The newest episode of Hear the Dance is a special two-part discussion of Diamonds, the glittering final movement of Balanchine's Jewels, from the perspective of the lead ballerina. In this first installment, host Silas Farley interviews iconic former Principal Dancer Merrill Ashley, who recalls learning the corps role in her first season as a member of the Company, and the many factors that aligned in her eventually making her debut in the lead role. Now, as a répéteur with the Balanchine Trust, Ashley has taught Jewels to companies in America and abroad; as she describes it, this particular movement in the ballet is “cool, but hot—like a diamond.” (36:33)

Continue listening to Part Two of this episode.

Music:
Pelléas et Mélisande (1898) by Gabriel Fauré
Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra (1929) by Igor Stravinsky
Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29 (1875) by Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky

Recommended Reading:
1) Holding On to the Air: An Autobiography by Suzanne Farrell and Toni Bentley       
2) Dancing for Balanchine by Merrill Ashley     
3) George Balanchine: Ballet Master: A Biography by Richard Buckle in Collaboration with John Taras