Ballet master class offers direct line to Balanchine

For Violette Verdy, a distinguished professor of ballet at IU, this past Saturday's master class was a chance to share something unique -- a personal insight into the works of George Balanchine. The solos the students danced were those Verdy herself began performing more than 40 years ago.\nThe master class, which was open to the public and filmed by WTIU, was part of a larger project Verdy undertook to categorize and digitalize original ballet pieces choreographed for her by Balanchine. The pieces will later be archived and made available to the public. \nA grant from IU's "New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities" program funds the project.\nVerdy, who is originally from France, began dancing at the New York City Ballet in 1958 after Balanchine recommended her for the part of Juliet in his ballet "Romeo and Juliet." She ended up staying with the company for 19 years as a principal dancer. During that time, Balanchine choreographed a countless number of roles specifically for her to perform. \n"His solos were always very French and needed a lot of style, a lot of dreaming," Verdy said. "They would range from the platonic side of the French, to the ideal, and then to the lighter side, which was fresh and fun."\nBefore joining the faculty of the IU Ballet Theater, Verdy was the director of the Paris Opera Ballet and the Boston Ballet.\nVerdy said the master class was a way to show the public the work she was doing. She first taught the solos to everyone within the ballet program but then narrowed it down to just a few dancers. Students rehearsed almost every day for a month in preparation for the performance.\n"What was so great about working with Violette was that she would constantly bring up things that Balanchine had told her when she was learning the solo," said senior Stephanie Lampe. "It was as if we had a direct line back to Balanchine." \nSenior Lauren Fadeley echoed that sentiment.\n"In ballet, things tend to get lost and people don't always know how things are. Actually learning the pieces from her was so great because she had performed them many times and knew exactly how they should be," Fadeley said. \nDuring Saturday's master class, Verdy introduced each dance and showed a video of her performing the solo. After the video, dancers from IU Ballet Theater came to the floor to perform.\nFor the audience, it was a chance to see the work that goes into learning and performing a solo. It was also a chance to eliminate the invisible barrier between the audience and the performers, as the dancers were just a few short feet away from the spectators. \nAlthough the project is far from over, Verdy said she is happy she was able to give the public a little taste of her most recent undertaking.\n"The master class was a way to celebrate the grant and to continue dance education," Verdy said, "and, of course, a great way to preserve Balanchine's legacy"