Music for Dance Interview: Gabrielle Blair
The Festival Ballet performing Swan Lake in the amphitheater in Verona, 1964. The Prince is David Adams, Odette is Irina Borowska. Gabrielle Blair is 4th or 5th from the right in the corps de ballet.
Biography:
Gabrielle Blair in Giselle, 1965
Gabrielle Blair was born in South Africa where she had her early ballet training and a further two years at the Royal Ballet School. She danced in the corps de ballet of London Festival Ballet before returning to South Africa to join the newly formed company in Johannesburg as a soloist. On emigrating to Canada, which became her new home, she broadened her dance horizons to include the Graham and Limon techniques, which offered opportunities for being an independent performer. As co-director of small touring companies, she directed, choreographed and performed for children in the schools.
She retired after twenty-two years teaching in performing arts schools in Toronto.
What was your journey towards pursuing a career as a ballerina?
I started ballet at my kindergarten school in Cape Town, South Africa and I fell in love with it. By seven years old I had made up my mind that I was going to make ballet my career. I finished my Cecchetti exams in Johannesburg and in 1961 trained for a further two years at the Royal Ballet School. In my second year, some of my class performed with the Royal Opera Ballet at Covent Garden. I was offered a position with the Covent Garden Opera Ballet, but instead was accepted into the London Festival Ballet, which later became the London Ballet. I loved our rich and eclectic repertoire and the international tours. Later I returned to Johannesburg and joined the newly formed professional company called P.A.C.T. Ballet (Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal) under the direction of my former ballet teacher, Faith de Villiers, a company in which I was a soloist. In 1968 I emigrated to Canada, studied Modern Dance at the newly formed School of the Toronto Dance Theatre learning Graham technique. My career from then on was as an independent performer, mainly in Modern Dance. Gradually I moved into teaching and spent the last 22 years before retirement, in the performing arts schools in Toronto.
What is your most cherished memory while dancing at the London Festival Ballet?
I have a few memories: Being chosen to understudy “Prelude” in Les Sylphides shortly after joining the company. I had danced that part in South Africa. Performing Swan Lake in the amphitheater in Verona to an audience of 22,000. Performing in Buenos Aires on the enormous raked stage of the Teatro Colon. An amusing memory is dancing in Manchester. I was walking to the theater for our morning class, when I saw a long queue going round the block, which I assumed was for tickets for our evening performance, only to discover that they were waiting to buy tickets for The Beatles, who were on at the same time as us. When Festival Ballet chose to remount The Haunted Ballroom, a 1930s ballet by Dame Ninette de Valois, “Madame” herself, came to stage her ballet on us. She was quirky, short-sighted and taught using the oddest way of counting, but at least I had brushed against the founder and director of the Royal Ballet.
What would you say are the main differences, if any, of ballet as an art form, between when you were dancing verses today? For example, have there been any major changes in artistic vision or expectations that you have perceived?
Absolutely, huge changes. The bar has risen to an extraordinary degree, largely influenced by the Russians and their expansive technique and bravura and much greater demands are now made of male dancers. Most notably is the inclusion and cross over of Modern Dance into the ballet repertoire, requiring ballet dancers to be much more versatile.
“Music is the spirit and soul of dance. The human body is the tool which physically manifests the soul and spirit of music.”
What does music mean to you?
I adore classical music which I consider the highest art form. I find it hard to imagine a life without what I consider 'good' music. It amazes and saddens me that I can scroll through the radio and there are countless pop music stations, but, if I'm lucky, sometimes I'll find only one classical music station. How can the repertoire of hundreds of years of glorious music not be played all the time for those who wish to hear it?
What is your favourite score or piece of music that you have danced to and why?
I have a very soft spot for Chopin's Les Sylphides, because, as I mentioned earlier, of having danced the role of Prelude which I loved. As well Adolph Adam's Giselle in which I danced the Queen of the Wilis.
If you could commission a composer to write a piece of music specifically for you to dance to, what would you look for?
Rhythm and beautiful melodies. Tchaikovsky got it, as did Prokofiev. Shostakovich's jazz pieces are also delightful giving the possibility for lighthearted comedy.
What is the relationship between music and dance to you?
Music is the spirit and soul of dance. The human body is the tool which physically manifests the soul and spirit of music. Dance in silence hardly ever works for me.
As a dancer do you have any musical inspirations?
After retiring from performing and a few years as an actress, I taught in various schools for the performing arts in Toronto, Canada. I choreographed numerous pieces and chose from a variety of composers, all of whom inspired my choreography: Bach, Britten, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Mozart, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Villa Lobos and more.
Life after dance:
Now in retirement, my husband and I split our time between living in a lakeside village in Mexico, our forest cottage in Ontario and a remote off-grid cabin in Quebec. My great love has become writing poetry which allows me to paint pictures with words and rhythm, my subject matter drawn from magical moments that pop up in my everyday life.
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HORSE PLAY
Written 28/09/13
When we were little, life one long day,
We'd play at horses, whinny and neigh.
Galloping, cantering, across white hot sand,
Barefoot we'd race til unable to stand,
We'd leap in the ocean, ice cold and raw,
Rush back to the sand, then the breakers once more.
Hopping and leaping over rock pools - what pleasure,
Filling buckets with starfish, shells and sea treasure.
Then trotting back home, sun-burnt and hungry,
We hadn't been missed and no one was angry!
The years take their toll, now the trot is an amble.
I smile when remembering the two of us scramble
Over rocks, glassy pools, in the African sun,
And I'm glad we played horses when running was fun.
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You can read many more of Gabrielle Blair’s wonderful poems here.
