Suzanne Farrell

(Artistic Director; teacher, dancer born in Mount Healthy, Ohio, August 16, 1945)

Suzanne Farrell was one of George Balanchine's most celebrated muses and remains a legendary figure in the ballet world. Born in Cincinnati, she received her early training at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. After a year as a Ford Foundation student at the School of American Ballet, she joined George Balanchine's New York City Ballet in the fall of 1961. Her unique combination of musical, physical and dramatic gifts quickly ignited Balanchine's imagination, and by the mid 1960s she had become not only one of his most renowned ballerinas but also a symbol of the era.

By the time she retired from the stage in 1989, Ms. Farrell had achieved a career that is without precedent or parallel in the history of ballet. During her 28 years on the stage, she danced a repertory of more than 100 ballets, nearly a third of which were created expressly for her by Balanchine and other choreographers, such as Jerome Robbins and Maurice Béjart, in which she expanded the limits of ballerina technique to a degree not before seen.

Ms. Farrell is also a repetiteur for The George Balanchine Trust, the institution that disseminates, preserves and protects the works of George Balanchine. She has served in a variety of cultural and philanthropic organizations such as the New York State Council on the Arts, the Arthritis Foundation, the Professional Children's School and the Princess Grace Foundation. Her autobiography, Holding On to the Air, was published in 1990 and has been reissued by the University Press of Florida. The film Suzanne Farrell – Elusive Muse (directed by Anne Belle and Deborah Dickson) was nominated for an Academy Award in 1997 as Best Feature Length Documentary.

As the Kennedy Center's ballet emissary, she founded The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, which made its debut in the fall of 2000 during the Kennedy Center's Balanchine Celebration. The company's primary mission is to help insure the preservation of Mr. Balanchine's legacy and to provide ballet of the highest quality in an efficient company model that can reach D.C. dance lovers and audiences around the world. Ms. Farrell permanently relocated to Washington, D.C. to anchor her company and to continue her education work with the Kennedy Center.

Since 1993 ballet students from around the country have descended upon the nation's capital for three weeks of intense study at the Kennedy Center with one of the few ballerinas worthy of the title in Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell. In addition to taking two technique classes a day, six days a week, students also participate in a number of cultural activities to enhance their experience in Washington, D.C., including museum visits, trips to historical landmarks and attending performances.

Since the fall of 2000, Ms. Farrell has held the Francis Eppes Chair of the Arts at Florida State University, where she is a tenured professor. She is the recipient of honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, Notre Dame, Georgetown University and others. In November 2003 she was awarded the National Medal of the Arts. The following year, Ms. Farrell was presented with the Nijinsky Award at the 2004 Monaco Dance Forum. In June 2005 at The Suzanne Farrell Ballet's Kennedy Center premiere of Balanchine's Don Quixote, Ms. Farrell was presented the 54th Capezio Dance Award.

In November 2005 Ms. Farrell's company performed a mixed repertory Balanchine program at the Kennedy Center. In December 2005 Ms. Farrell was the recipient of one of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors.

Updated January 2006