How did balanchine die
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Tanaquil Le Clercq
Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel
“Ballet is an ephemeral art, embedded in the mortal human body.”
Principal ballerina Tanaquil Le Clercq (1929-2000) was the fourth and final wife of choreographer and founder of the New York City Ballet, George Balanchine. Tanaquil—known as “Tanny”—was a muse to Balanchine as well as the genre-crossing Jerome Robbins. Both legendary artists created immortal works for Le Clercq. At twenty-seven, she contracted polio, ending her career as a dancer but not her connection to the art of dance.
Illustrated by 100 photos, Dancing Past the Light (University Press of Florida) is a fascinating account of Le Clercq—her vocation, her challenges, and the underlying strength and humanity that allowed her to triumph in the face of a devastating illness. Author Orel Protopopescu provides almost a dual biography of Le Clercq and Balanchine, two lives that remained inseparable even after their divorce.
Le Clercq descended from affluent, educated people: “On both sides, Tammy’s immediate ancestors were adventurous, artistic, worldly, and l
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Le Clercq, Tanaquil (1929–2000)
American ballerina. Name variations: LeClercq. Born on October 2, 1929, in Paris, France; died on December 31, 2000, in New York; only daughter of Jacques Georges Clemenceau Le Clercq (a writer and professor) and Edith (Whittemore) Le Clercq; attended the Lycée Français de New York for three years; taught by private tutors from age 12; studied dance at the King-Coit School in New York; studied with Michael Mordkin; attended the School of American Ballet; married George Balanchine (choreographer and founder of the New York City Ballet), on December 31, 1952 (divorced 1969); no children.
Distinguished by her exquisite technique, her unique style, and her astonishingly long limbs, Tanaquil Le Clercq had a dazzling career with the New York City Ballet from its inception in 1948 until 1956, when a bout with polio put an end to her career and nearly took her life. Considered to be the quintessential Balanchine ballerina, Le Clercq was also the wife of the famous choreographer for 16 years.
The daughter of Austria-born Jacques Le Clercq and Edith W
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Tanaquil Le Clercq
French-American ballerina (1929–2000)
Tanaquil Le Clercq | |
|---|---|
Le Clercq as Dewdrop of the Candy Flowers in The Nutcracker, 1954 | |
| Born | (1929-10-02)October 2, 1929 Paris, France |
| Died | December 31, 2000(2000-12-31) (aged 71) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Ballet dancer |
| Spouse | George Balanchine (m. 1952; div. 1969) |
Tanaquil Le Clercq (lek-LAIR; October 2, 1929 – December 31, 2000) was an American ballet dancer, born in Paris, France, who became a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet at the age of nineteen. Her dancing career ended abruptly when she was stricken with polio in Copenhagen during the company's European tour in 1956.[1] Eventually regaining most of the use of her arms and torso, she remained paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of her life.
Biography
Le Clercq was the daughter of Jacques Georges Clemenceau Le Clercq, a European American intellectual, professor of French at Queens College in the 1950s-early
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