Suzanne Farrell: Ballerina the Life

Suzanne Farrell: Ballerina

The life of a ballet dancer is one of grueling hard work and endless physical effort. To be successful the dancer must deny pleasure, be self-disciplined, and willing to put in countless hours of practice and pain. Even though many of them do all this, only a few ballet dancers become famous ballerinas. Other creative qualities are necessary in addition, if a dancer is to stand out from the rest. Suzanne Farrell was such a person. She brought qualities of aspiration, imagination, and genius to the dance that made her a unique example of greatness in the ballet world.

Farrell danced for the famous choreographer George Balanchine and became his principal dancer at the New York City Ballet Company. He had artistic visions that she was able to fulfill with a unique combination of musical, physical, and dramatic gifts and abilities. She ignited Balanchine's imagination, and he made her not only famous but a symbol of the era. She danced more than 100 ballets during her career as a performer. Balanchine and other choreographers created many ballets just for her. Farrell went beyond the limits of ballerina technique and did things no one had ever done before. Because she did things other dancers had never done, she showed what was possible, and other dancers began to try to do some of those things, too. This is why she became legendary in the world of ballet. She was a leader as well as a great artist.

Farrell's 28-year career dancing in performance was much longer than usual, as ballet dancers are like football players in a sense -- their bodies wear out from the constant physical demands placed upon them. But her career in ballet did not end when arthritis in her hip forced her to retire from performance work. She began work as a teacher to pass on Balanchine's ballets to a new generation of ballet dancers, and she became a repetiteur for the George Balanchine Trust, an institution, which spreads and protects the works of George Balanchine. In this capacity she worked in Paris, Berlin, and Vienna; also, at the Kirov Ballet and the Bolshoi. Eventually, she started her own ballet company Suzanne Farrell Ballet. In recent years she is a professor of dance at Florida State University.

Farrell's career in ballet has been long and illustrious and full of honors. For example, besides the biography Holding on to Air, a film was also made in 1997 about her life -- Suzanne Farrell -- Elusive Muse that was nominated for an Academy Award. She has been awarded honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, Notre Dame, Georgetown University and others. She is a recipient of the prestigious National Medal of the Arts, the Nijinsky Award, the Capezio Dance Award and Kennedy Center Honors, to name a few.

Farrell is a role model of excellence for would-be ballerinas and a role model for anyone who wants to excel in the arts. Because her career did not end when she could no longer perform, she is a model for lifelong achievement and growth as well. She chose her career, not because she wanted to be famous, but because she loved dancing for its own sake. This is a message for any young person about to embark on a career. Don't choose a job on the basis of what it pays.

Like Suzanne Farrell, choose what you love to do most, rather than a job that promises money and/or fame.

Often what we love doing the most appears in some form in childhood. Farrell, for example, loved to play dress-up with her sisters and put on shows when she was child -- an activity that led eventually to the ballet and stage.

She started taking ballet lessons when she was a child, but because she had never been exposed to ballet, she had no idea what it would mean for her life. Her mother hoped it would give her poise and help her to learn to stay still -- although her desire and need to be always moving about probably contributed greatly to her success as a dancer later in life. There's probably a lesson for parents in that -- that sometimes the qualities their children have that drive them crazy are exactly what will help their children to succeed -- if they can find a positive way to express them.

For Farrell, ballet used the spiritual qualities that she possessed and wanted to develop. She loved music, for example, and was moved by it. Music excited emotions inside her, and she was able to express them through her strong dramatic ability. Also, a quality she had that other dancers sometimes lack was an internal awareness. Dance gave her a way to get inside her body emotionally as well as physically. It helped her to connect with herself and her feelings. Although she was seen as a cool and unemotional dancer, inside she vibrated with life when the music started.