Suki Schorer
Suki Schorer is an American ballet dancer, ballet mistress, teacher, and writer. She danced with George Balanchine's New York City Ballet from 1959 to 1972. Suki Schorer teaches at the School of American Ballet,[1] the official school of the New York City Ballet and is a Balanchine Trust répétiteur.
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[edit] Biography
Suki Schorer received her early professional training at the San Francisco Ballet School and joined the San Francisco Ballet in 1956. She continued her ballet studies with Lew Christensen as a member of the Company and also attended the University of California at Berkeley. In 1959, at the invitation of George Balanchine, she joined the New York City Ballet where she took his daily classes for over a decade. In 1968, she was made a principal dancer. Her repertory included principal roles in Apollo, Serenade, Concerto Barocco, Symphony in C, Ivesiana, Stars and Stripes, Tarantella and Jewels among others. Balanchine made solo roles on her in Don Quixote, Raymonda Variations, Harlequinade, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Almost from the beginning of her tenure at the New York City Ballet, she began to teach at the School of American Ballet and she occasionally taught company class. Later, Mr. B asked her to teach a "newcomers" class for dancers joining the company. At his request, she toured the US as a talent scout for the School of American Ballet and assisted him in seminars for ballet teachers that were organized with support from the Ford Foundation.
On her retirement from the Company in 1972, Mr. B organized a new class of advanced girls at SAB of which she was to be the principal teacher. In 1998, she was appointed to the Brown Foundation Senior Faculty Chair at the School, which remains her principal commitment. In addition to teaching, she has staged a ballet annually for SAB's Workshop and excerpts for appearances in other venues by SAB students.
[edit] Publications
She is also a dance writer:
- 1991 : contribution to I Remember Balanchine, Francis Mason, Doubleday
- 1999 : Suki Schorer on Balanchine Technique, Knopf. In 2000 winner of de la Torre Bueno Prize, translated in French and in Italian. A japanese edition is in progress.
- 1999 : contribution to First Lessons in Ballet de Lise Friedman, Workman
- 2003 : contribution to Balanchine: Celebrating a Life in Dance, Costas, Tide-Mark Press
- 2003 : contribution to Grace under pressure : passing dance through time, Proscenium Publishers, Inc.
- 2005 : Put Your Best Foot Forward, Workman
- 2008 : contribution to Balanchine then and now, Sylph Editions (p. 101–109 Suki Schorer in conversation with Ann Hogan)
[edit] Videography
- 1992 : VHS Music for ballet class- Intermediate Pointe Class, Bodarc Productions
- 1995 : 9 videos – The Balanchine Essays, The Balanchine Library. Nonesuch, 1995–96. Analysis of details of Balanchine's approach to classical technique, with Merrill Ashley
- 1997 :Marie-Jeanne coaching Concerto Barocco with John Taras and Suki Schorer. The G.Balanchine Foundation
- 1997 : VHS Encore – Ballet Pointe class, Bodarc Productions
- 1998 : VHS Arte : Balanchine lives!
- 1999 : contribution to Antonina Tumkovsky – 50 years at the School of American Ballet
- 2001 : Living a Ballet Dream: Six Dancers Tell Their Stories – Richard Blanshard – SAB
- 2003 : VHS Legends – Beginning Pointe Class, Bodarc Productions
- 2008 : DVD School of American Ballet, serving the classical vision SAB
- 2008 : DVD Bringing Balanchine back
[edit] Awards
- 1992 : Who’s Who in America.
- 1997 : Distinguished Teacher in the Arts - National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts.
- 1998 : Dance Magazine Award.
- 2000 : de la Torre Bueno Prize
- 2001 : Century Association of New York
[edit] Bibliography
- Balanchine: a biography, Bernard Taper, Times Books 1984
- But first a school, Jennifer Dunning, Viking Penguin 1985
- La tecnica e lo stile di Balanchine, Carla Wertenstein, Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Roma 2007
- Conversations with Great Teachers – Suki Schorer p. 86, Bill Smoot, Indiana University Press, 2010
[edit] Articles
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