Alexandra Danilova

On April 20, 2026, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and the George Balanchine Foundation presented “The Many Lives of Alexandra Danilova.” The event was curated by former New York City Ballet principal, Maria Calegari. Moderating the symposium was dance and cultural historian, Elizabeth Kendall, author of her recently published Balanchine Finds His America: A Tale of Love Lost & Ballet Reborn (Oxford University Press, 2025). The panel included former New York City Ballet principals Patricia McBride and Maria Calegari, and Kim Kokich, former SAB student, notably cast as Marie in Balanchine’s Nutcracker, and also pupil and goddaughter of Alexandra Danilova.

Generations of New York City Ballet and School of American Ballet dancers, from former students to principal dancers, filled every seat, alongside the community of New York City balletomanes and theater regulars. The discussion focused on three areas of Danilova’s life: as performer, as a personality, and as a teacher.

In this clip selected for Monday’s event, Jerome Robbins introduces Mme. Danilova at the Kennedy Center Honors:

Danilova’s experience as a student at the Imperial Theater in Czarist Russia, as expatriate ballerina with the Ballets Russes, both with Diaghalev and De Basil, as international star, and then as teacher and choreographer at the School of American Ballet and the New York City Ballet, shaped generations of dancers, and the trajectory of American ballet as we know it. Her glamour, humor and presence were so legendary, that the anecdotes, shared throughout the evening, remain fresh, even 29 years after her death.

Maria Calegari reflected upon her days as a student at the School of American Ballet where she studied variations with Mme. Danilova. Danilova’s class covered many variations from the classical cannon: the fairy and jewel variations from Sleeping Beauty, the prelude from Les Sylphides, and numerous variations from Raymonda, and Swan Lake, among others. Her job was to pass to American dancers what had been passed on to her in St. Petersburg, Russia. Balanchine even recommended to Patricia McBride, already a ballerina for several years, to go take variations class from Danilova. He felt the tradition was that important.

Beyond her pedagogy, Danilova’s presentation and style kept coming up in the discussion. It was a lineage she was trying to transmit: a presentation for the stage, and a grandeur in dress and being, which, nowadays, is mostly extinct. Her goddaughter, Kim Kolkich, found an original Chanel in her closet, which she described as “absolutely tiny.” When choosing a coat, Kolkich recalled Danilova saying, “It’s cold enough for stinky minky.”

In this excerpt filmed at the old SAB studios at the Julliard School in New York, Alexandra Danilova rehearses a variation from Le Pavillon d’Armide for the annual (graduation) SAB workshop performance. (This clip is a shortened version of the excerpt shown at Monday’s event.)

(Author’s note: I recognize Mme. Danilova’s own Russian Imperial style in the student’s port de bras and epaulement. Mme. Danilova, always bejeweled and perfumed, wore these kinds of long floral chiffon skirts, color coordinated with her leotard, sometimes a handkerchief tucked into her skirt. I studied in her variations classes at SAB a few years after this filming, and even then she performed in class a great deal, in the same warm and glamorous style. One day she introduced us to Freddie Franklin, her former partner from the Ballets Russes, but at the time, I didn’t understand what a privilege that was.)

Freddie Franklin narrates here:

Patricia McBride, the last panelist to speak in the evening, spoke primarily about the rapid staging of the monumental three-act production of Coppélia for the New York City Ballet. McBride recalled with warmth the deepest respect that both Balanchine and Danilova showed one another, and his gentleness and patience with the dancers. In their 70’s at the time, Danilova and Balanchine worked tirelessly all day, without disagreements.

She said the company was already “in season” while putting together this huge production. Danilova staged Act I and II with Patricia McBride as Swanhilda. Balanchine told Danilova he would take care of Act III, and the wheat scene in Act I. McBride’s expressed her delight watching Balanchine and Danilova dance together. To this day, McBride clearly remembers every nuance of her showing the steps, particularly Danilova dancing the “Scottish Dance.” She said Balanchine was particularly fond of showing Czardas, the Hungarian dance from Act I.

From Danilova, Patricia McBride learned that there is a musicality in pantomime: not too fast, and gesture in relation to the music. She noted that Danilova devoted special attention to the the relationships between the dancers, specifically between the Swanhilda’s friends in Act II. Moreover, Danilova insisted that Act II should not be danced for laughs. When she impersonates Dr. Coppelius’s doll, she gives to him the illusion that his creation has come to life, rather than as a farce for the audience. In fact, McBride recalls her joking that Swanhilda is “bitchy” in the way she treats Dr. Coppelius. “You have to be a little bitchy to get to the top,” Mc Bride recalls her saying with a laugh. Remarking that trait about her students, Danilova said, “They are like blue jays,” Danilova said. “They fly to the front of the class. So I put them in the back!”

Patricia McBride recounted a delightful detail about her beautiful white lace skirt for the wedding in Act III. Mme. Pourmel, the wardrobe mistress, had saved a special piece of lace for just the right occasion, and she had just enough to make the lace skirt for Swanhilda’s wedding. “Don’t sit in the costumes!” she used to insist. (These are indeed her exact words; I heard them from her mouth myself.)