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Collections
Merrill Ashley papers
Merrill Ashley papers
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Collection Data
- Description
- Merrill Ashley (1950 - ) is an American ballerina who danced for 31 years with the New York City Ballet, most of them under George Balanchine. Her papers, dating from 1950 to 2017, document her career through ballet class and choreography notebooks; photographs; letters; diaries; book drafts and interview transcripts for her book Dancing For Balanchine; calendars and datebooks; programs and clippings; posters; artifacts such as pointe shoes; and books.
- Names
- Ashley, Merrill (Creator)
- Dates / Origin
- Date Created: 1950 - 2017
- Library locations
- Jerome Robbins Dance Division
- Shelf locator: (S) *MGZMD 495
- Topics
- Balanchine, George
- Williams, Stanley, 1925-1997
- New York City Ballet
- School of American Ballet
- Ballet -- 20th century
- Ballet companies
- Ballet dancers
- Choreography
- Genres
- ballet slippers
- Clippings
- Diaries
- Interviews
- Correspondence
- Notebooks
- Photographs
- Posters
- Programs
- Scrapbooks
- Notes
- Biographical/historical: Merrill Ashley (née Linda Merrill, 1950 - ) is an American ballerina who danced for 31 years with the New York City Ballet, most of them under George Balanchine. The last ballerina to have fully trained and developed under Balanchine, she now advises companies and dancers staging his ballets around the world. Ashley was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and raised in Rutland, Vermont, where she began her ballet studies at the age of seven. In 1964, at the age of thirteen, she was awarded a scholarship to continue her training at the School of American Ballet as part of its Ford Foundation Scholarship program. In 1967, George Balanchine invited Ashley to join the corps de ballet of the New York City Ballet, where she soon appeared in both corps and soloist roles in almost all of the ballets in the Company's repertory. In 1974, she was promoted to the rank of soloist, and three years later she became a principal dancer. Ashley danced her final performance with the Company as part of the Opening Night Benefit on November 25, 1997. Balanchine choreographed both Ballo della Regina and Ballade for Ashley, and she also originated roles in Jerome Robbins' Concertino and Brahms/Handel, which he choreographed with Twyla Tharp. Her repertory included roles in ballets as diverse as Balanchine's Concerto Barocco, Firebird, The Nutcracker (as both the Dewdrop and Sugarplum Fairy), Prodigal Son (as the Siren), Serenade, Square Dance, Stars and Stripes, Swan Lake, and Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3 (in "Theme and Variations"), as well as Robbins' Dances at a Gathering. During the New York City Ballet's 1988 American Music Festival, she originated a principal role in Peter Martins' Barber Violin Concerto. She also originated principal roles in Martins' Fearful Symmetries in 1990 and The Sleeping Beauty (as Carabosse) in 1991. Ashley danced throughout the world, including the major capitals of Western and Eastern Europe, and in China. In 1978, she danced at The White House for President and Mrs. Carter, and in 1986 she was chosen as the American ballerina to represent the United States at a gala celebrating the 40th Anniversary of UNESCO. The gala was held at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and televised throughout Europe and the USSR. Ashley's broadcast appearances included PBS' Dance in America series (which included Balanchine's Ballo della Regina, Divertimento No. 15, Jewels ("Emeralds"), and The Four Temperaments; and Bournonville's pas de deux from Flower Festival at Genzano) and the "Gala of Stars" in 1980, 1982, 1984, and 1985. Ashley was a guest artist with many ballet companies, including the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet in London (dancing in Paquita and The Sleeping Beauty). She also led her own group, Merrill Ashley and Dancers, on tours in 1981 and 1982. Ashley's autobiography, Dancing For Balanchine, was published in 1984 by E.P. Dutton, Inc. In addition, Ashley is the co-author and co-artistic director of the video series The Balanchine Essays, produced by the George Balanchine Foundation. She was also the subject of the 2015 documentary The Dance Goodbye, which documented her career transition following her retirement from performance. In 1987, she was the recipient of the Dance Magazine Award. Ashley has also conducted lectures for The George Balanchine Foundation at the Boston Ballet and Massachusetts Youth Ballet. She has staged Ballo della Regina for The George Balanchine Trust at Ballet Nacional de Cuba (2000), San Francisco Ballet, and Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and frequently teaches master classes at such companies as the Paris Opera Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet.
