Suzanne Farrell Biography Quotes 31 Report mistakes

Early Life and Training
Suzanne Farrell, born Roberta Sue Ficker on August 16, 1945, in Cincinnati, Ohio, became one of the defining American ballerinas of the 20th century. Raised in the Midwest, she studied locally before earning a scholarship to the School of American Ballet in New York, the academy founded by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. At SAB she absorbed the speed, clarity, and musicality that characterized Balanchine's neoclassical style and adopted the stage name Suzanne Farrell as she prepared to enter the professional world. Her promise was immediately evident to teachers and choreographers who recognized a rare combination of technical daring and imagistic presence.

Rise at New York City Ballet
Farrell joined New York City Ballet as a teenager in the early 1960s and rose quickly. She became a central figure in George Balanchine's creative life, a dancer whose physical and musical imagination inspired him to make some of his most personal and ambitious works. He created Meditation for her in 1963 and, in 1965, built his full-length Don Quixote around her, casting her as Dulcinea. Farrell also came to embody Diamonds in Jewels, where the amplitude of her lines and unforced grandeur became emblematic of Balanchine's late classical ideal. Her repertory expanded to include major roles in Serenade, Symphony in C, and numerous abstract and dramatic pieces. Partners such as Jacques d'Amboise and Edward Villella brought contrasting temperaments to the stage alongside her, highlighting her capacity to transform each ballet through phrasing and musical nuance. Within the company led by Balanchine and cofounder Lincoln Kirstein, Farrell's dancing helped define an era of artistic daring and refinement.

Break from NYCB and Collaboration with Maurice Bejart
Personal and professional tensions intensified at NYCB late in the decade. Farrell's marriage to fellow company dancer Paul Mejia, combined with the intensely charged working relationship she had with Balanchine, contributed to an irreparable rift. In 1969 she left New York City Ballet. She soon joined Maurice Bejart's Ballet of the 20th Century in Brussels, where Bejart's theatrical and often provocative style contrasted with the distilled classicism she had absorbed in New York. The move broadened her artistic palette, exposing her to narratives and musical choices that emphasized psychological drama and contemporary sensibility. The Brussels period also sustained her as a leading international figure while her partnership with Mejia evolved within a different repertory and touring format.

Return to New York City Ballet
In 1975 Farrell returned to NYCB, reuniting with Balanchine and reentering an ensemble that had substantially changed in her absence. The return ignited a late creative flowering. Balanchine crafted Tzigane for her that year, with its gypsy-inflected virtuosity, and followed with the grand Chaconne in 1976, a work that showcased her breadth in both noble and lyrically playful modes. In the 1981 Tchaikovsky Festival he created a revelatory new version of Mozartiana for Farrell, a distilled essay in devotion, control, and musical phrasing that she turned into a signature. Peter Martins, who increasingly shared leadership responsibilities after Balanchine's death in 1983, became one of her frequent partners; their stage rapport produced a cool, tensile clarity in several Balanchine ballets. She also worked under the eye of Jerome Robbins, whose musical intelligence and theatrical pragmatism offered another lens through which her artistry refracted.

Leadership, Teaching, and Staging
Farrell retired from performing in 1989 after injuries and hip problems curtailed her stage career. Drawing on decades in the studio with Balanchine, she became a sought-after teacher and coach. As a repetiteur for the George Balanchine Trust, she traveled to stage works at companies across the United States and abroad, working with dancers to transmit not just steps but the musical and spatial logic that underpins Balanchine's choreography. She joined the faculty of Florida State University as a distinguished teacher, mentoring a new generation in classical technique and performance values.

In 2001 she founded The Suzanne Farrell Ballet in residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. With an emphasis on Balanchine repertory and allied works, the company toured widely, assembled carefully curated programs, and became known for revivals that demanded clarity of intention rather than superficial style. Farrell's leadership blended rigorous coaching with humane attention to each artist's development. The troupe concluded its run in 2017, leaving a substantial performance and coaching legacy.

Writings, Film, and Recognition
Farrell's memoir, Holding On to the Air, written with Toni Bentley and published in 1990, offers a first-person account of her formation, the creative intensity of the Balanchine years, the rupture that took her to Brussels, and her return and farewell to the stage. The documentary Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse, released in the mid-1990s, placed her career in historical context and included reflections by colleagues and collaborators. Over time she received numerous honors for her contributions to American culture, including the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, affirming her impact not only as a performer but as a keeper of a vital choreographic tradition.

Legacy
Suzanne Farrell's legacy rests on the union of musical intelligence, risk, and generosity. In her dancing she made phrases feel discovered rather than executed, and she lent Balanchine's abstractions a human radiance that deepened their meaning. Through decades of coaching, staging, and teaching, she has become a crucial conduit for knowledge shared with her by George Balanchine, shaped within the institution that he and Lincoln Kirstein built, and tested in collaborations with artists such as Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Jacques d'Amboise, Edward Villella, Maurice Bejart, and Paul Mejia. Her career traces a singular arc: a young Midwestern student transformed into a world-renowned ballerina, a muse who became a mentor, and an artist whose influence continues to animate stages and studios long after her final bow.

Our collection contains 31 quotes who is written by Suzanne, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Music - Learning - Live in the Moment - Art.