I took the example of the Sturm und Drang surrounding Balanchine’s demise as to who would lead NYCB in the future, and thought about NDI: “Don’t wait. Set up your replacement.” So I asked Ellen Weinstein if she would share with me the responsibility to run NDI, and if she wanted, to take over. That was almost two decades ago, and one of the few times in my life I showed any wisdom.
Ellen had been a student of mine when I was dean of dance at SUNY Purchase and then went off for a career as a dancer. Several years later, she popped up in New York. “I’d like to try teaching a little bit. Do you think I could?” Then, a little bit later, “I’ll teach, but I won’t choreograph. I don’t know how.” Then came, “I’ll choreograph, but I won’t direct. I don’t know how.” Then, “Okay, I’ll direct, but I’ll need help.” Every step Ellen took, she overwhelmed her doubts, and today she guides NDI into its future.
The program started in New Mexico I passed on to Catherine Oppenheimer. Catherine had been at SAB with my twins, and had gone on to perform with NYCB. After Balanchine’s death, she danced with the Twyla Tharp company, left and joined NDI. In New Mexico she has made a superb NDI model and a huge success. One of our earliest and most loyal board members, Val Diker, funded and guided that New Mexico program until it was stable and healthy.
Lori Klinger was responsible for seeding a program in Ohio, and in Richmond, Virginia, called Minds in Motion. Lori is artistic director for Rosie O’Donnell’s musical theater program, Rosie’s Broadway Kids. And there is Tracy Straus, a teacher-choreographer of sunlit ability; she brings joy with dance like a female Johnny Appleseed, birthing NDI babies wherever she goes. From coast to coast, there are NDI programs.
Ballet rarely interests me now. No more can I make love—through coaching, partnering, dancing with and sharing the stage—with those beautiful ballerinas and artists that grace the ballet. When I’m in the audience and I see a ballerina of such incandescence, I yearn to dance with her, to touch and lift, to manipulate and feel the heft of her, and the magic of her movement. Impossible now, for this older guy with bad feet and knee replacements, daydreaming in the audience of rolling the Russian star Diana Vishneva in my arms!