A couple of days ago, i was digging through old books in a second hand book store, and i found and bought, for the price of $ 3 a booklet that read "Ballet Theatre" on the cover and was sealed. It looked old, and by the title, i assumed that it was from the Company pre- ABT years, and basically to see if my beloved. Mme Alonso was listed. I was right. When i opened, i found it to be a whole panflet, with lots of pictures and information, of Ballet Theatre up to 1951. I went right away to the names, and surprise!, there's no mention of ranks, but only four names are listed in capital and horizontally at the top of the dancers list, the rest all together and in a separate group. The four names are Alicia Alonso , Mary Ellen Moylan, Igor Youskevitch and John Kriza. They are also the only ones with a biography and a full picture on the next pages. There's also a list of the choreographies the company had staged up to that year. From Balanchine, there's only three: Apollo, Waltz Academy and Theme and Variations. I know some of the BT's were able to see the company during those years, so i would like to know a couple of things:
1-Was there any formal ranking at that moment ? (There's no mention of Solists, or First Dancers, or nothing...just those names in capital and separated from the rest)
2-Why only those four dancers ? (i knew that Mme. Alonso had her peak of her career at Ballet Theatre, but i NEVER expected to be one of the only two women listed as "principals" (to call it somehow).
3-Who was Mary Ellen Moylan and how important is she considered now in the history of ABT? (Her biography calls her "the youngest of America's leading ballerinas")
4-In another page, it announces: "Ballet Theatre will open a new School of Dance in September 1951 offering a complete education in Classic Ballet. The faculty will include Agnes De Mille, William Dollar, Yurek Lazovsky, Edward Caton, Dimitri Romanoff and the stars of Ballet Theatre Alicia Alonso and Igor Youskevitch" What was the outcome of this school?
I'll appreciate any information. Thanks.

That sounds like a treasure, Cristian!

I can't speak to her importance at ABT, but to give a little background of Mary Ellen Moylan, she and Maria Tallchief were two young American dancers with whom Balanchine worked during a stint with Ballet Russe. Moylan was the original Sanguinic in Balanchine's "The Four Temperaments," a role quickly assumed by Tallchief; the ballet was on the opening program of Ballet Society, which two years later, in 1948, became New York City Ballet. She was also in a Pas de Trois in "Danse Concertantes," with Tallchief and, if I remember correctly, Nicholas Magellanes.

She was one of six Balanchine dancers interviewed in the documentary "Dancing for Mr. B: Six Balanchine Ballerinas." If you can find it in the library, it's worth watching. One of the highlights for me was listening to Moylan, and there were several short clips of her dancing as well.

Helene for your helpful information!

In the picture, Mme. Moylan looks astonishing beautiful, like a movie star. It also states that she was chosen at sexteen by Mr. B for the leading role in "Ballet Imperial". I'll certainly look for the documentary, as the works of Balanchivadze-(almost totally unknown to me before)-intrigues and impress me more and more now that i'm being so exposed to it via Mr. Villela and MCB. It also surprises me that, as i noted before, being Mme. Moylan that young, was the only female listed among the other three principals besides Mme. Alonso, (which was 31 already at the time and described as "today's one of the world's greatest classical ballerinas").

In those days dancers were not listed alphabetically...I dont think I am going out on a limb when I say that Balanchine started that. (I have always loved Tallchief's comment when she said---I don't mind being listed alphabetically---I don't want to be treated alphabetically.) Ballet Theatre usually had four names at the top and then listed soloists, and corps separately. Mary Ellen Moylan was the epitome of the Balanchine dancer; if you check around rg's sites I think you will find a photo of her.

the attached scan shows a 1948 photo of Moylan backstage as a Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dancer. the newspaper captioned glued on the back of the picture concerns what it calls 'old Russian superstitions backstage' and states: 'It's bad luck, for instance, to return to dressing room once you've started on stage. Mary Ellen Moylan, who forgot her make-up tray, has it handed to her at the door.'
this print has some crop marks on the right and some retouching on and behind Moylan's head and on the wall behind the back edge of her tutu.

In my experience working for her in the 80s, Tallchief often talked about Moylan, and I gained the impression that she too saw Moylan as "the epitome of the Balanchine dancer" (I think this also comes through in the documentary--she's pretty candid about it, as I remember), and Tallchief was very competitive with her--Moylan had a lot of the natural gifts that Tallchief lacked, esp. the feet.

Congratulations, Cristian, on your discovery. I remember a similar booklet -- from London Festival Ballet in the 50s -- that pleased a big role in getting me hooked on ballet a long time ago.

Moylan wrote a memoir for Francis Mason, ed., I Remember Balanchine. She was an early student at the School of American Ballet. She says interesting things about Ballets Russes, dancing on Broadway, working with Balanchine (including dancing Sanguinic in an early 4 Temperaments), Nijinska, etc. There's an brief account of dancing Theme and Variations and Apollo with ABT in Paris (with Youskevitch)

Cristian, if you can't find the documentary "Dancing for Mr. B: Six Balanchine Ballerinas" at a local library, Amazon still has it available on VHS. Moylan is quite delightful in it. And as you probably know, using the Amazon link at the top of the page benefits this site.

Some time ago I did a google search on MEM and found that she started a new career designing and selling paperdolls in the image of herself as a ballerina
with paper costumes to dress the dolls with.

The site is still there

http://www.paperdollreview.com/catalog/ind...ex&cPath=13

On Dancing For Mr B, Moylan is very witty and a fine interviewee; the video is well worth searching out. All six ballerinas have much to saw and for the 5 older ones, the occasion brings back many memories; not all of which are happy.

In Dancing for Mr. B, Mary Ellen Moylan recalls visiting Balanchine in the hospital toward the end of his life when he no longer spoke much. But she chould see he remembered her and "forgave me for leaving his aegis." It is greatly moving.

Thank you for the link, richard53dog!...i opened it, and found some lovely images of these paper dolls. I was wondering if any of the doll's costumes were inspired by real designs...
http://www.paperdollreview.com/catalog/ind...age&pID=284
http://www.paperdollreview.com/catalog/ind...age&pID=127