even on a large stage, his ballets have a sense of intimacy that is perhaps the legacy of his beginnings.

Tudor's Legacy in Motion
On Sunday, four Tudor ballets were presented informally in the studio: an excerpt from [Undertow, by first-year Juilliard students, Little Improvisations, performed by JKO students, Continuo, by ABT II, and Judgment of Paris, by New York Theatre Ballet. These ballets, in combination with the previous day's performance of Dark Elegies, gave a broad overview of the depth and expansive range of Tudor's choreography.

The Centennial Celebration was a masterful demonstration of Tudor as a teacher, choreographer, visionary and person. The various sessions and performances explored aspects of the man who brought a modernist perspective to ballet within the classroom, on the stage and to our lives.

For more on Tudor, please see Elizabeth McPherson's article, "Antony Tudor: Pillar of 20th century ballet," in the August 2007 issue of DT, and visit The Antony Tudor Ballet Trust website at www.mostlyweb.com/atbt.