regarding TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX and its fouette sequence, this element was a variable over the years, certainly this was true in the last 12 years or so when i was seeing the ballet performed under balanchine's eye - i can't say for certain if they were there for verdy at the 1960 premiere, tho' i assume they were - )

Verdy looks at the final part of the coda. “Really that hasn’t changed much.” Somogyi bourrées forward and does alternating single and double fouettés ending with a perfectly nailed triple. Verdy recalls the original version. “I did relevé [in back attitude] en tournant slowly off the music . . .[Balanchine] said ‘Do what you want here’ . . .but then I changed it when I saw what it looked like. It was a nice idea but I don’t think any one would want to do it. It was counter the mood.” She asks Somogyi “just to try . . . just for the record. Keep your nice double fouettés.”

In my opinion, a must-have is Dancing for Mr. B, which, unfortunately, is not available on amazon or through the NYCB gift shop. IIRC it included was a clip of Hayden in Stars and Stripes. (Am I having a hallucinatory Senior Moment?)

Sounds like it's time to convert those VHS tapes to DVD.

Everything was so clean and crisp and musical and spontaneous. And utterly modern, for those people who seem to believe that dancers pre-90s danced like stiff boards.

If I recall correctly, her studio was on the top floor of 1845 Broadway (W side of street between 60-61st). The building is still there, but by the time I was studying with Gabriella Darvash ca 1985 (on the third floor - one below) that studio was an annex of Steps and Robert Blankshine taught there.

The tribute - organized by the arts school, where Hayden taught an estimated 6,000 students from 1983 until just a few weeks before her death - will feature performances by many current and former NCSA students whom Hayden taught.

The list of NCSA alumni who will be performing is impressive - Gillian Murphy and Maria Riccetto of American Ballet Theatre; Joseph Phillips of the San Francisco Ballet; Jared Redick of the Boston Ballet; and Deanna Seay and Kyra Homeres of the Miami City Ballet. Non-NCSA alumni scheduled to perform include Ashley Bouder of the New York City Ballet, and Marcelo Gomes and David Hallberg of American Ballet Theatre.

In many cases the dancers will be performing works choreographed by George Balanchine - Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Stars and Stripes, Serenade and Apollo. Balanchine, probably the 20th century's greatest choreographer of classical ballets, ran the New York City Ballet from 1948 until 1983, the year he died. He asked Hayden to originate many parts in his ballets or dance others in post-premiere performances. Hayden later staged many Balanchine works at NCSA, securing the rare permission to do so from the Balanchine Foundation.

Several of Hayden's friends will speak at next Sunday's tribute, including [Arthur] Mitchell; Jacques d'Amboise, who also danced with Hayden at the New York City Ballet; Susan McCullough, the current dean of NCSA's dance division; and Robert Lindgren, NCSA's founding dance dean, who hired Hayden.

That season when I was just here in New York, just looking because I was still a member of San Francisco Ballet, I saw her do "Swan Lake." "She could make me cry -- her port de bras was so beautiful. Those long incredible arms."