Violette Verdy, Ballerina With Flair, Dies at 82.
'Violette Verdy, a French-born ballerina who became one of New York City Ballet’s most acclaimed stars by bringing her deep musicality, effervescent presence and theatrical flair to George Balanchine’s plotless ballets, died on Monday in Bloomington, Ind. She was 82.
Her cousin Annick Horville-Chateaureynaud said she died after a brief illness. Ms. Verdy lived in Bloomington and taught there at Indiana University. She had earlier directed the Paris Opera Ballet and the Boston Ballet.
When Balanchine invited Ms. Verdy to join his 10-year-old company in 1958, even she was surprised. Her personal style of inflected dancing — marked by accents, technical brio and hints of occasional drama — seemed antithetical to the straightforward pure-movement style that Balanchine promoted in City Ballet as choreographer and artistic director.
As she often recalled, she felt she would not fit in with the company’s long-legged, fleet-footed female dancers, who were encouraged to “just dance,” as Balanchine reportedly wished. These dancers were Borzois, she feared, and she would be a French poodle.
Yet today Ms. Verdy remains memorably identified with key roles she created in Balanchine ballets like “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux,” “Emeralds,” “Liebeslieder Walzer” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” After Jerome Robbins returned to the company in 1969 after a long absence, he immediately created similar signature roles for her in “Dances at a Gathering” (with its mysterious girl-in-green solo) and “In the Night.”' >>>
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