Event Details


The Woods Hole Public Library will be presenting their next Lassalle Dance Lecture on Tuesday, August 7 at 7:30 PM. The speaker will be Nancy Reynolds who danced with the New York City Ballet for five years under the artistic directorship of George Balanchine, one of the major figures in twentieth-century ballet.  She is the author of several books about ballet, including “Repertory in Review, Forty Years of the New York City Ballet”. Since 1994 she has been director of research at the George Balanchine Foundation, where she is in charge of the video archives. Thanks to her expertise and access to the archives, she will be showing film clips to illustrate her talk. 

She will begin with a brief overview of Balanchine’s life, then, by showing an excerpt from Four Temperaments, will show how he reconceived the language of classical ballet. To demonstrate his diversity, she will then show an excerpt from Sonatine. To indicate his working methods, she will show a taped interview with ballerina Melissa Hayden in which she discusses rehearsing with him. Ms. Reynolds will end with a brief commentary on Balanchine’s legacy.

This series of lectures about dance in America is made possible by the generosity of life-long Woods Hole summer resident Nancy Lassalle, who has over the years been a patron, trustee, and all-around benefactor of the School of American Ballet and the New York City Ballet. After serving on both Boards for many years she continues as Trustee Emerita. She has also has published a book of her photographs of Balanchine intensively teaching and demonstrating.

Most recently Nancy has become involved in various education projects for young artists. One of her goals is communicate the wide world of the arts to young dancers through digital media. Because of her contacts in the world of dance, nationally (and also internationally) known dancers, choreographers, and historians come to join the lecture series in Woods Hole.