- Content: The Merrill Ashley papers, dating from 1950 to 2017, document the career of the ballerina through ballet class and choreography notebooks; photographs; letters; diaries; book drafts and interview transcripts for the book Dancing For Balanchine; calendars and datebooks; programs and clippings; posters; artifacts such as pointe shoes; and books. The ballet notebooks were created by Ashley during classes she took with George Balanchine (1976-1978) and Stanley Williams (1990). Ashley also created notes for classes she taught herself, as well as for choreography she learned for works by Balanchine. These include Chaconne, Firebird, The Sleeping Beauty, Union Jack, and Sylvia Pas de Deux, among others. The photographs contain rehearsal and performance shots of the New York City Ballet and Merrill Ashley and Dancers; special events such as Ashley's visit to The White House, the New York City Ballet's 50th anniversary, and receiving an honor from the New York State Legislature; advertisements featuring Ashley; and informal shots of Ashley. These include her during warmups and physical therapy; shooting The Balanchine Essays; with other dancers, friends, and fans; and teaching dancers and working with dance companies. Figures pictured with Ashley include George Balanchine, Ib Andersen, Beverly Sills, and President Carter, as well as dancers from the New York City Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Hong Kong Ballet, the Tokyo Ballet, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and Ballet Taos. Also present is a baby book kept by Ashley's parents, accompanied by a genealogy of her family. The letters contain a set of correspondence between Ashley and her parents dating from 1964 to 1974; they discuss her training at the School of American Ballet and her early career at the New York City Ballet. The rest of the letters, dating primarily from 1984 onward, consist mainly of notes and cards from friends and fans, though more substantial letters are present in a few cases. Ashley arranged these letters chronologically and included lists of letters and their authors for each year; these lists are included in the folders. Writers include Jerome Robbins, Clement Crisp, Arlene Croce, Bill Whitehead (Ashley's editor at E.P. Dutton), Beverly Sills, and the dancers Peter Martins, Alicia Alonso, Valentina Kozlova, Jacques d'Amboise, Darla Hoover, Sara Mau, Ruthanna Boris, Nikolaj Hübbe, and Amanda Edge. Letters dating from 1993 mainly discuss an injury Ashley suffered in performance, while most 1997 letters pertain to her retirement. Ashley kept consistent diaries for only short stretches of time. The earliest of these date from 1969 and 1972 (the latter documents a New York City Ballet visit to the Soviet Union). Some diaries from the mid-1970s are kept in datebooks. Diaries from 1992 to 1994 chart Ashley's recovery from a hip injury. The files for Dancing For Balanchine document that book's creation through book proposals (written by Ashley's husband, Kibbe Fitzpatrick), transcripts of interviews with Ashley, manuscripts, galleys, proofs, photographs, clippings, and correspondence with editor Bill Whitehead of E.P. Dutton. Five binders of scripts and notes document the video series The Balanchine Essays. The programs and clippings comprise the largest portion of the collection. They cover Ashley's dancing and teaching activity, starting with her earliest performances in the late 1950s, and date up to 2017. Box 34, folder 3 contains a list of Ashley's activities outside of the New York City Ballet from 1999 to 2017. Some files also contain itineraries, photographs, or other memorabilia of Ashley's visits to other dance companies. The posters advertise the New York City Ballet and Merrill Ashley and Dancers. The artifacts consist of pointe shoes, an original drawing of Ashley by Jane Rosenberg published in the book Dance Me A Story, cards distributed at Ashley's retirement gala, and a button with a photograph of Ashley. Two pairs of the pointe shoes date from the 1950s and were Ashley's earliest shoes, while the rest (five pairs and three single shoes, all autographed) are from the 1980s or 1990s. The books consist of Dancing For Balanchine, Balanchine's Ballerinas by Robert Tracy, Choura: The Memory of Alexandra Danilova (a signed autobiography), and Dance Me A Story by Jane Rosenberg. The two books regarding Balanchine are inscribed by Ashley to her grandmother. The collection also holds sound and video recordings. Among the sound recordings are classes led by George Balanchine and Stanley Williams; interviews with Ashley, including those carried out for the book Dancing For Balanchine; and lectures by Ashley on Balanchine. The videos includes performances by Ashley with the New York City Ballet, Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, and at the 1986 UNESCO gala; rehearsals with the New York City Ballet and the Cuban National Ballet; Ashley teaching the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company; interviews with Ashley; and video of the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre dating from the early 1970s (not featuring Ashley). Also present are home movies from Ashley's childhood.
- Acquisition: Donated by Merrill Ashley, 2018.
- Physical Description
- Extent: 14.37 linear feet (39 boxes)
- Type of Resource
- Text
- Still image
- Identifiers
- NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b21983463
- MSS Unit ID: 24676
- Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): e787d970-72aa-0138-5859-3366264ebb7d