Violette Verdy - The Artist Teacher

Many celebrated ballet stars, upon retiring from the stage, gravitate to teaching younger dancers. Yet a select few become coaches - destined, by virtue of covetable expertise, to pass on their years of experience and knowledge to new generations on a more advanced level. Frenchwoman Violette Verdy was one of the most preeminent examples - a peerless star with Manhattan's George Balanchine company from the late 1950s through the late 1970s, she bore extremely intimate ties to Ballanchine and Jerome Robbins. This program profiles Verdy's coaching work at the Chatauqua School of Dance, run by two of Verdy's former colleagues, Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux; it also interpolates conversations with Bonnefoux, McBride and Verdy and features dance footage of all three.