Gelsey Kirkland (Variation From Thème and Variations)

Gelsey Kirkland was one of the greatest ballerinas of her generation. I first became aware of her when she was still at SAB at around 13 yrs-old. I then choreographed a ballet using her for SAB when she was just 15 (to music by Plisetskaya’s husband, Rodion Shchedrin, and Plisetskaya came to the in my book), and Balanchine took her into the company soon after. Then I choreographed two major ballets for her, and became one of her most frequent I knew her pretty well. Balanchine, and everyone else, simply adored her in her early years with the company. It wasn’t until she came under the influence of the teacher Maggie Black did things go south for her with Balanchine. I’m still kicking myself that I’m the one who took her to Maggie in the first place. Maggie had become quite popular with some of the biggest ballerinas of that time, and Verdy, Hayden, and Makarova, were her earliest advocates, but like me, they soon dropped away. Gelsey, however, became the Trilby